RE: [WinMac] Re: iMac
Jeff Thorstad(thorstadj[at]macconnect.com)
Thu, 4 Feb 1999 14:03:50 -0600
>> I used to spend
>> lots of time dealing with students and teachers that had problems with
>> floppy disks and drives.
>
>So then wouldn't all of the sudden pulling the plug on floppy disks when the
>staff rely on these disks for personal backups as well as transferring files
>home be a bit drastic? You make it sound like a solution to the problems
>with floppy disks is to remove the drive. If you do not want the students
>to use the disk drives you can either get locks for the disk drives or for
>the PC you can disable the drive in the BIOS and then password protect it, I
>have implemented both before with no problem in situations where disks from
>students are not wanted. I understand your thinking however I don't think a
>solution to problems with floppy disks is to remove the drives.
Personally, I want the entire world to replace floppies with Zip disks.
Anybody backing up to floppies now needs to be gently guided over to the
other portion of the sales floor and shown some real technology. I
remember having my own floppies, originally 5+ inchers, and doing just
that. But when 3 1/2 inchers came out, we switched because they were
better. And when HD versions with over 1MB capacity came out, we
switched. There was always backward compatibility in these situations.
The problem now is, Zip won out over comparable solutions like LS-120
drives that could still read floppies. So now backward compatibility
means two drives instead of one. Nobody has standardized this "upgrade"
even yet. Apple made a bold move deleting the old drive, but they didn't
include the new one. So now the iMac has nothing right out of the box
that is writeable. I still would be happier with a Zip over the floppy,
though, even for an extra $100-150.
>> It's a major paradigm shift for educators but the increasing
>> availability of
>> file servers on networks and email do allow for efficient
>> transfer of small
>> files. For those that still want to use floppies, they can
>> get an external
>> SuperDisk or floppy-only drive, both of which connect to the
>> iMac or new G3
>> via USB (another step forward).
>
>Agreed, however you are still going to have those that want personal backups
>or to take the files home. Mention lugging around an external floppy drive
>and you will get weird looks. Yes USB is a step forward, however this is by
>no means an innovative thing for computers, it has been on PCs well before
>it made its appearance on the Macs. The iMac just made it crunch time for
>all the companies to make USB stuff, which helped both platforms.
Frankly, the concept of replacing most workstations on the job with a
computer like the iMac is great, but the screen size is a huge issue. In
my company almost no one has smaller than a 17" monitor.
I find it interesting that USB was not _standard_ on ANY Wintel computer
until about a minute after the iMac came out. So maybe it was available
first, but Apple still is the only company with the guts to really use
new technology, whether they created it (IEEE 1394) or not (USB). Wintel
companies have always been "wait until everyone does it, then try to do
it cheaper". And what comes out is cheaper, not less expensive.
Jeff T
thorstadj@macconnect.com
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