Let's get back to reality here. First, what difference does it matter whether zip is the A drive or B,D,E,F, or Z. None. Once you take the box home a literate computer user can assign any letter he wants to it. So the A drive argument is ridiculous at best. What is important is the inclusion of zip in boxes by OEM's.
Go back in history to the 5-1/4 being replaced by the 3-1/2 inch drive. Long after the 3-1/2 inch became standard people still wanted a 5-1/4 inch drive on their box. Why, because they had all those disks with all that crap on it and they didn't want to just trash them. Now there are literally billions of 3-1/2 disks out there with even more crap on them and people don't want to just trash them either, so OEM's will continue to include the 3-1/2 inch as long as they are in demand.
Finally, Sony, just like Compaq, will continue to include the 3-1/2 inch drive on their boxes as long as people want them. Why wouldn't they, we are talking a cost of what $10 to $20 for a 3-1/2 inch drive. There is no big cost savings or advantage to eliminating the 3-1/2 inch drive, so for the time being they will stay around, just like the 5-1/4 stayed around for years. Furthermore, the 3-1/2 inch drive still has its place, if I want to give a friend a 1mg file do I want to give it to him on a $10 100mg zip disk or a free 1.44mg disk?? Think about it and use a little common sense!!!!!
Chris |
