Endless Paradigm

Actually heard this story yesterday, so a little old:

Quote:Sony has said it will stop making floppy disks, after nearly three decades of manufacture. Yet millions of them are still being bought every year. But who is actually buying them?

The floppy disk is the very symbol of storage; when you want to save a file, you go looking for that little icon that looks like a floppy.

Every year another computer manufacturer stops putting floppy drives in its machines, or a retailer stops selling the disks. Each time the cry goes up that the death knell has been sounded for the floppy disk.

However, Verbatim, a UK manufacturer which makes more than a quarter of the floppies sold in the UK, says it sells hundreds of thousands of them a month. It sells millions more in Europe.

"Wee've been discussing the death of the floppy for 14 years, ever since CD technology first started coming on strong," says Verbatim spokesman Kevin Jefcoate.

Yet what was Sony's best-selling peripheral for its computers in recent years? The 3.5-inch floppy disk drive that connects via a USB cable.

Somewhere out there, the floppy disk is alive and well. But where?

Quote:Given their limited size and speed of data transfer, along with their increasing obsolescence, it's harder to find a floppy fan club than it is to find a laptop with a floppy drive built in.

But what about all the second-hand computers that are donated to the developing world? Could they be even partly responsible for the thousands of disks still sold?

Anja Ffrench of Computer Aid International - the largest charity working to distribute recycled IT to Africa and South America - says that they only deal in computers from 2002 and later, meaning that they'll have the USB connection that obviates the need for floppies.

There are a few instances for which floppies remain the norm, like the specialist, high-value technology that may rely on floppy drives for data.


The vast desks that control the light shows and sounds settings in theatres or music venues have until recently come with floppy drives as standard; the English National Opera is just one example of an organisation that uses them.

A volunteer at the National Museum of Computing says that many scientific instruments - so-called dataloggers, oscilloscopes and the like - record their data onto floppies.

This kind of expensive equipment is made to last, to be bought infrequently - and these gadgets may call for at least a few floppies in their lifetimes.

But these relatively niche uses couldn't possibly account for the number of floppies - something like a million a month - that are being consumed in the UK alone.

The answer may simply be that there are a great many old computers that read only floppies, and a great many computer users that have no need for the storage media that have supplanted them in other quarters.

Rather than there being one industry propped up on the values of a floppy, or a horde of enthusiasts buying up the world's supply, they may simply be as much as many computer users need.

"Old habits die hard, I guess," said John Delaney, research director for IT analysts IDC.

"If you've been using PCs for a long time and you don't do much in the way of photography or music with them, then why would you change?

"There are people who ride technology for as long as it can be ridden without falling over."

- Source: [BBC]

I'm personally skeptical about people thinking that the general population will quickly adopt any new technology, but even I am surprised in such a widespread continued use of the floppy disk.

I am surprised too, didn't even imagine that people still used floppys

I used floppy discs when I was 10 (-_-)
I loved coloring games! (O_o)

Can't remember the last time I used a floppy disc... I remember when thumbdrives were quite the oddity, but nowadays, you can basically lug around a "small" hard drive on your keychain.

Still, I think the only TRUE way to finish off all floppies would be once the first PC generations start becoming the grandparent generation. Considering how little 14 years really is, even compared to the short, human life, I am not surprised floppies are still around. VHS is still around, and relatively common in upper-middle class, and lower class households. DVDs were introduced about 13 years ago.

So, I'd say floppy discs will have gone, mostly, in another 10 years or so, depending on what turns technology takes. If a huge leap in how wee interact via the internet and games is made in the next 5 years or so, I could see such an event making itself available to the lower classes within probably another 5-10 years, such as how HDTVs are starting to be seen more and more in lower and lower classes.

Basically, I wouldn't be surprised to see them being used another 10 years, but wouldn't be surprised if it stopped sooner. I would be surprised if they lost all use within the next 2 years though (barring mass extinction).

I can understand VHS.  Entertainment is more of a luxury for most people and TV developments are usually a lot "slower" than PC developments.
However if you've got an old computer which can't handle, say, your Office documents, you're more inclined to upgrade.  I don't work in an IT department, and the computers at work don't have floppy drives, neither does my local library and Uni's computers... (email is an alternative though)

That may be, but it was cited that one of Sony's best selling accessories is the usb to floppy drive. Therefore, the despite the lack of visible floppy drives, this accessory can be indicative of a nice number of floppies, and considering just how many "old" computers I see at different places, including restaurants, mom and pop stores, and others, I'd say that many don't feel it is worth the upgrade for such places. As for progressive fields, such as education buildings, franchises, and extraneously luxurious services, seeing an old single core sub 1ghz computer becomes less and less likely.

All this can lead one to consider just what type of social group they are in. I'll bet you spend quite a bit of time around other computer-educated, or at least, avid computer-using people. I know I am. And, I think it could go as far as to further segregate the types of people you'll see with computers, but I'm sure you can make that step on your own.

My main point is that, although I don't actively think about the number of floppies being used/bought every day, I'm not surprised to hear this news.

Does anyone ever use these floppy disks anymore?

The only time I've used floppy discs in who knows how many years, was for my programming class, to turn in the source code of our assignments.

first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word floppy "Don't copy that floppy!"
None of my computers have floppy drives but I still have floppy disks around.

omg not the floppies, i need 10000 of those to back up my computer