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Mark
s comment about the floppy disk affecting the
usage of disk vs. disc triggered some old memories. In
the Dark Ages (early 1970s) I worked with a company
that manufactured 9-track tape drives and the
revolutionary 14-inch disk drive. At that time, the
SMEs at the company explained that disc referred to
phonograph records, whereas disk referred to the
magnetic medium for data storage. However, there was
little agreement as some manufacturers and some trade
publications used disc. However, when floppies came on
the scene later in that decade, usage became
standardized to disk. As Mark pointed out, a discette
looks strange.
With the newer technologies, such as CD-ROM and laser,
it seems that our usage retains disk for magnetic
storage media and disc for other types of storage
devices.
Don
t know if this clarifies anything, but it sure was
fun traveling down memory lane.
David Tietyen
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Tietyen -at- picard -dot- msoe -dot- edu
