Where Apple goeth, the industry will follow . . .
October 4, 2001 2:21 PM Subscribe
Where Apple goeth, the industry will follow . . . eventually. "Intel is finally inciting the death of the floppy drive and is calling on PC manufacturers big and small to stop supplying the once-capacious 1.44MB removable drive in the latter half of 2002." I remember the first 3.5 inchers (weren't they 400k) with my first Mac in '84. Yet another era passes.
What if your modem, cd-burner, internet connection, AND floppy drive crap out? I guess your PC maker better get cracking and find a solution for that eventuality.
I think the point is that by the end of 2002 the world will have moved on, wittyname: more broadband connections, more CD burners.
And speaking as a Mac user: What's a driver, anyway? (just kidding)
posted by bcwinters at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2001
I think the point is that by the end of 2002 the world will have moved on, wittyname: more broadband connections, more CD burners.
And speaking as a Mac user: What's a driver, anyway? (just kidding)
posted by bcwinters at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2001
There will always be a place for the legacy floppy drive or it's equivalent. I use mine on a reguar basis to sneakernet drivers from machine to machine. Until someone proposes a viable alternative I can't see floppy drives going anywhere. Brand name boxes might drop them but the rest of us that don't use brand name machines will need them in the forseeable future.
posted by Dillenger69 at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by Dillenger69 at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2001
I don't know. I haven't had a floppy drive in use at home in a few years, and I have never really missed it too much. Of course I have my own little network going, a situation which is not too uncommon and only becoming less so. I need it at the office though because there is this one guy who can't get it through his head to use the network to transfer files. And we sometimes get files from some of our very old-school clients that they cobbled together in CorelDraw 2 on their 386. I remember Windows 95 didn't come with a CD driver at first and so I had to use a floppy to boot up to install it. And I know floopies and serial ports are both important in a lot of Linux applications, as well as Lego MindStorms.
posted by donkeymon at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by donkeymon at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2001
Before moving to a template/database driven/web-interface system, I updated my website with the help of floppy disks from computers all around, from my work PC to to cybercafes in London and Paris and Kinkos in Dayton, OH and Costa Mesa, CA. Floppies have saved my professional butt on a few occasions when the office printer is down and a document had to go out that day -- there are always situations where an e-mail/internet/CD solution is not feasible or more than is necessary. Killing them off altogether just seems. . . extraneous. Why not just make them optional?
posted by Dreama at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by Dreama at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2001
People still use floppies? I haven't so much as touched one since 1997. They were too unreliable even back then.
posted by donkeyschlong at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by donkeyschlong at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2001
Uh, another of those pesky Mac users - my life is divided between my desktop (now venerable beige G3 minitower Zip and floppy drives) and my Powerbook (so I can sit on the sofa and refresh Metafilter all day. No floppy drive, USB external Zip), and the only thing that the floppy drive is used for is conveying files to my ex-girlfriend's Jurassic Performa 630 and my father's PC (a total of four or five uses in the last year).
Instead of floppies I (and all the other Mac users I know - primarily designers) have used Zips - essentially the same thing, but it can cope with file sizes that people will actually use. If you think you'll need it, a USB Zip is, frankly , a modest expense.
posted by Grangousier at 3:10 PM on October 4, 2001
Instead of floppies I (and all the other Mac users I know - primarily designers) have used Zips - essentially the same thing, but it can cope with file sizes that people will actually use. If you think you'll need it, a USB Zip is, frankly , a modest expense.
posted by Grangousier at 3:10 PM on October 4, 2001
but say your modem craps out, and you need new drivers, what then?
What is your PC and Windows craps out?
Predicted last bastion of floppy drives? LAW FIRMS: GET ME OUT OF HERE.
posted by ParisParamus at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2001
What is your PC and Windows craps out?
Predicted last bastion of floppy drives? LAW FIRMS: GET ME OUT OF HERE.
posted by ParisParamus at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2001
Well in Windows XP, the CD is bootable, and contains a recovery program. The OS allows you to make a startup disk for DOS, but if your drive is using NTFS you won't be able to do much.
posted by riffola at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by riffola at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2001
I say good riddance to 'em, but what irks me is that whenever I provide a ZIp DIsk for a job, they are never returned (no matter how many times I indicate I need it returned). Gets pricey!
posted by sharksandwich at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by sharksandwich at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2001
I'm a lawyer and as far as I can remember, the last time I used or even saw a floppy used for any purpose in a law firm was 1998. I do have a floppy drive, and I assume it works, but everything I do I do over the net. Any software to bulky to transfer over the net would never fit on a floppy anyway. I do use my zip drive at home, a bit, but far less often then I though. (Mainly to do backups.)
posted by MattD at 3:24 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by MattD at 3:24 PM on October 4, 2001
Um. Just because a computer doesn't ship with a floppy doesn't mean you can't install one yourself if you really feel the need for one. Add an internal drive to your tower or attach an external drive via USB (thewittyname: USB external floppies are available for Macs).
Me, I probably wouldn't bother; I'm barely aware of my A:\ drive as it is.
posted by mcwetboy at 3:26 PM on October 4, 2001
Me, I probably wouldn't bother; I'm barely aware of my A:\ drive as it is.
posted by mcwetboy at 3:26 PM on October 4, 2001
of course, this means that loading alternate os's is more of a pain. beos and atheos will only work for me from a floppy. and i don't always want to muck around with lilo in linux, especially if i'm installing a different version for testing. i always use the floppy boot method in that case.
overlooked in the conversation is the loss of the serial port. my workplace would have to look elsewhere for pc's, or buy extra cards because serial port availablity is a must have. we only have one radio shack dumb terminal left.
posted by lescour at 3:38 PM on October 4, 2001
overlooked in the conversation is the loss of the serial port. my workplace would have to look elsewhere for pc's, or buy extra cards because serial port availablity is a must have. we only have one radio shack dumb terminal left.
posted by lescour at 3:38 PM on October 4, 2001
In my opinion floppy drives become obsolete long ago - they are simply too small to be useful anymore and have been for many years. For about the same price as an add-on drive you can pick up a flash card reader and a 16mb card or an el cheapo CD burner either of which is far more useful.
but say your modem craps out, and you need new drivers, what then?
Does anybody actually put drivers on anything but CDs anymore?
posted by RevGreg at 3:40 PM on October 4, 2001
but say your modem craps out, and you need new drivers, what then?
Does anybody actually put drivers on anything but CDs anymore?
posted by RevGreg at 3:40 PM on October 4, 2001
A tiny few Windoze programs insist on the presence of a floppy drive and disc, like Jaws, the screen reader. One found this out the hard way while trying to run Jaws under VirtualPC on a Girl Power iMac.
Naturally, one could add a floppy drive.
posted by joeclark at 3:49 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by joeclark at 3:49 PM on October 4, 2001
This seems impractical to me, disc drives only cost around 10 bucks. Computer stores give them away for free if you ask. You can't use a boot disk if you don't have a disk drive. As was said before, it looks like WinXP will support CD Booting, and since this will only be on NEW computers, nobody will be installing anything before WinME.
BUT
Many programs use floppy disc boots now (Partition magic, System checking tools). I install linux with a floppy (I know you can burn it, but enh). What about those? It seems to me that Intel is just trying to be an "industry leader" and follow a stupid, stupid trend. Even without the floppy discs, computer manufacturers are still going to charge the same, because, well, they're as plentiful as DIRT (the floppy drives, not the manufacturers).
Oh, and how will I be able to play my old 286 games? Mmmm, sweet sweet CGA...
posted by starduck at 3:56 PM on October 4, 2001
BUT
Many programs use floppy disc boots now (Partition magic, System checking tools). I install linux with a floppy (I know you can burn it, but enh). What about those? It seems to me that Intel is just trying to be an "industry leader" and follow a stupid, stupid trend. Even without the floppy discs, computer manufacturers are still going to charge the same, because, well, they're as plentiful as DIRT (the floppy drives, not the manufacturers).
Oh, and how will I be able to play my old 286 games? Mmmm, sweet sweet CGA...
posted by starduck at 3:56 PM on October 4, 2001
Where Apple goeth, the industry will follow . . .
That's not the case for the one-button mouse, or AppleTalk, or the idea that you can't physically eject removable storage--you have to drag it to the trash can.
posted by ktheory at 3:58 PM on October 4, 2001
That's not the case for the one-button mouse, or AppleTalk, or the idea that you can't physically eject removable storage--you have to drag it to the trash can.
posted by ktheory at 3:58 PM on October 4, 2001
I'm given 1meg files all the time that people want burned on a cd. I make them take floppies instead. Most clients bring us copy on floppies, some bring in vector-based artwork or logos, which easily fit on a floppy.
Computer literacy is still pretty low in general, and while everyone in my office [video, advertising, multimedia] survives without floppies our clients don't...i guess it depends on what industry and where.
which reminds me, Sony floppies SUCK. Barely work half the time. buy Imation.
posted by th3ph17 at 4:04 PM on October 4, 2001
Computer literacy is still pretty low in general, and while everyone in my office [video, advertising, multimedia] survives without floppies our clients don't...i guess it depends on what industry and where.
which reminds me, Sony floppies SUCK. Barely work half the time. buy Imation.
posted by th3ph17 at 4:04 PM on October 4, 2001
What about shcools? There are still people who don't even own PC's...and a lot of people who do (me w/ a new laptop and NO burner) don't have any other way to transfer their files besides at schools. This is especially big at high schools and lower levels as students need to bring floppies to school as not all kids a) have burners and b) not all school computers (or school for that matter) have PC's with CD-ROMs...
posted by jmd82 at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by jmd82 at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2001
I'm given 1meg files all the time that people want burned on a cd. I make them take floppies instead.
Why? The CD is faster to read, faster to write, and cheaper, even if 639MB of it are wasted.
posted by kindall at 4:41 PM on October 4, 2001
Why? The CD is faster to read, faster to write, and cheaper, even if 639MB of it are wasted.
posted by kindall at 4:41 PM on October 4, 2001
Don't forget gadgets that use PS/2 as a power source. Like a Slim Zip Drive aimed at the laptop market. Bring your toys over to your friends house and his new PC won't be able to use them. Blah. Intel frequently aggravates me.
posted by Nauip at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by Nauip at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2001
every single floppy disk in my house has a virus (i don't know how it happened, but it just did.). the name of it escapes me, but it's one of those that scrambles the fdisk thing if you accidentally leave the disk in while booting the computer up.
to hell with floppies. i love my 250 zip drive. and with my cracked version of MacOpener, i will be an unstoppable force!
posted by lotsofno at 5:18 PM on October 4, 2001
to hell with floppies. i love my 250 zip drive. and with my cracked version of MacOpener, i will be an unstoppable force!
posted by lotsofno at 5:18 PM on October 4, 2001
People worried about the same things when Apple stopped shipping floppy drives. None of them turned out to be problems. Those few Mac users who really, really need to store miniscule quantities of data on pathetic, slow, unreliable media can buy add-on floppy drives, but most don't bother.
Give it a few years. Not only will you have found something else that does better the job floppies once did, you'll wonder why you ever thought they were a good idea and laugh at the people who refuse to move on.
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:21 PM on October 4, 2001
Give it a few years. Not only will you have found something else that does better the job floppies once did, you'll wonder why you ever thought they were a good idea and laugh at the people who refuse to move on.
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:21 PM on October 4, 2001
I do Mac tech support to pay my bills; since the abandonment of the floppy drive by Apple, none of my clients who use Macs have bought a single extra floppy drive.
I myself have used the free floppy drive that goes in my PowerBook bay, oh, maybe six times since December 1998, usually to recover a trashed eight-year-old floppy disk belonging to someone who thinks it's pretty cool they fit in your back pocket all day long. Zips are far more reliable than floppy disks.
My file transfers are easy: email, ethernet, crossover ethernet, Zip. How many more ways do I need?
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:05 PM on October 4, 2001
I myself have used the free floppy drive that goes in my PowerBook bay, oh, maybe six times since December 1998, usually to recover a trashed eight-year-old floppy disk belonging to someone who thinks it's pretty cool they fit in your back pocket all day long. Zips are far more reliable than floppy disks.
My file transfers are easy: email, ethernet, crossover ethernet, Zip. How many more ways do I need?
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:05 PM on October 4, 2001
Yay to all the people I agree with! Boo to all the people I don't!
posted by thirteen at 10:32 PM on October 4, 2001
posted by thirteen at 10:32 PM on October 4, 2001
Ah I remember the removable media that came with my first PC - a cassette tape deck. Yes the mighty mighty TRS-80 Model III with it's capacious 16K RAM, 127x47 resolution in a glorious 2 colours, and blistering cassette drive.
I tried fooling it into thinking a Rolling Stones tune was a program once. It didn't work. More's the pity.
Yep, I'm that old.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:38 AM on October 5, 2001
I tried fooling it into thinking a Rolling Stones tune was a program once. It didn't work. More's the pity.
Yep, I'm that old.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:38 AM on October 5, 2001
Yay to all the people I agree with! Boo to all the people I don't!
This is the greatest comment of all time.
posted by yerfatma at 4:44 AM on October 5, 2001
This is the greatest comment of all time.
posted by yerfatma at 4:44 AM on October 5, 2001
Mac users surely rejoice. I remember when Apple announced that they would remove the floppy, at the time no one thought it'd be a good idea. But the more you think about it, the more sense it makes. The most popular usage of the floppy is transferring text files, such as in school. But text files are incredibly small and you have endless amounts of alternatives. You can copy and paste your document into an e-mail and send it out to any of the billion free e-mail accounts you may have, you can get some free space on an ftp server, use the free hosting places like geocities, use the free file hosting space, such as even apple's own apple tools.
What about this? It could be an interesting program that would teach the students of the Internet and all it is. Setup some servers that would be used to store accounts for each of the students where all he has to do is enter the login/password and upload/download his files. On school systems setup a custom ftp client that would not store the usernames/passwords and would expire each session in 5 minutes, as not to allow misuse. It's not a downside, it's an upside, this way you'll have more protection, for you wouldn't believe how many floppies are in the 'lost' bin all over libraries and computer halls. They're easy to forget.
As far as PCs and boot disks, I have found them nothing but trouble, they're easy to misplace, making you search for the CD and then the floppy. They might be corrupt, I don't know how it happens, but it does. Bootable CDs are much better, everything you need is on one CD, it's faster than a floppy and also the boot disk can be more versatile, you can have more options, recovery, access to different tools and whatnot, stuff you could never fit on a floppy.
Windows, for some reason always insists on checking all the drives, even the floppy, in which it would take 10-20 seconds going on about. It's sometimes annoying.
Serial ports are even worse. Sure they were useful when they came out, but now they're just problems. You have a plug with many pins, those are easy to damage, it's bulky and usually there are screws involved. When you installed it, you have to reboot. Each time. Then you hope that windows found the device, but it's always tricky, depends on what it is you're connecting, even if it is plug and play. Then you have to find the drivers and make sue the irq settings are not messed up.
The best thing I think apply did was use USB as soon as they did. Of course now every pc comes with two ports, and that's great, the difference between any other type of connection and usb is night and day. Plug in, plug out, plug in, plug out, it's works, it sets up the drivers, applies all the settings and works immediately. Of course I think there are problems with Linux and such, but with that platform you're never looking to make things easier. Another thing, pc and Mac peripherals/hardware can finally work on both platforms, or so I have found the case. Sure the packaging may say pc required or macos required, but I have yet to find anything that would give me any trouble at all, be it a macally keyboard to 6 mice, to printers, to even modems.
posted by tiaka at 5:59 AM on October 5, 2001
What about this? It could be an interesting program that would teach the students of the Internet and all it is. Setup some servers that would be used to store accounts for each of the students where all he has to do is enter the login/password and upload/download his files. On school systems setup a custom ftp client that would not store the usernames/passwords and would expire each session in 5 minutes, as not to allow misuse. It's not a downside, it's an upside, this way you'll have more protection, for you wouldn't believe how many floppies are in the 'lost' bin all over libraries and computer halls. They're easy to forget.
As far as PCs and boot disks, I have found them nothing but trouble, they're easy to misplace, making you search for the CD and then the floppy. They might be corrupt, I don't know how it happens, but it does. Bootable CDs are much better, everything you need is on one CD, it's faster than a floppy and also the boot disk can be more versatile, you can have more options, recovery, access to different tools and whatnot, stuff you could never fit on a floppy.
Windows, for some reason always insists on checking all the drives, even the floppy, in which it would take 10-20 seconds going on about. It's sometimes annoying.
Serial ports are even worse. Sure they were useful when they came out, but now they're just problems. You have a plug with many pins, those are easy to damage, it's bulky and usually there are screws involved. When you installed it, you have to reboot. Each time. Then you hope that windows found the device, but it's always tricky, depends on what it is you're connecting, even if it is plug and play. Then you have to find the drivers and make sue the irq settings are not messed up.
The best thing I think apply did was use USB as soon as they did. Of course now every pc comes with two ports, and that's great, the difference between any other type of connection and usb is night and day. Plug in, plug out, plug in, plug out, it's works, it sets up the drivers, applies all the settings and works immediately. Of course I think there are problems with Linux and such, but with that platform you're never looking to make things easier. Another thing, pc and Mac peripherals/hardware can finally work on both platforms, or so I have found the case. Sure the packaging may say pc required or macos required, but I have yet to find anything that would give me any trouble at all, be it a macally keyboard to 6 mice, to printers, to even modems.
posted by tiaka at 5:59 AM on October 5, 2001
Ha ha, remember 8 inch floppies?! Those were hilarious!
posted by bob bisquick at 6:14 AM on October 5, 2001
posted by bob bisquick at 6:14 AM on October 5, 2001
On my PC, I did use my floppy drive - for boot disks, and to look through old, archived files. That's it. With my Mac, I have no floppy, and I don't miss it.
But.
There's a lot more control on the Apple side when it comes to hardware. On the PC side, I could have an Asus motherboard, a WD hard drive, Joe Bob's PCI Card Thingamajig, and fifty other things by fifty other manufacturers. Intel is simply trying to control more and more of what goes on in the PC market, because they've got a huge share of the market.
Doesn't anyone see that this is a lot similar to, say, Microsoft? MS has the OS, and quickly spread to the applications, the browser, the other applications.... Intel has the CPU, and quickly spread to the motherboard, the memory, and now, the entire guts of the box.
What's AMD gonna do? If they're wise, AMD might take this opportunity to note continued support for the floppy drive, and maybe say, "We don't ram all sorts of specs down your throat, like Intel" (although they might do so, anyway).
The removal of PS/2 and serial ports face the same problems: too many hardware manufacturers to simply say, "That's it, it's over." One thing to consider is that Belkin sells a series of USB serial port adapters.
One quote from the article: PC types seem to hang on to their outdated technologies with rather more passion than their Mac counterparts
I'm not sure. I know Mac people who are using Really Darned Old peripherals... but the point is, they still work. It's going to take a heck of a marketing muscle for Intel to provide a compelling reason to dump their existing stuff. Good luck!
posted by hijinx at 6:59 AM on October 5, 2001
But.
There's a lot more control on the Apple side when it comes to hardware. On the PC side, I could have an Asus motherboard, a WD hard drive, Joe Bob's PCI Card Thingamajig, and fifty other things by fifty other manufacturers. Intel is simply trying to control more and more of what goes on in the PC market, because they've got a huge share of the market.
Doesn't anyone see that this is a lot similar to, say, Microsoft? MS has the OS, and quickly spread to the applications, the browser, the other applications.... Intel has the CPU, and quickly spread to the motherboard, the memory, and now, the entire guts of the box.
What's AMD gonna do? If they're wise, AMD might take this opportunity to note continued support for the floppy drive, and maybe say, "We don't ram all sorts of specs down your throat, like Intel" (although they might do so, anyway).
The removal of PS/2 and serial ports face the same problems: too many hardware manufacturers to simply say, "That's it, it's over." One thing to consider is that Belkin sells a series of USB serial port adapters.
One quote from the article: PC types seem to hang on to their outdated technologies with rather more passion than their Mac counterparts
I'm not sure. I know Mac people who are using Really Darned Old peripherals... but the point is, they still work. It's going to take a heck of a marketing muscle for Intel to provide a compelling reason to dump their existing stuff. Good luck!
posted by hijinx at 6:59 AM on October 5, 2001
OK, ktheory, wake up and smell the OS! Macs have been able to eject removable media since OS8! To eject a floppy, CD or ZIP, simply select the disk then press command(apple key) + E. Voilà. Please don't bitch about an OS that you obviously do not use!
PeeCee users have relied on floppies due to the aforementioned lack of support for CD boot up on the antiquated motherboards.
Apple has once again pushed the computer industry to move forward with both the design of boxes and the use of newer technologies such as USB and even ethernet. As far as I know, most PeeCees to this day don't ship with NICs installed. What's up with that??
It seems to me that people who have an irrational attachment to the crappy media of a floppy are being held back by a basic lack of understanding about how to use a network for file transfer AND by the Microsoft side of the computer industry that still supports antiquated technologies such as serial and floppy.
I've had many clients who couldn't imagine file transfers without some sort of sneakernet, simply because they had not been trained about it. ALL Macs (for years) have had ethernet capability (or at least phone net) and therefore could be networked together. PeeCees have not, and still don't come with networking, so most users have no clue about transferring files without a disk of some kind.
It's an educational matter for the most part, I think. I have spent a lot of time training my clients about USB and how to transition from SCSI and ADB to USB.
I also agree with the comment by hijinx that PeeCee people are very very attached to old technologies and they don't like change. I read an essay just the other day by an older guy who still thinks that colors for computers are inherently bad and all computers should still be beige - like his computer that he uses a command line with.
Whatever. Personally, I prefer TITANIUM. :-)
posted by misangela at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2001
PeeCee users have relied on floppies due to the aforementioned lack of support for CD boot up on the antiquated motherboards.
Apple has once again pushed the computer industry to move forward with both the design of boxes and the use of newer technologies such as USB and even ethernet. As far as I know, most PeeCees to this day don't ship with NICs installed. What's up with that??
It seems to me that people who have an irrational attachment to the crappy media of a floppy are being held back by a basic lack of understanding about how to use a network for file transfer AND by the Microsoft side of the computer industry that still supports antiquated technologies such as serial and floppy.
I've had many clients who couldn't imagine file transfers without some sort of sneakernet, simply because they had not been trained about it. ALL Macs (for years) have had ethernet capability (or at least phone net) and therefore could be networked together. PeeCees have not, and still don't come with networking, so most users have no clue about transferring files without a disk of some kind.
It's an educational matter for the most part, I think. I have spent a lot of time training my clients about USB and how to transition from SCSI and ADB to USB.
I also agree with the comment by hijinx that PeeCee people are very very attached to old technologies and they don't like change. I read an essay just the other day by an older guy who still thinks that colors for computers are inherently bad and all computers should still be beige - like his computer that he uses a command line with.
Whatever. Personally, I prefer TITANIUM. :-)
posted by misangela at 2:36 PM on October 5, 2001
I read an essay just the other day by an older guy who still thinks that colors for computers are inherently bad
Link! Link!
posted by kindall at 2:42 PM on October 5, 2001
Link! Link!
posted by kindall at 2:42 PM on October 5, 2001
misangela: I also agree with the comment by hijinx that PeeCee people are very very attached to old technologies and they don't like change.
bzzt! Slight misinterpretation of my post.... My opinions may vary on the PC/old tech thing; I was simply quoting the article linked to in this thread. In fact, I'm still unsure if it's true.
posted by hijinx at 6:56 PM on October 5, 2001
bzzt! Slight misinterpretation of my post.... My opinions may vary on the PC/old tech thing; I was simply quoting the article linked to in this thread. In fact, I'm still unsure if it's true.
posted by hijinx at 6:56 PM on October 5, 2001
CrayDrygu: By that reasoning, Macs have no power switch. Oh no, the design is flawed, Macs suck. What exactly is a keyboard if not a physical device, anyway?
And anyway, if you can be pedantic so can I: Macs have had a "physical" eject button since the very first day. It's kind of hidden inside the case, and you can't get at it very easily, but that's a good thing for a dangerous, possibly data-destroying function that really shouldn't be used unless you're in an emergency.
Stupid platform wars are so much fun...
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 7:46 PM on October 5, 2001
And anyway, if you can be pedantic so can I: Macs have had a "physical" eject button since the very first day. It's kind of hidden inside the case, and you can't get at it very easily, but that's a good thing for a dangerous, possibly data-destroying function that really shouldn't be used unless you're in an emergency.
Stupid platform wars are so much fun...
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 7:46 PM on October 5, 2001
i'm kinda surprised no mac user has mentioned the bent paperclip trick.
posted by patricking at 1:19 AM on October 6, 2001
posted by patricking at 1:19 AM on October 6, 2001
PeeCee people are very very attached to old technologies and they don't like change
teehee ...you couldn't make this stuff up.
posted by normy at 1:44 AM on October 6, 2001
teehee ...you couldn't make this stuff up.
posted by normy at 1:44 AM on October 6, 2001
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posted by thewittyname at 2:39 PM on October 4, 2001