“The slow death of the ‘floppy’ or ‘diskette’ began in 1998 when Apple decided to not include a floppy drive in its G3 iMac computer,” The Beeb reports “Since then various other firms have stopped support for floppy disks, including computer giant Dell in 2003. Computing store PC World stopped selling them in 2007.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple leads. The also-rans follow years later. As usual.
The Beeb reports, “Sony has decided to halt sales completely faced with competition from online storage and portable USB drives.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What’s a floppy disk? 
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jon B.” for the heads up.]
Today’s “floppy” is the 4GB USB drive.
——RM
@MetalMac
Don’t feel bad. After I got back from Vietnam I went to trade school to learn how to repair typewriters and adding machines. I did that for two years before going on to my career.
@Ottawa Mark
I had installed internal Iomega Jaz & Zip drives in my PM7500 in 1997. Wow, do I miss the classic ‘click of death’ from certain zip disks…
Speaking of Zip and Jaz disks – Did anyone ever unlock the mystery of the Dilithium crystals in the corner of each disk???
I used to worry about looking like a flesh-melting Mr. Spock(ST2) holding a 10pk of those disks too long…
@Figurative
I don’t thing there will be much selling of software on a flash drive instead of a disc. Flash drives though cheap in cost and ultimately faster for installs would cost more to ship than a dual layer disc especially when buying in bulk. I assume the disc will still be more cost effective. I think video game system should use flash instead of a crappy disc. Thing is.. they could make the flash drive have a code on it so it cant be copied or read on anything but the game console and no more scratched discs!!! though thats bad for retail since many ruin a disc and have to buy it again
So they are still around????
I had no idea Sony still sold them. Don’t tell me they are also stopping to sell music on 8-tracks too? Noooooooooooo…..
Spark: When 5.25 floppies (REAL floppies) were the norm
5.25″? That newfangled fad? Real men used 8″ floppy disks, driven by proper AC motors with head loading solenoids that shook the room! Anything smaller than a good-sized dinner plate is for sissies!
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At work, I still have to use a floppy disc. The 3.5 inch type. The problem is that I don’t have it installed on my Dull. I have a CD/DVD burner. But not a 3.5 inch disc. This is part of a Federal Register requirement when submitting documetns electronically. The US Government really loves its old technology.
I feel so, I don’t know, flippy-floppy about the whole thing..
@Silverwarloc
this year our payroll company finally does files over broadband connection so we can ditch our fax line… Sadly people still use faxes and I really dont know why. Print out a piece of paper if you must, then sign it and then scan to pdf and send.. or scan to jpg.. still saves paper. People should just get some signature pad.. then everything can all be electronic. Since we pay by click at work I can sure bet sending pdf instead of printing paper would cut back huge on costs per month
I had a client give me a mailing list on a floppy a couple of months ago. The computer that he kept his mailing list on had no internet access, no usb port and no CD burner. So I gave the floppy to the mailing list company and they had to search two buildings for someone with a floppy disk drive.
We won’t be having that problem again.
Guess who talked him into buying two new iMacs?
@ Ottawa Mark
I disagree about the lack of a floppy on the iMac being too soon.
By that time floppy disks were being made toooooo cheaply and were ALWAYS failing. The number of frantic people coming to me panicked because their only copy of (what ever doc they were working on) was on their floppy and they could no longer read it.
I was telling people till I was blue in the face that you should NEVER PUT YOUR ONLY COPY OF ANYTHING ON A FLOPPY!!!
But it didn’t mater, non tech people are non tech people.
Like Apple is doing with Flash, getting rid of the floppy was a good thing.
I have a box of the install floppies for MS Office for Mac, I think v4.0. Must have been 20 disks, and the install would choke if any of the disks failed to read. Was nearly impossible to install successfully.
Mr. Jobs was much farther ahead than this 1998 date in killing the floppy. As someone who attended ‘The NeXt Day’, the 1988 developers event after the big Davies Hall splash for the NeXt cube, I can attest to his radical push of the envelope. The vast majority of the time was taken up with Steve fielding questions from distraught propeller heads asking “Why no floppy?” and “Are you crazy?” and not talking about the amazing stuff they had produced with NeXtSTEP. Still have my commemorative NeXT Day carry bag around here somewhere… just have to find my geezer goggles…
I’ve got some real, authentic Apple-branded floppy discs I bought along with my still-running, never-used PowerMac 7500 in ther mid-nineties. They’re cool, but useless.
I remember my Mac-hating boss ridiculing the first iMacs for their “fruity colors” and lack of floppy drive.
It was like that till the end. So I fired the boss.
@auramac
How is it “still-running”, but “never-used”?
But how will I install Windows 95 on my Pentium 2 without a floppy?
> The slow death of the ‘floppy’ or ‘diskette’ began in 1998 when Apple decided to not include a floppy drive in its G3 iMac computer
Quite amusingly, while Apple and Steve Jobs insisted on a floppy-less iMac, they also pioneered the popular use of the 3.5-inch floppy disk with the original Mac. It wasn’t the first, but before the original Mac, most floppy disk really were “floppy.”
(The first iMac also popularized USB.)
So Apple is really responsible for the life and death of 3.5-inch floppy disks.
When Apple stopped the floppy on the iMacs in 98-99, I remember in 5th grade that my school had to get external Floppy Drives for all the iMacs since none had CD burners. CD ROM only.
I remember playing so much Oregon Trail, Word Munchers, Number Munchers, on the Apple II’s in 1st grade using Floppies and even the 5.25″ Floppies.
Last time I used a Floppy disc was in 2005 for a Computer repair coarse I had senior year in High School. We had to load MS DOS 6.22. Play around with a few commands, then load Windows 3.1 on this old Dell or IBM that had a old Intel Pentium Pro. The professor actually gave away the PC’s free to any student who wanted them. And around that time I backed up content from a bunch of old Floppies onto my External Drive around that time too. Reminds me of good times though.
So long Floppy. Had a Long, Long Run and u should’ve been dead 10 years ago.
Does anyone remember the time when Sony was a leader?
@ ken1w
“So Apple is really responsible for the life and death of 3.5-inch floppy disks.”
Isn’t that what they’re doing with the mouse?
Sounds like Bill Cosby all over again.
@ El Guapo
> Isn’t that what they’re doing with the mouse?
If you’re going to go that far already, you might was well say Apple is responsible for the life and (eventual) death of the desktop computer. Apple popularized it with the Apple II line, and already has been “de-popularizing” desktops with MacBooks, and now iPads.
But I don’t think iMacs (that come with separate keyboards/mice) are going away any time soon. There is still something quite valuable about the 27-inch 2560×1440 resolution screen. And you can only make a “laptop” so big. Apple would first have to invent a holographic display before desktop computers are truly “retired” like floppy disks. And mice will probably be around as long as there are desktop computers; no one is going to be holding/waving their arms up in the air all day to use a desktop computer with a huge touch screen.
Apple have from almost their very beginning brought new innovations to life. They have the ability to take the latest technology advances and make them into fantastic consumer friendly devices. Their drive means they will discard old ideas and tools to move to the next best thing.
Someone had better et Boing know sothat they canremove them from every 747 757 767 and 777 flying around the world today. All the maintenace data is downloaded via floppy discs!
WTF?! Hey Sony as a “loyal” customer why are you doing this to me? I love your Mavica FD-92 camera and without a floppy it’s useless! I am glad I never bought that Vaio laptop and instead bought a PowerBook G4 17″. Actually I have not use the camera in “x” amount of years and it is an actual nice doorstop.
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