[rockinphotog]

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I think that we need to hold on to the floppy untill CD-RW...technology becomes as common on computers as the floppy drive is

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It is. almost evey manufacturer offers cdrw as a standard feature on their machines now. PC's too.
Use a CD-RW disk to transfer data to the pc's at school, if your machine has a combo drive.

[NuclearPizza]

The Internet has been my floppy of choice since Apple dropped 'em way back when. If its too big for e-mail, I just pulled out a CD-RW...

[mystery_stain]

Some of the articles covering the Dell decision mention that a very popular replacement is the USB keychain drive since it doesn't require a network and it doesn't require waiting for a CD to burn. Holds as much as a stack of floppies yet tinier than anything else out there.

[rockinphotog]

Yeah, but don't pc's need drivers installed for usb drives?

[bobbovine]

Most USB keychain storage devices are driverless on both PCs and Macs, some of the older/cheaper ones need drivers. Check the packaging before you buy one, if the Keychain is driverless the manufacturer usually lets you know.
As for floppies I use them all the time. I work for a large outsourcing firm and when a new PC gets deployed or an old machine is reassigned to a new user I use a floppy with DOS based network drivers and Ghost to pull an image down from one of the servers. I also use bootable CD's but their just not as friendly (jewel cases crack in your pocket, CD gets all smudged, etc).
I'd switch to a keychain if they we bootable by themselves.
Also, I believe Dell is going to continue offering floppy drives as a option, they're just not going to sell them with systems by default anymore.

[Nobody]

P/c's need specific drivers for certain devices and are put on CD anyway but I believe most USB drivers are pre-loaded from win '95 with USB support all the way to Win XP.

[Bane]

Win95B and later all have native USB support.
I'm glad Dell is dropping the floppy personally but I still think Apple's removal may have been a bit premature. Its one thing to innovate but is still another IMO to adopt or remove certain technologies before they are ready. Can you say gigabit ethernet? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
The USB issue mentioned kinda sheds new light on how ridiculous a certain switcher's ad that 'saved christmas' is doesn't it?

[rockinphotog]

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The USB issue mentioned kinda sheds new light on how ridiculous a certain switcher's ad that 'saved christmas' is doesn't it?

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No. My family has dells, emachines, dells, and more dells and I'm pretty sure they have to install drivers to hook their cameras up to the pc's to access them like we do on our Macs.

[dsaponaro]

WOW I bet this is how Dell will withstand these difacult economic times. Theyre going to inovate there way out!! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Par_XI]

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No. My family has dells, emachines, dells, and more dells and I'm pretty sure they have to install drivers to hook their cameras up to the pc's to access them like we do on our Macs.

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Not if they use XP.

[rockinphotog]

Who knows what they use now, as we are on opposite coasts, but last time I checked, they didn't. Maybe XP was not out yet. Only one has a new computer since that release.

[digedit]

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I know how you feel. I bought the Imation SuperDisk when it first came out because of that. I also had to buy the Keyspan USB-to-Serial Adapter. The original iMac did create headaches, but I and apparently others believed it was the move in the right direction.
I don't like to use floppies anymore. With the advent of CDs, high speed Internet, etc....floppies are horrible compared to these new technologies. They are small, slow, and unreliable. They were fine a few years back, but technology has evolved and Apple goes with it.

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Actually PC's had USB long before the Mac did so it's hard to give credit to Apple for going with the new technology. I much prefer the wintel world method of moving to new technology sooner AND at the same time retaining legacy support longer. I really don't understand people who applaud Apple because they came to the USB party late, but dumped legacy support almost immediately. Who exactly does this benefit and why is this considered innovative ?
My PC has a ton of ports on the back. (ps2 keybaord, ps2 mouse, 3 USB, 3 Firewire, 2 serial, 1 parallel, gameport, modem, ethernet, 2 VGA output, TV in/out, line in/out, mic in, spdif in/out plus its got 5 PCI slots, an ISA slot and an AGP slot, and I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something. If you don't use them fine, but it doesn't hurt anything by having them there. Surely anyone willing to spend the money to pay for a mac won't complain about $5 more worth of expansion options or a $7 floppy drive. I still have a parallel port dot-matrix printer that I bought with my first 286 DOS machine, which is used just for printing checks. It works better than any modern laser or inkjet for this purpose and it works fine on even my newest PC. Is it wrong to appreciate this kind of backwards compatibility ? In order to get this kind of support on the mac, I'd probably have to spend an additional $500 or more in adapters or new peripherals on top of a computer which is already priced at a very large premium.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi

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Actually PC's had USB long before the Mac did so it's hard to give credit to Apple for going with the new technology.

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Agreed. However, USB didn't become "popular" until the iMac. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Is it wrong to appreciate this kind of backwards compatibility ?

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Certianly not.

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Who exactly does this benefit and why is this considered innovative ?

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This "forces" users and providers to use that technology and in turn, hopefully, having it develop and spread faster. Not exactly a great method, but it has seem to work with certain "side effects."

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Surely anyone willing to spend the money to pay for a mac won't complain about $5 more worth of expansion options or a $7 floppy drive.

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Probably. However, some may not see the need or want to ever use that technology in the light of newer ones. In that case it becomes a waste of space, aesthetics, power, and whatever else.

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I'd probably have to spend an additional $500 or more in adapters or new peripherals on top of a computer which is already priced at a very large premium.

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Exaggerated but the point is well taken and understood. ..for premium products /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .
It's all based on needs, wants, and opinions. I am one of those people that will sacrifice somethings in order to accept other, usually, newer and better things. Or however you wish to say it.
MacCheetah3
"Throw the encyclopedias at him"

[Par_XI]

Very well said, digedit. That's exactly how I feel as well. It has always baffled me how Apple has made people think that it's good not to have a disk drive.