Dell to drive floppy out

NEWS

The floppy drive is heading toward extinction at Dell Computer. Later this month, the PC maker plans to drop the floppy as standard equipment on one of its Dimension desktops. Dell, which nixed floppies as standard equipment on its Inspiron 4150 and 8250 notebooks last summer, will let customers configure one of its top-of-the-line Dimension 8250 PCs without a floppy drive by the end of this month, company representatives said. Dell executives believe its time to head in the direction of eliminating the floppy from its consumer desktops for two reasons: computer buyers have become more sophisticated about using their computers, and new technology such as portable USB storage devices and CD-rewritable drives have come down in price over the last few years. The PC maker, which currently ships a floppy with every Dimension desktop, believes that the drive is no longer necessary because of the availability of better storage devices. But it plans to gently nudge customers toward that philosophy. The 8250 floppy delete option, which gives customers the choice of casting off the drive, is the first step. Dell plans to offer its $20 USB Memory Key storage device, which holds 16MB of data, in place of the 1.44MB floppy. The Dell USB Memory Key uses flash memory and works by plugging into a PC's USB (universal serial bus) port. When connected, the Dell-branded device appears on a computer's desktop as a removable hard drive, allowing people to drag and drop files for storage or to move them to another computer. When not in use, it fits into a shirt pocket. Dell hasn't locked down its pricing strategy for the floppy delete as of yet, but the company is aiming to offer the USB key as a direct swap. Company representatives said Dell hasn't decided yet whether it will delete the floppy by default on its Web site's configuration tool -- forcing customers to add it back in. According to Dell, most of its customers are opting for the $40 upgrade to a CD-RW drive from a read-only drive or a $199 upgrade to a DVD-RW drive. Although the floppy may no longer be a technological necessity, but Dell executives concede that it may still be important to some customers to have one -- a security blanket for their PC. "The cost, availability and features you get from alternate devices are making the floppy obsolete from a technology perspective," said David Schwarzback, manager of product marketing for Dell's Dimension desktop line. "But there's still as psychological attachment to it. Customers aren't willing to give up on it on the whole, but research has shown people are open to alternatives." Still, Dell is likely to eventually nix the floppy in all of its systems. The company is following a systematic plan to eliminate the drive as standard equipment, starting with the models that customers are the least likely to miss it on. "We will be watching the customers' reaction to this," said Shannon Baxly, a product marketing manager for Dell Dimension. "Right now the plan is to give the customers a couple of months to get used to this." If the floppy delete option is popular, Dell will move it down the line to its Dimension 4550 and 2350 desktop models and possibly their future equivalents. Before it made floppy disks optional on some Inspiron notebooks last year, it cut them as standard equipment on its Optiplex business desktops in 2001. Its next-generation of Inspiron models will offer the drives as options on all models. Some of the notebooks offer optional internal floppy drive modules, while others will use only external USB floppy drives, a source familiar with Dell's plans said. Analysts said that while PC manufacturers have been talking about ditching the floppy for years, Dell is the first Windows-based PC maker to move toward that goal on the desktop in some time.

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