Are floppy disks still used in the software world? [closed]

Question

just reading the bbc report on how millions of floppy disks are purchased each month in the UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8646699.stm

Does anyone still use floppies? Is this a legit distribution media for software? Are there specific uses for the little plastic disks?

Answer 1

Absolutely. In machining and automation we still have lots of more or less old robots running on win95 and machines with their own os that still use floppies. They often have no ethernet and the serial port is a pain so backups or file transfers goes via floppy :) We still have machines with fun stuff like hole punchers or rectifier tubes also.

Answer 2

For some folks, computers are mysterious. They had some kid (probably a nephew or grandniece) teach them the incantation to perform something they wanted to do on a computer fifteen years ago.

Since then there has been nothing else they wanted to do that required a computer, so they keep doing the same old thing the same old way with the same old hardware.

Works for them. And who are you or I to tell them they have to change?

Answer 3

Sony have killed them off. Start stocking up now if you still need them.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/sony-announces-the-death-of-the-floppy-disk/

Answer 4

As recently as a year ago I got a program installation on a floppy. The reason for this was that the installation was for a single licence and the licence was decremented on installation. Old trick - easily defeated by duplicating the floppy.

Answer 5

I agree with DMCKEE,

University and Colleges are an avid user of floppy technology. Many professors, that i have dealt with will REFUSE to give up their outdated laptop that has a floppy drive, and will demand students to give him digital copies via the Ye Ole Floppy.

I suspect that floppies are used purely for users that cannot or will not upgrade their tech.

As well my grandma has no use for more than a floppies worth of text docs and maybe...solitaire backups?? my grandma needs a SuperUser account

Answer 6

In some law schools, at least until fairly recently, you could use a laptop for written exams, but only if it was a PC-compatible with a floppy drive. They gave you a special floppy you could boot from and use a text editor on, and save your exam essays onto. The OS boot image on the floppy would lock you out from accessing your laptop's hard drive or the network, so you couldn't cheat on the exam.