If not now, when?
Jul 26, 1998
Think about this for a moment: the iMac will be the first Macintosh ever to introduce USB, IrDA, and fast 100Base-T Ethernet, all built into one single unit, some features of which will appear only in the next generation of Pro G3 workstations later this year. (Let's not even talk about translucent plastics for now.) All this and more for US$1299, and you still insist on quibbling about the absence of a floppy drive? To my mind, what Apple really did was to free the iMac of any vestiges of the past, and so the floppy had to go, along with ADB and SCSI. But more about the last two later.
Granted it was good while it lasted, but in today's computing environment, the floppy's outlived its utility. Why else would Zip disks for example be doing so well today, achieving better sales volumes (not figures, mind you, but volumes) in a mere fraction of the time-frame it took the floppy? (This last point I learnt from a presentation by Paul Jennings of Iomega Pacific during the Singapore MacWorld Expo.)
If you had data to store or transfer, there are various options open to you now. You could either rely on email, external storage, or web-based archives. However, I anticipate - and I believe Apple does too - that external storage will diminish in importance as Web access becomes more widespread and transfer speeds improve with time.
Another reason is cost, and I believe Apple made the right call to invest in the iMac the promising future of the Web, leaving physical data storage for the iMac to third parties and user preference. I don't use floppies anymore, and unlike the ubiquitous 3.5" diskette, there isn't an industry-wide standard for higher-capacity data disks, so I have to choose. And as we well know, most popular doesn't always mean best.
As for ADB and SCSI, they are technologies that have served their purpose well. But eventually, they will be superceded respectively by USB and FireWire sooner than you'd expect. (Make no mistake: Apple never meant for USB to replace SCSI.) In due time, the picture will be clearer when the transition of the entire Macintosh line is complete.
If you believe Apple is placing its stakes on the iMac's success to help introduce these new technologies in a big way, I won't argue with that because I happen to think it's partly true. But I also happen to think this: if not now, then when? When Apple first introduced the idea of a graphical user interface, a certain Bill Gates brushed it aside, saying who would want to bother when you could simply type in a DOS command at the C:/> prompt? Look at Windows today.
My point is this: Apple's not into waiting to see where the next guy's headed before following. Apple's into leading you into the future. Having said that, the iMac is clearly built for this future; even its detractors readily admit to this. But what they fail to realise is that that future is not far off, judging from the pace of today's technology. So you have one of two choices: either hesitate and watch as technology whizzes by and leaves you behind; or make your move now and don't look back, because years from now, your investment in the iMac will still be paying dividends, as the Mac always has.
Don't take my word for it. But then again, neither should you always believe the majority.
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