Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!ucbvax!hplabs!parcvax!burton From: burton@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Philip M. Burton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: new floppies / words of Roy Bean regarding PS2s Message-ID: <537@parcvax.Xerox.COM> Date: Fri, 25-Sep-87 17:25:30 EDT Article-I.D.: parcvax.537 Posted: Fri Sep 25 17:25:30 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 27-Sep-87 10:31:31 EDT References: <769@imsvax.UUCP> Reply-To: burton@parcvax.xerox.com.UUCP (Philip M. Burton) Organization: Xerox PARC Lines: 52 Keywords: Kodak, sheep-stealing In article <769@imsvax.UUCP> bob@imsvax.UUCP (Bob Burch) writes: >by most dealers for around $350, the controller board for about $130. Boxes >of the 6 meg floppies are going for about $100 (5/box), and will come down as >sales increase. Disk speeds are comparable to a slow hard disk. This is >essentially cheap and limitless storage; major software systems along with >data files could be kept on such floppies, simplifying organization tremendous- >As usual, the only people left out of all this will be PS2 owners. When I > >Ted Holden Forgive my astonishment. Now that I've stopped laughing, I have to ask you to back up that statement about PS/2 owners not geting access to the new Kodak floppies. When I first read your posting, I thought that you were going to post a warning about the new floppies. I'm an old disk drive guy (I worked at Shugart during its heyday), and there have been lots of schemes for high capacity floppies. So far, the only commercial success has been IOmega, but that may soon be over, judging by their recent sales plunge. At one time, Shugart advanced engineering thought it could do a 10 MB floppy. (One of our customers called that an "unnatural act"). Then there was Amlyn, anyone remember them? Five megabytes, I think, using several floppies in a "jukebox". And then there was Drivetec, with about 3.2 MB on a 5 inch floppy. Both Amlyn and Drivetec have gone to /company/null. However, these are old stories. For every recent development in storage technology, there has been an instant implementation for the IBM PC family. Cause if you don't, you ain`t in the PC storage market. Why should this Kodak floppy be any different? Fundamentally, all floppies use the same interface, and someone, somewhere, will figure out a way to either tie the Kodak floppy to the PS/2's (and the PC's and the AT's) controlle or will build a controller. Probably Kodak themselves, using their subsidiary Data Technology Corporation. No big deal. Just real important for any chance for its market success. Guys, there seems to be an epidemic of IBM-bashing these days in this group. Feels great. Just remember how many people got rich betting against them, as opposed to the folks who got rich "helping" them with third party products. Sorry to go on so much, but I usually feel that I get good ideas from the net. I had to raise a stink about OS/2 and UNIX because I felt it was time to give back good ideas. Same about this floppy. -- Philip Burton burton@parcvax.COM ...!hplabs!parcvax!burton Xerox Corp. preferred path: burton.osbunorth@xerox.COM 408 737 4635 ... usual disclaimers apply ...