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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Reseller who wrote (55863)	6/9/1998 10:27:00 PM
From: robert read	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

this person got it all wrong but note when she/he says that no big pc manufacturer would commit to a single super floppy. now that cpq has commited, is it over? Floppy wins by default as fight continues (Waikato Times; 06/04/98) As the floppy disk becomes an antique, the contenders are lining up to claim the storage system crown. Russell Joyce looks at the options. -------------------- DEAR OLD floppy disks. Unless you're storing documents on them, they're almost useless now. They're just too small. Their 1.4 megabyte (Mb) capacity isn't even enough for a high resolution picture today. So why are new machines still being sold with one? Because the industry has yet to decide what's going to replace them. The problem is that our demand for computer storage space is increasing faster than technology can be developed to meet it. The top contender to replace the floppy disk is the sumo-sized digital video disk (DVD), with a giant 5.2 gigabyte (Gb) capacity on each cheap Cd-rom disk. Unfortunately, the industry is still squabbling over the DVD standard -- which means a DVD unit bought now might not match the new standard and will go out of date even faster than computer equipment usually does. But while we wait for a decision, the need for computer storage space continues. What are the alternatives? Probably the best option, for now, is a CD-rewritable. These drives can copy up to 650Mb of data on to a $40 CD-rom disk -- and can write new data over the top, just like a floppy disk drive does. The CD-rewritable cost about $1000 -- the same price DVD drives are expected to sell for -- and can be fitted inside the computer or sat beside it and plugged in. A slightly cheaper option is a CD-writer, which uses CD-roms that you can only copy on to once. The unit costs about $1000, but the CD-rom disks are cheap -- only $4-$5 each. These CD-writer and rewriter drives can be used as an ordinary Cd- rom drive too, although they are a bit slow. They spin a disk six times faster than a music CD, as opposed to many new CD- rom drives which spin the disk more than 30 times faster. The Cd-rom's spin speed affects how fast a computer can access the data. If $1000-$1100 is too much, there are a number of cheaper options. An extra 2Gb hard drive costs $350, but how long would it be before that was full too? Zip drives have been popular for a while and have several advantages. The latest version, Zip Plus, sells for $300, with each $25 cartridge able to hold 100Mb of data. THE SIXTH alternative is a drive which accepts both the old 1.4Mb floppies and new high-capacity media. An example is Iomega's Superdisk drive, which has $25 disks which hold 125Mb of data. These so-called superfloppies, however, are only of real use to those who want to store large files next to their machines.

To: Reseller who wrote (55863)	6/9/1998 10:34:00 PM
From: Alan Rosen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 58324

Reseller, I am really eager to see what develops with clik!. I think that this type of product, small, may end up being the real story in the future. If clik! delivers, it may be a bigger story than Zip. I think that if the capacity of the smaller drive can be "tweaked" in the future it makes a very compelling argument to become a legitimate contender for the new standard. One small drive module that can be interchanged between a wide array of devices...portables, pcs, handhelds, digital cameras, cell phones. Plus the disks selling for a fraction of the cost of a Zip disk. A lot of folks would give up a little capacity for this type of flexibility and economy. The diskettes even become a viable option for software distribution. Bigger isn't always better (ask Godzilla). The trend in electronics and appliances has always been smaller packages (miniaturization) with the same or more features. And if this comes to pass with clik! IOM is a position to "reward" its' 20 million Zip owners (near future) with a "discounted" entry (like a software upgrade) to the new product. Being in the sales game, what do you think? archcc