Death of the Floppy Drive

Sony finally accepts what we all knew – The Floppy Disk is Dead
Sony has today announced that it will be ceasing production of Floppy Disk in its homeland of Japan, in March 2011. This is not an unexpected move, as it has been doing the same thing with its other disk production facilities around the world, but it does mark the end of an era.
What is surprising, though, is the fact that the floppy has lasted so long! It was first introduced in 1981, boasting (in “DD”, or “Double Density” mode) a then-impressive 720k available space. You read that right. Less than 1MB of storage. Later the High Density standard was introduced, which doubled formatted capacity to the 1.44MB we know today.
We believe that it is the sheer ubiquity of the floppy that has created its longevity and allowed it to last far longer than it should have in an era when £5 can buy you a USB stick with 2GB capacity, or to put it another way, £5 buys you a device capable of storing the contents of over 1,400 High Density floppies!

As embracers of technology ourselves (Nemark provide technical solutions and IT Support to organisations across the UK) we are glad to see such an archaic device meet its overdue demise but this gladness is tinged with nostalgic wistfulness at seeing such a faithful friend consigned to the digital graveyard of the past!