Farewell To the Floppy Disk

Farewell To the Floppy Disk 616

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:20PM from the first-they-came-for-the-Morse-code dept.

s31523 writes "Those of us who have been in the IT arena for a while remember installing our favorite OS, network client, power application, etc. by feeding the computer what seemed an endless supply of 5.25" soft floppy disks. We rejoiced when the hard 3.5" floppies came out, cutting our install media by 1/3. We practically did backflips when the data CD-ROM arrived and we declared: we will never need any other disk than this! It is with sadness that I report the beginning of the end for the floppy: computer giant PC World has announced it will no longer carry the floppy disk once current supplies run out."

Farewell To the Floppy Disk

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Mod storage medium down (Score:5, Funny)

by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:22PM (#17819432) Homepage Journal

(-1, Redundant)

1999 called.... (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:24PM (#17819460)

It wants its article back.

5.25"? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:26PM (#17819498)

Are 5.25" soft floppy disks anything like my 8" soft floppy disks?

jokes (Score:2, Funny)

by fonduesatdawn ( 1057744 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:29PM (#17819570)

so does this mean an end to the classic jokes about three and a half inch floppy's?

Save Icon? (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:33PM (#17819632)

Should we now have to replace the "Save" icons on all out apps?
Or shall we keep it around as a memorial (and to confuse the next generation)?

Re:Sadly... Good! (Score:5, Funny)

by i_should_be_working ( 720372 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:35PM (#17819676)

There's a silver lining: the poor reliability of floppies is what taught me my good backup habits.

The !silver lining is that because of their poor reliability and the stress it's caused me, whenever I see floppies (or tapes) I throw them to the ground and stomp them to bits. Even if they're not mine.

Younguns... (Score:2, Funny)

by toddhisattva ( 127032 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:35PM (#17819684) Homepage

Boot sequence via toggle switches, to boot CP/M from 8"

What's the difference btwn a woman and a computer? (Score:5, Funny)

by jez9999 ( 618189 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:39PM (#17819752) Homepage Journal

A woman won't accept a 3.5" floppy.

Huh? (Score:2, Funny)

by FunkeyMonk ( 1034108 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:41PM (#17819794) Homepage

What's a floppy disk?

The dawn of time called... (Score:4, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:46PM (#17819874)

It wants that joke back.

Plenty of supply (Score:4, Funny)

by smellsofbikes ( 890263 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:50PM (#17819946) Journal

That's okay: any geek worth anything has boxes and boxes of them, unlabelled, to shore up the dwindling reserves. I think I have two cubic feet just of Amiga software from 1985 on 3.5" discs, and I don't even know how much from Win95 backups.

I've never called the 3 1/2 ones floppies (Score:4, Funny)

by thewils ( 463314 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:50PM (#17819948) Journal

That was reserved for the truly floppy 5 1/4 disks (or even the eight inch ones I used on Datapoint machines).

I prefer to call the 3 1/2 ones "stiffies".

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:5, Funny)

by zakezuke ( 229119 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:51PM (#17819972)

Yes, Vista does not require install from Floppy. It will support CD/DVD and USB now.

Ok, so do I invest in 2.5 gigs of memory, or do I use an unused teac and floppy.

It's (Score:5, Funny)

by wsanders ( 114993 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:54PM (#17820022) Homepage

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

about

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

time.

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

Anybody

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

remem

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

ber the

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

128K

[INSERT DISK TO CONTINUE]

Mac?

Re:Mod storage medium down (Score:4, Funny)

by Intron ( 870560 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:57PM (#17820088)

ITYM

(-1, Insertful)

Floppies from Hell (Score:5, Funny)

by onkelonkel ( 560274 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @05:57PM (#17820100)

Installing Office 95 on a Toshiba laptop. Twenty six (twenty fucking six!) floppies. After it loaded each one the installer would unpack files for about 3 minutes and only then would it ask for the next floppy. It seemed like about 3 hours to install. I also remember screwing up somehow (do you confirm not wanting to continue to cancel? Y/N/Abort) at some point and having to do this twice. Curse you floppy drive!

Re:I presume this is Vista-related (Score:3, Funny)

by muszek ( 882567 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:00PM (#17820156) Homepage

Floppyless installation, aye? I've heard that they applied for a patent...

Re:huh? (Score:3, Funny)

by Intron ( 870560 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:05PM (#17820226)

Nobody who still has a stack of 8" floppies is reminiscing about those newfangled 5.25" floppies.

When do we get notchable CD's? (Score:5, Funny)

by CrazyJim1 ( 809850 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:13PM (#17820364) Journal

I want to use both sides of my CD to store data.

Re:I've never called the 3 1/2 ones floppies (Score:3, Funny)

by Kozar_The_Malignant ( 738483 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:27PM (#17820632)

According to TFA, in South Africa, 3.5 inch floppies are called stiffies. In the same vein, it is worth noting that the 5.25 inch floppy was developed at Wang.

Another nerd art form dead... (Score:1, Funny)

by strength_of_10_men ( 967050 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:32PM (#17820698)

You can't do THIS [wikihow.com] with CDROMs and DVDs. Pfft. A sad day indeed.

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:5, Funny)

by Reaperducer ( 871695 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:36PM (#17820770)

Does this mean that the Dell-heads will stop telling me that "No floppy drive" is a valid a reason not to switch to a Mac?

Re:What's the difference btwn a woman and a comput (Score:1, Funny)

by Coucho ( 1039182 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:36PM (#17820774)

A woman won't accept a 3.5" floppy.
Will she accept a 12" hard disk?

The Floppy is not dead (Score:3, Funny)

by kilgortrout ( 674919 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:37PM (#17820788)

It's just pining for the fiords.

Re:How proper is the way to honor? (Score:4, Funny)

by Haiku 4 U ( 580059 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:37PM (#17820792)

Ode to the floppy -
the only thing that stores more
with a hole in it.

Re:Sadly... Good! (Score:5, Funny)

by natrius ( 642724 ) writes: <niran@niEINSTEINran.org minus physicist> on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @06:51PM (#17821016) Homepage

That's not a bug, it's a feature to make sure you don't copy that floppy. [google.com]

How is a woman like a compiler? (Score:3, Funny)

by eddy ( 18759 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @07:11PM (#17821264) Homepage Journal

Miss a period and they go wild.

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:2, Funny)

by Adam1115 ( 949013 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @08:01PM (#17821844)

Oh COOL, I can upgrade everyone to Vista. They won't need a floppy disk, but their printers and half of their applications won't work... And the computer will need twice as much RAM, a faster processor and a new video card. THAT's a better solution than a $15 floppy drive...

Re:Floppy this and that (Score:2, Funny)

by m50d ( 797211 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @08:14PM (#17821980) Homepage Journal

There was a 112-floppy release of slackware at one point. I put it on my 386, carting the same floppy back and forth from the internet machine.

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:3, Funny)

by cortana ( 588495 ) writes: <sam@[ ]ots.org.uk ['rob' in gap]> on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @08:42PM (#17822236) Homepage

It is seriously not trivial. The steps required are arbitrary and complex. The whole thing is very poorly designed. Or you have to use some dodgy bit of third party software. Until Windows fixes this it just won't be ready for the desktop.

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:4, Funny)

by rtb61 ( 674572 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @10:09PM (#17822912) Homepage

How to annoy people. Tell a person with one computer all about slipstreaming ;0.

Re:Mod storage medium down (Score:2, Funny)

by dotgain ( 630123 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @10:15PM (#17822962) Homepage Journal

No, it could be (0+1, Redundant) ,(1+0, Redundant), (1, Redundant) and so on.

Re:So, XP and below are doomed by this. (Score:4, Funny)

by cpt kangarooski ( 3773 ) writes: on Tuesday January 30, 2007 @11:09PM (#17823376) Homepage

USB floppies are trickier than you think. The main problem is that the data interface for a floppy is only accessible when you open the shutter, but when you plug in a usb cable and spin up the floppy, the cable tends to either damage the media or get pulled into the disk, causing it to jam.

Re:Another publicity stunt from the Dixons group (Score:3, Funny)

by badfish99 ( 826052 ) writes: on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @06:22AM (#17825634)

In South Africa the 3.5 inch disks were nicknamed "stiffies". This led to a certain amount of hilarity when some South African people talked to us in the UK about them.

I got an email about this (Score:5, Funny)

by spun ( 1352 ) writes: <loverevolutionary@@@yahoo...com> on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @12:36PM (#17828848) Journal

Just the other day, I got an email purporting to have found the cure for floppy di... oh wait, diSks, floppy disks. Nevermind.

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:2, Funny)

by rickb928 ( 945187 ) writes: on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @07:14PM (#17834986) Homepage Journal

You had me at 'really'...

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

Mod storage medium down (Score:5, Funny)

1999 called.... (Score:2, Funny)

5.25"? (Score:1, Funny)

jokes (Score:2, Funny)

Save Icon? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Sadly... Good! (Score:5, Funny)

Younguns... (Score:2, Funny)

What's the difference btwn a woman and a computer? (Score:5, Funny)

Huh? (Score:2, Funny)

The dawn of time called... (Score:4, Funny)

Plenty of supply (Score:4, Funny)

I've never called the 3 1/2 ones floppies (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:5, Funny)

It's (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Mod storage medium down (Score:4, Funny)

Floppies from Hell (Score:5, Funny)

Re:I presume this is Vista-related (Score:3, Funny)

Re:huh? (Score:3, Funny)

When do we get notchable CD's? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:I've never called the 3 1/2 ones floppies (Score:3, Funny)

Another nerd art form dead... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:5, Funny)

Re:What's the difference btwn a woman and a comput (Score:1, Funny)

The Floppy is not dead (Score:3, Funny)

Re:How proper is the way to honor? (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Sadly... Good! (Score:5, Funny)

How is a woman like a compiler? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Floppy this and that (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Mod storage medium down (Score:2, Funny)

Re:So, XP and below are doomed by this. (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Another publicity stunt from the Dixons group (Score:3, Funny)

I got an email about this (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Windows installer requires them (Score:2, Funny)

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