On 2011-08-02 12:52 , objectwerks inc wrote:
On Aug 2, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Arno Hautala wrote:
On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 12:41, objectwerks inc<c...@objectwerks.com> wrote:
I do agree with the overall sentiment though that the optical drive is going
the way of the DoDo. I just think we are not quite that far along yet.
I'd say we're further along than we were when Apple dropped the
floppy.
I disagree. For one big reason. The optical drive on computers has many more
uses now than the floppy did in 1997 (not only for SW distribution, but also
for media -- music and movies) AND in 1997 there was a reasonable replacement
-- the CD-ROM and CDRW drives. Today, there are still a lot of people using
DVD media for movies (Red Box is always busy when I see the kiosks and I've
seen a few neighbors recently walking to the mail box with Netflix envelopes)
and lots of people still use their computers to watch things, and still an
awful lot of CDs sold (yes CD sales have tanked percentage wise but there are
still a lot of CDs sold).
[harumph ... meant to send this to the list earlier]
i think it's hard to compare "how far along", both for the very reasons you
cite and also because the Internet and wifi have radically increased the
flexibility most of us have for data transfer
dropping the optical seems to have lowered the price, and along with the strong
performance of the new model that puts me very close to replacing my server (a
2.17GHz MacBook Pro) with a Mini; the optical drive in that machine is shot,
but i only RIP CDs to it anyway, so every couple of years i pick up a used
firewire CDR for $20; i'm almost done transferring my CD collection, and the
next disks i plan to RIP are vinyl ;?>
aside from pricing, another factor may be that Apple would prefer if Minis were
more attractive as second computers rather than first computers, and/or that
lacking an optical drive, more Mini users will be likely to buy media online
(from Apple)
so i see the change as a fairly complex gambit
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