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[chronicfreetime]

I had to use a floppy disk today, for the first time in at least two years. I feel dirty.

What's with all this doomsaying about the Riemann hypothesis being proven? Haven't mathematicians basically assumed it was true for years?

Comments

[discoflamingo]

There are huge (roughly 70+ years worth) stacks of work that will become proven if the Riemann hypothesis, in its most popular incarnation, is found to be true. The problem is that most of the people who have tried to prove it have gone insane - so hopes are never high.

[chronicfreetime]

Well, that's exactly my point. If people have been working as if it were true for 70 years, what are the practical consequences of now having a proof? None!

I do understand that definitive proof would be a big deal-to mathematicians. But it's the doomsaying I don't get. If there were some attack on a cryptosystem which required the Riemann hypothesis, just assume it is true and carry on. At worst, you crack nothing, but find a counterexample and disprove it!

[zenmondo]

I think computers should still have floppy drives for the same reason that cars will continue to have jacks under the spare tire. Most of the time you won't need it, but when you will need it, you will want it there.

[chronicfreetime]

Actually, the USB floppy drive we had for this crippled Vaio (no integrated Ethernet or CD-ROM) didn't work. I ended up using a USB pen drive to get some drivers for a CardBus Ethernet adapter onto it.

[mopalia]

I totally agree. My son wouldn't put one into the computer he built me this summer, and now I cant carry anything between wqork and home, which, while it is appealing, is also more inconvenient than helpful. I cracked and bought a USB Flash drive last night, but I'm going to have to put that floppy drive in myself eventually. I'm tempted to put in the curious 5 1/2 in +3 1/4 in combo I have, just for the humor of it.

[chronicfreetime]

You could use a USB floppy drive. I have one somewhere which is also a 6-in-1 flash reader.

A pen drive or memory stick is superior to a floppy in pretty much every respect. Plus, ubiquitous networks have obviated any removable medium as small and unreliable as a floppy. They've been on their way out ever since it became possible to boot from a CD.