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Re: the worst storage media of all time

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In message <bu4kpuFh561U1@mid.individual.net> 
  polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> wrote:
> On 21/05/2014 15:35, Lewis wrote:
>> Floppies gave way to CD-Rs around 1995 for non-windows users (who*had*
>> to use floppies for drivers as much as ten years after the floppy became
>> otherwise irrelevant) and CD-Rs went away with DVD-Rs. Then the USB
>> thumb drive started to get useful sizes, though I had no interest in
>> them until they were in the 2GB range.

> In some ways floppies gave way to CD-R but, in my experience, only a 
> minority of PCs had the ability to write CDs around 1995 - though it 
> became more and more common. Whereas floppies and, later, USB sticks 
> were more universal. That is what I was thinking of as the gap between 
> floppies and USB sticks.

Other than installing drivers on a Windows machine I know that 1995 was
the last time I used a floppy because when Steve Jobs announce the iMac
and everyone panicked at the lack of floppy I said, "WHo cares, I
haven't used a floppy in years" and then checked to see that yes, it had
been years.

My machines were networked, so no need to sneakernet files around, and I
had this super fast modem that could transfer a 5MB file in only an hour
or so! Besides, you couldn't get a 5MB file onto a floppy.

In 1995 I borrowed a CD-R ($1000 piece of hardware) and backed up my
computers (all of them, including all the external storage) to a single
CD-R. It was nearly half full!

About a year later I bought a much cheaper and faster CD-R (probably
about $400?) and started burning CDs. That's also about when I dumped
the modem for a DSL line (256K download!).

It's very much like 1997 again, when everyone starting whining about the
lack of optical drives on the new Macs I thought, "Really? People still
used CDs and DVDs? Who are these people?"

Again, other than a PC, it's been at least two years since I put an
optical disc into a computer.

-- 
Demons have existed on the Discworld for at least as long as the gods,
who in many ways they closely resemble. The difference is basically the
same as between terrorists and freedom fighters.

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the worst storage media of all time RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-19 14:49 +0000
  Re: the worst storage media of all time polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-05-19 19:34 +0100
    Re: the worst storage media of all time Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-05-20 16:09 +0100
      Re: the worst storage media of all time Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-20 16:36 +0100
        Re: the worst storage media of all time Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-05-21 02:49 +0100
      Re: the worst storage media of all time polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-05-21 08:36 +0100
        Re: the worst storage media of all time Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-05-21 13:19 +0100
          Re: the worst storage media of all time RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-21 13:07 +0000
        Re: the worst storage media of all time Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-05-21 14:35 +0000
          Re: the worst storage media of all time polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-05-21 22:40 +0100
            Re: the worst storage media of all time Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-05-22 15:52 +0000
              Re: the worst storage media of all time Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-05-22 13:53 -0600
          Re: the worst storage media of all time Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-05-21 23:34 -0600
            Re: the worst storage media of all time Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2014-05-22 02:19 -0700

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