Techie,
I didn't say that that Zip drives/disks will replace CDROM, at least not right
away. I believe that in the short term Zip will complement/co-exist
with CDROM applications and in may cases will replace some CDROM
applications as a result of performance needs and necessity. Longterm,
if CDROM performance can't continue to improve at a signficant pace,
look out for the 25MB, 100MB, 200MB zip disks. (remember the name
"ZIP", as in zipping along....)
If cost is the only or greatest issue, 3.5-in floppy would still be king.
With availability of the Zip, the clear performance distinctions
between 3.5-in floppy and CD-ROM is not there any more. It's used
to be the case that if you can't use floppies due to capacity, then
CDROM is the only choice. Very soon, this will no longer be the case.
Am I wrong, or the only real advantage CDROM has over the Zip is
cost? Another advantage is CDROM has higher capacity at this time,
but most of this capacity is not fully utilized for program distribution.
Of course, speed and read-only has always been CDROM 's major
drawbacks.
If the Zip becomes a standard, cost of zip disks will drop drastically.
And CDROM could then loose big market share to zips. The only thing
that will keep it around on PCs will be low-end applications and music.
Let 's remember this discussion and check again in 1998. Regard
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