From <http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0302/06.dell.php>
Dell finally says bye to floppy
by Peter Cohen, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
February 6, 2003 7:40 am ET
Writing for Investor's Business Daily , Patrick Seitz said that Dell
Computer Corp. is taking a radical step -- the company is getting rid
of floppy disk drives in its Dimension line, unless customers order
them.
Apple did away with the floppy beginning with the iMac's introduction
in 1998 -- a fact not lost on Seitz. Apple excised the device from its
PowerBooks and Power Mac G3 line shortly thereafter, and has kept
floppies away from the Mac ever since. Most Windows PC makers,
however, have kept the floppy drive in place. Floppies are cheap, lots
of PC data remains stored on them, and they haven't been completely
replaced by devices like CD-RW drives and Zip disks on PCs.
Seitz said that Dell is going to supplant the floppy with USB-based
flash media storage devices. So-called "keychain" drives pack 16MB or
more into a device about the size of a thumb. Dell said it would
educate consumers about the benefit of USB drives.
Seitz said that analysts think that USB drives will overtake floppies
soon, and the diminutive storage devices "have more momentum" than
optical drives. Plus, consumers perceive USB drives as having a "cool
factor." Early adopters in the Far East appear to be driving demand
just now, according to one analyst.
So does this suggest a fundamental shift in PC makers' perception of
the floppy? Probably not. HP told Seitz that it would continue to ship
floppy-equipped PCs on its systems.
Noting that floppies aren't the only technology to have outlived its
usefulness on modern PCs, Seitz envisions a day (far in the future no
doubt) when computers will stop being made with serial and parallel
ports, too.
- Darcy
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[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Boston MA
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