Do you remember floppy disks? Do you remember the 8-track? Do you remember the vinyl records? All of those are ancient data transfer methods. However, now with ubiquity of the internet, the speed of broadband (more than half of US internet connections are broadband) and the simplicity of email floppy disks have all but died. Sure, Dell was going to get rid of the floppy drive in their PC‘s several years ago, but businesses cried out, “We love old technology, give us Windows 95!”
So, kudos Apple for bumping the floppy. CD burning takes only a wee longer with todays faster drives and the data storage quantity means I won’t have to carry a suitcase if I want to take a lot of data somewhere (I would have to with floppies).
Actually, Dell did get rid of floppies on their PC (home versions anyway). They actually want to charge you MORE if you want one put into your fancy-pants gamebox. A whopping $30 for a piece that costs $15 at most. Sheesh, what a racket!!
BTW, I too am happy to see floppies fall by the wayside – even though I have a Sony Mavica camera that uses them as “film” – like Hanson and acapella boy bands, they’re time has come and gone.
I also feel a contributing factor is the USB drive that allows you to take tons more without having to burn a CD you might throw away later. In fact, I bought a new one today for only $45 ($30 after mail-in rebate) that is 512M. 🙂
Also, how many programs etc, used to come on floppies that you can now just download from the net each time you want to install it (winzip, winamp, etc).