12A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2003
Floppy disk obliteration looms
'Unreliable' disks soon to bow to writeable CDs, zip disks, e-mail
By Kelley Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The familiar floppy disk's fate looks dismal as newer and better methods of storing information are being used, computer experts say.
David Andrews, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering, said writeable CDs, wireless cards, zip disks and memory sticks were slowly phasing out the floppy disk.
The higher storage capacity that newer technologies offer and the transfer and storage of information through wireless networking are two reasons why the floppy will become obsolete, Andrews said.
Even though the floppy will eventually disappear, Andrews said it wouldn't be difficult for students and other computer consumers to adjust.
"The floppy disk is not just going to be canceled," Andrews said. "I don't think it will be that much of an issue because people always end up adapting to change."
The phasing out of the floppy disks and the use of more efficient technology will make computer use easier for students, Andrews said.
He said the compact size of the floppy disk was a helpful feature, but floppy drives were often unreliable. Each time a floppy disk is read, the drive magnetizes the
disk in order to
in order to
read it. After
repeated
use, the
floppy drive eventually will wear out. At unsuspecting times, pertinent information on a disk may be lost, Andrews said.
A portable, compatible alternative for students is the memory stick, said Staci Wolfe, Lawrence resident. Wolfe, who is waiting to enter graduate school at the University of Kansas in knowledge information management, said memory sticks were a great way to transfer and store information.
The memory stick, which is about the size of a Post-it Note, can be used with several types of computers and even be put on a key chain, Wolfe said.
Angela Rubel, Great Bend senior and computer lab assistant in Budig Hall and the Kansas Union, said students should not rely on floppy disks for saving and transferring information.
"A floppy disk is the worst
information on."
Amaton on Rubel said:
"They are completely unreliable. If you saved something and walked from one lab to another."
another, it's never guaranteed that your information won't be damaged when you try to open it."
The floppy disk is vulnerable to damage by hot and cold weather, humidity and mistreatment in transporting it, Rubel said. She said campus
labs warned students of the floppy's potential for malfunction.
"We are sick and tired of people whining at us because they lost information on their floppy," Rubel said. "When they come to us and say their lives were on that disk, we laugh at them."
The computer labs in the unions are also phasing out disk recovery services to encourage students to discard their floppies, Rubel said.
But other options for backing up work are often more pricey than students would like. Memory sticks, which cost about $70 each, are not practical for the average student who uses a disk for a four-page paper, Rubel said. Students working on a large doctoral thesis or storing pictures or music would be the most likely to splurge for a memory stick, Rubel said.
The easiest and most affordable alternative Rubel offered to replace the floppy disk was e-mail. Sending a word attachment with an e-mail is reliable and free for students, she said.
In addition, people can open the information they need wherever there is Internet access.
Although computer experts are saying the floppy disk will fall, Rubel said the next batch of computers in the Budig computer lab would have floppy drives.
"People are attached to the floppy because it's what they have grown up using." Rubel said. "It is hard for people to change, and floppy disks are a cheap and familiar thing for students."
- Edited by Lindsay Hanson
Doty
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
memorable traits was her "irreverent" sense of humor.
"She could speak humorously and plainly at the same time, and not many people can do that," he said.
Tom Lorenz, associate chairman of the department of English, came to the University at the same time as Doty and also teaches creative writing.
"She was a very flamboyant character in department, and she made a lot of people laugh," Lorenz said.
Fowler said she saw Doty about once a year after graduating. Doty had become an important part of the KU community and will be missed, Fowler said.
Fowler is now teaching creative writing and said she thought of Doty each time she entered the classroom. She said one lasting memory she had of Doty was her happy demeanor.
"I have an image of Carolyn in my mind just throwing her head back and laughing,"
Fowler said. "That's the image I want to hold in my heart of her."
Amy Brady, Topeka senior, had Doty as an adviser this semester for her directed studies in creative short fiction. Brady said she appreciated Doty's honesty in her critiques of students' work.
"What made her such a great mentor was that she had a real knack for telling you how it is," Brady said. "If what you handed in to her was crap, she had no qualms in telling you, but if you were doing something really well, she would always make it a point to tell you."
Brady said Doty's candor helped her treat her students as peers.
Hartman said Doty was passionate about what was going on around her.
"To be in the same room with her was to have your own sense of life heightened, I think," he said.
A memorial service for Doty will be at 2 p.m. March 31 at the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Edited by Lindsay Hanson
Reactions
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said. "But at the same time, Saddam is a cruel dictator and he needs to be stopped."
In an effort to break the tedium of repetitive war coverage, some students got creative. As Sarah Fennel, St. Louis junior, watched the war unfold Wednesday night, friends of hers made a game out of television news broadcasts.
"After we watched the war foraboutthreehours,agroup of my friends each picked a
word," she said. "Every time one of the words — somebody was Saddam, somebody was Baghdad and some other words — came up, the person whose word it was had to drink."
Fennel said the game wasn't a sign of disrespect to the government or U.S troops, it was just a spontaneous response to continuous war coverage.
"It was just the war had been on non-stop, it was boredom," she said. "It wasn't meant to make light of it, it was the same news over and over."
Edited by Ryan Wood
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