Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> All of this may leave the modern reader wondering: What is a floppy disk?

Interesting, In my quarter century of ripe old age, I distinctly remembered floppy disks from my childhood. My family had a commodity of them for whatever reason, they're everywhere and the best game on the computer was the minesweeper.

I guess the news are addressed towards true 21st century born now.




But you, myself, and most people in here of that age are most likely kids of upper-middle-class parents who actually had computers, back when most office computers were still up to a $10k investment.

Floppy disks were around a lot back then, but that doesn't mean kids actually encountered them. I'm 28. My first computer experience was at the age of 6, but most people I knew as a kid didn't touch one until the age of 15. By then, floppies were already gone.

I don't think there's any age range that has a majority of people aware of what a floppy disk is. We have magnitudes more tech-aware people than we did back when floppies were a thing.


What? I am your age. I grew up working class and my parents had a crappy computer they bought at Sams Club with a floppy drive. The neighborhors had one too. I turned in my homework with floppies. Most students (working class) had one in the house, but a lot of the time the computer was rather ancient.


Interesting. I don't remember using floppies after 1999.


It’s about the same timeframe for me as well. I definitely used a floppy for BIOS updates and transferring Matlab files in 1999, but a laptop I bought in 2000 didn’t have a floppy drive.


My friends & I in grade school were trading files on floppy up into 2005




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: