RIP floppy disks

So its a bit of an old story at this point, but it still strikes me as hilarious that these are still being made. If you haven't heard yet, Sony is planning on stopping production of floppy disks in 2011. I can't imagine any use for these obsolete pieces of technology other than hours of fun crafting through recycling.I wonder how long it will take before Iomega stops manufacturing their ZIP disks...as useful as those turned out to be.

I know it's a bit hypocritical to talk about obsolete technology while I profess the glories of film, but seriously, when you can buy a more reliable 16GB flash drive for less than $30, it makes you wonder who is still using/buying these things and why they weren't made redundant years ago. Here's the article from CNET:

The days of the 3.5-inch floppy disk are now officially numbered.

Sony, which boasts 70 percent of the anemic market, announced Friday that it would end Japanese sales of the ancient storage medium in March 2011, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily newspaper.

The 3.5-inch floppy was a ubiquitous and necessary component for storing and transferring files between personal computers for nearly three decades. Sony pioneered the 3.5-inch floppy disk in 1981, eventually replacing the 5.25-inch floppy disk that had previously been the popular storage format.

However, as the size of files and programs grew, the floppy disk was pushed aside by inexpensive and larger-format storage medium. Thanks to the creation of storage methods such as CDs, DVDs, Zip, and USB drives, Sony saw its Japanese sales of floppies decline from a record 47 million disks in fiscal 2002 to 12 million in fiscal 2009.

Most other floppy disk manufacturers had long since pulled out of the market, and Sony itself has already ceased sales to most of its overseas markets.

Certainly the writing had been on the walls for years. With the release of the iMac in 1998, Apple was the first computer maker to take the plunge and eliminate the floppy completely. Dell followed suit in 2003 when it dropped the floppy as standard equipment on one of its Dimension desktops."