I think floppy disks are fantastic. They sure as hell aren't perfect mind, and can be broken quite easily by putting them near magnetic fields or in moist conditions, but CD's aren't much good in that respect either. A few deep scratches and you're screwed. Sure, CD's and DVD's can hold a hell of a lot more data than a typical 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disk, but that is besides the point and downright unfair to compare a medium born in the early 80s with something that only hit the computing mainstream just over 10 years ago. So why then, do I like this storage medium so much?
Well to be honest when faced with that question, I haven't really much idea. They are small and humble, but given the choice of choosing to write a file under 1Mb to a CD or floppy, I'd go for the floppy any day. You can't beat a floppy disk for transferring small files. Or at least that used to be the case...
For years, it seemed the floppy was un-killable. 8" was shortlived, 5.25" was phased out by the mid 90s, but the 3.5" disk has been with us since the early-mid 80s and has since been a very popular storage medium. Such classic pre-CD era machines such as the Amiga 500, wads of 286s, 386s, 486s running DOS onwards, Atari ST's have all used floppies as the standard storage medium. It has been with us for over 20 years, and no one really thought they would go away even when CD-Rs came along. But that is now changing. Over the last few years computer manufacturers have began selling a lot of new machines without floppy drives. I personally think this is awful! They are great for creating emergency boot disks for example, a lifesaver if you're computer goes down. They are great for small text and Word documents, spreadsheets, smaller databases. CD's are too much of a pain to use... rven CD RW's do not offer the simplicity of the drag and drop method when working with floppies. You have to wait longer for the drive to whir up and the disk to start spinning, and you can't delete individual files as easily.
Systems such as Windows XP and OS X have made things easier, but simply erasing a couple of files on a CD and putting new ones on there isn't as simple as it should be.
USB sticks are much better in this respect.
I would love to see the USB stick become the successor to the CD-ROM for example. Just plug it in and go. No waiting for the lens and the drive to whir up, instant access. Read, write, delete, drag, drop as you please. You don't have to worry about scratching USB sticks or floppies either. The critical parts are safely housed with exterior casing.
So while the world gradually shifts away from the floppy disk, I can guarantee that I will continue to use them for the forseeable future.
CD's/DVD's I think should be phased out by something similar. Too often precious files are lost due to scratches. CD's/DVD's should come in a similar plasting housing to that of a floppy, CD cases are ok (if a pain in the ass when they snap/break), but I am talking of permanent housing here.
So that is why CD's suck IMO and floppies kick ass. :-D
MiniDiscs, USB pens, anything I don't care! Just phase out the damn scratchable disks, they are boring and more fragile!
