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Enlightened
http://www.pimprig.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3689
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">For nearly 16 years, one piece of personal computer technology has remained the same: the floppy disk drive.
While microprocessor speeds and computer memory have improved by leaps and bounds, the lowly floppy disk, with its measly 1.44-megabyte capacity, hasn't changed. Over the years, other technologies have been touted as floppy drive replacements, namely zip drives and recordable compact discs. But they couldn't slay the floppy disk drive, which is still standard on most desktop PCs.
The floppy drive may have finally met its match in small, high-capacity portable storage devices called USB flash memory drives. They pack 16 MB or more of storage into a thumb-sized device that many companies sell as a key chain accessory.
Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNMELL - News) says the time is right to stop including floppy disk drives as standard hardware on its consumer desktop computers. Later this quarter, Dell will no longer include floppy disk drives in its Dimension desktops unless specially ordered. "We would like to see customers migrate away from floppies as quickly as possible, because there are better alternative technologies out there," said Mark Vena, director of product marketing for Dell's Dimension desktop PCs.
Dell will work to educate consumers that USB drives are a better way to take their data on the go. They're simple to use and provide for more secure data storage than floppies.
But USB drives aren't cheap like floppy drives. A low-end 16 MB USB drive costs about $20.
Getting people to part with floppy drives will take some work, Vena admits. "Customers still have an emotional tie to floppies," he said. "But it's an antique technology. At some point, you've got to draw the line. You wouldn't think of using a processor from 15 years ago."
Dell has found that nine out of 10 customers still want a floppy drive. Yet few say they use it, Vena says.
Cheap But Limited
The floppy drive perseveres because it's ubiquitous and cheap. The drives cost the manufacturer $10 or less, and disks are often given away. But they can store only small files like word processing documents and spreadsheets. They're useless for most PowerPoint presentations, digital photos, video and music.
Rewritable CDs hold more data, usually 650 MB, but they're not easy to carry around. And the discs can be scratched or broken. Some companies make credit card-sized CD-RWs, which make the media easier to carry. CD-RW discs typically cost $1 to $2 each.
But USB flash memory drives have more momentum than CD-RWs. Analysts say the flash devices have a cool factor that's driving demand.
They work by plugging into the thin USB slots common on modern PCs. The computer recognizes them as just another drive where files can be stored. USB memory drives are durable and don't need a separate power source.
Drawbacks include their higher cost and that they typically don't work on computers with operating systems older than Windows 98.
Dozens of vendors displayed USB memory drives at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Most models looked like pens, with plastic caps covering USB plugs. Some firms showed how USB memory drives are used in digital cameras and music players.
Analysts say it's only a matter of time before USB memory drives replace floppy disks as the portable storage media of choice.
Last year, makers sold 2.3 million USB flash memory drives, ringing up $104 million in sales. In 2006, sales could reach 46.3 million units, worth $3.8 billion, says market tracker Semico Research Corp. And those figures are conservative, says Jim Handy, a Semico analyst.
"USB drives are a phenomenon," Handy said. "People are in love with them. They've caught on in a big way in the Far East and are migrating out here to the U.S."
People only need to see a USB memory drive in action to get hooked, says Wolfgang Schlichting, an analyst with market researcher International Data Corp.
Crowded Market
With more than 100 companies making USB memory drives, the market is due for a shakeout, Handy says. Many of these companies, however, are simply putting their name on a product made by someone else.
Among the top makers of USB flash memory drives are Lexar Media Inc., M-Systems Inc. and SanDisk Corp. Even Iomega Corp., the maker of the Zip drive, is selling a rebranded USB flash memory device. Dell started selling its own branded product in November.
Retail prices for USB memory drives aren't likely to fall much as production rises. That's because lower capacity flash memory chips are constantly made obsolete by more capable chips. Already 8 MB USB memory drives already have been replaced on the market by 16 MB drives. USB drives are available with up to 1 gigabyte of storage.
PC makers are considering bundling low-end USB memory drives with machines that don't have floppy disk drives.
Computer makers already have eliminated floppy drives from most notebook computers. But users got a smaller, lighter product in return. That's not a big issue with desktops.
Apple Computer Inc. stopped including floppy disk drives in its Macintosh computers starting with the iMac in August 1998.
Dell plans to stagger its introduction of floppy-less desktop PCs, Vena says. Dell's build-to-order business model gives it an advantage over other PC companies, which have to ship preconfigured machines to stores.
Dell will work to educate its customers about USB drives and CD recorders for storing data, Vena says.
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's No. 1 PC seller in 2002, has no plans to stop linking floppy drives with its PCs, says Bruce Greenwood, product marketing manager for HP's desktop PCs in North America.
"We have been looking at this for years and have always come up on the side of keeping the floppy in," Greenwood said. "There is a potential for some experimentation to happen. It's something we are continuing to consider."
HP is concerned that taking away the floppy drive could dissatisfy customers. "I'd hate to lose a sale based on that," he said.
The floppy disk drive isn't the only technology outliving its usefulness on modern-day PCs. The same argument can be made about parallel ports and serial ports. USB has overtaken them as a means of plugging in printers and other peripherals.
