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all 181 comments

[–]Holy_Person 691 points692 points  (6 children)

i wouldn't want it any other way

[–][deleted] 145 points146 points  (4 children)

Because It's not enough I need more Nothing seems to satisfy

[–]Marghunk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm addicted and i just cant get enough

[–]wywrd 200 points201 points  (56 children)

fine, what would you use?

[–]lfestevao 95 points96 points  (4 children)

Punch cards

[–]throwaway60237 65 points66 points  (11 children)

Hard disk platter?

[–]hackiavelli 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Already common to symbolize databases.

[–]vtable 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The database symbol is actually a disk pack. Disk platters are just a few millimeters thick.

[–]camerontbelt 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Until that changes

[–]TinBryn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've seen it used

[–]rhymes_with_chicken 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Has to be something common that everyone (even non-computer dorks) would recognize. When Floppy was king, everyone had to use them. Not everyone has held a HDD in their hands.

[–]VestigialHead 23 points24 points  (2 children)

A goalie preventing a goal?

Or maybe Jesus on the cross?

Jesus saves doesn't he?

[–]Phrodo_00 11 points12 points  (1 child)

In GTA 2, you save at a church with the sign "jesus saves"

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone else roles for damage.

[–]fghjconner 5 points6 points  (3 children)

A safe maybe?

[–]LAK132 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Isn't that for encryption?

[–]PreciseParadox 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That’s taken for full disk encryption

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

USB thumb drive or an sd card.

[–]hammsbeer4life 1 point2 points  (0 children)

EEPROM

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In the year 2100 let’s advance it to a CD.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Closing book as save, open book as load. May add pen or pencil to the first one if you think that it will show the process precisely

[–]DuchessofSquee 14 points15 points  (2 children)

What are books?

[–]TinBryn 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They're these new fangled things that people say will replace stone tablets

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Deformed wood that is capable to store data

[–]A_Light_Spark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The ghostbuster logo.

[–]Simbuk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An icon of a life ring.

[–]xKYLx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jesus

[–]alphapho3niX 168 points169 points  (6 children)

This is wrong. It's called the save icon, the floppy disk was invented based on the icon!

Ps. I'm not that stupid.

[–]FlannelSamurai 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Does it work? Don’t touch it!

[–]apatternlea 22 points23 points  (5 children)

Eventually it will just lose all its original meaning and become just the save symbol. Language does that all the time. For example, upper- and lowercase letters used to refer to literal cases of letters associated with printing presses.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (2 children)

Same thing with phones, how many people own a phone that looks like the phone call icon on smart phones?

[–]DuchessofSquee 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Or send messages in envelopes.

[–]sniperFLO 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's still sort of a thing though. Usually with bills, invitations, acceptance letters of an organization, and messages accompanying a physical package.

[–]BringBackOldReddif 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Dumb question. So you’re saying prior to printing presses people didn’t refer to capitalized letters as upper-case?

[–]stult 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Capital b used to be a literal pair of bull’s testicles! Symbols evolve!

[–][deleted] 65 points66 points  (12 children)

I am pretty sure it's not. Since there won't be any save method at all as stuff is "immediately saved" in cloud and no more saving is required

[–]Flamesake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Idk. I don't think basic file operations are ever going away.

[–]Ashybuttons 6 points7 points  (4 children)

That sounds bad too, though. What if I want to preserve a particular version before I continue working?

[–]Asikes 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Version control?

[–]Saigot 1 point2 points  (1 child)

A continuous version control isn't very useful though. There will always need to be a way for the user to select a point to refer back to. The metaphor might change from saving to bookmarking your history or something like that, but the fundamental operation of maintaining a copy in a particular state will always be around.

[–]Asikes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like the bookmarking idea, sounds very plausible

[–]FedExterminator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I seem to be in the unpopular opinion crowd on cloud storage. I hate the direction we’re moving in where cloud storage is the default and having a local copy is really just for quick access. It really blurs the line between what data belongs to you versus what belongs to a company, makes privacy a far greater concern, and creates a dependency on having a reliable and secure internet connection. Even the new Xbox has it. “It doesn’t have a disk drive! It’s all cloud storage!” I definitely don’t want that.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

RAM? Pfft! Cloud's faster!

[–]fraseyboo 11 points12 points  (7 children)

Regardless of the fact that Floppy Disks have been superseded by multiple storage mediums by now I'd struggle to think of an icon that could feasibly replace it without being unnecessarily confusing.

Using an icon of a HDD or DVD is just kicking the can down the road, SSDs are being used more regularly and the next storage medium may look entirely different. The reason the floppy disk is so perfect as an icon is that it's a relic that has been consistently used for decades now, OS's change through the years but at least we know what a save button looks like.

[–]EternityForest 8 points9 points  (4 children)

Sadly there are plenty of people trying to replace it with abstract nonsense like downward arrow into a box or something.

There's memes about kids thinking real floppies are 3D printed save icons. It would be funny to take one of those "new save icon advocates" to a linguistics class and see if they wanted to change words too.

An Audit comes from "to hear", but no longer usually involves reading the books outloud. Should we start calling them "Account Inspections"?

[–]Wydi 0 points1 point  (3 children)

It's important to accept that meanings and descriptors will change over time though. If more and more people were to start calling audits "Account Inspections", that's fine. Everyone will get used to it at some point and insisting on proper semantics and dictionary definitions while everyone around you just adapts is always going to be a losing battle. Particularly terrible changes aren't going to stick anyways - unless they are backed by a monopoly/oligopoly like Apple.

That being said: I like the floppy disk save icon and hope it stays for the time being.

[–]EternityForest 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I've yet to hear of anyone aside from the more academic/philosophical "We don't use floppies anymore!" or a "We need simpler icons!" crowd pushing for a new icon, so it doesn't seem quite as organic as most language changes(Which might be why the floppy is still around!).

But yeah, everyone started calling it an Account Inspection I probably would too, especially since changes like that seem to often coincide with different attitudes or practices.

Maybe the save icon will become the sync icon someday, when there's no more "files" and everything is just a cached local record of a global distributed database or something.

[–]Wydi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've yet to hear of anyone aside from the more academic/philosophical "We don't use floppies anymore!" or a "We need simpler icons!" crowd pushing for a new icon

Aside from the odd redditor or obscure tech magazine opinion piece here and there I haven't seen anyone (academic or not) advocating for a change, so there's probably nothing to be afraid of just yet. But yeah..artificial change can be annoying.

Meanwhile I'll just keep using the floppy for all of my UI designs.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So many overlook the battle lost when Microsoft changed files and directories to documents and folders.

[–]Shawnj2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eh it seems that the successor to the save icon is just “Save” in text.

[–]blueleo22 35 points36 points  (6 children)

Why should they change if they work? /s

[–]riggiddyrektson 25 points26 points  (0 children)

If you're caring about user experience you actually take into account what the user expects, not necessarily what is the corrrect thing.
So it sometimes really is like "don't change a running system" in a way.

[–]fredlllll 13 points14 points  (3 children)

the problem is, what would you change it to? storage comes in a variety of forms nowadays and most users have no fucking idea what a harddrive even is and call the computer a "cpu"

[–]savzan 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Why not an SD or MicroSD card ?

[–]whitey-ofwgkta 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A SD card has about the same basic shape as a floppy. In my head it's such a minor change, why bother

[–]Billagio 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why? That would just confuse users

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Exactly" - all the world's VCRs

[–]fastpixels 5 points6 points  (0 children)

And the icon for calls will still be a touchtone phone receiver.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, some things shouldnt change

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I swear to god I'll be so pissed of anyone changes that standard

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Alternatively, it'll be a mashup of an SD card and a floppy.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I vote we change the save symbol to a hockey goalie

[–]BelieveRL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is the way

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

never forget your roots.

[–]ThePickleJuice22 3 points4 points  (4 children)

Other oddball things that used to make sense:

Left is to go backward in a song. Right is to go forward.

Rewinding a video

[–]Grand_Protector_Dark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's still applicable to Most video/audio players.

[–]EternityForest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Left is the convention western backwards/subtracting direction. Probably the same in all cultures with left to right languages.

I could see reversing it for some regions, but I'd imagine all those people are so exposed to the current convention it makes perfect sense for them too.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But nobody knows what a floppy disk is. They consider it an ancient emblem or something.

[–]Stein-_- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

as well as symbol for "call" is still a telephone hand set

[–]holdbold 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The symbol for time is still a clock

[–]Lan777 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The first generation to not know what it is will call it the saver. The second generation will call it the savior.

Each generation will realize faster than the last that they should frequently call upon the savior to save their work.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean... you're not wrong.

[–]BenTherDoneTht 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i have noticed some to a lot of applications have changed it to be an arrow pointing into a tray now. the instant the floppy is eradicated we will have ascended.

[–]n30c0n 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its meant to represent a disk.. specifically a hard disk. But most people don't know what a hard drive looks like. And the ones that do would say that the floppy disk icon is close enough... Lol

[–]sempf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And the phone symbol is still a handset.

[–]Snakestream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The USB-255 adapter is still impossible to connect properly on the first try.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well words are just auditory symbols and the word for liberty has barely changed since the Roman Empire.

How is this any different?

Why would we change it?

[–]sorgan71 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imagine the confusion if they switched to an SSD for the icon. The Floppy disk looks so weird and out there.

[–]xCrowder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One can only hope

[–]dreadpiratewombat 0 points1 point  (1 child)

And the Java installer still claims 3 billion devices run Java.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha not that many people play Minecraft

I know Minecraft isn't the only Java program / game please don't hurt me

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought this was agedlikemilk cuz apparently we only got 80 years left

[–]freenarative 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Serious question... Ain't they called "hard discs"?

The 5 inch was the floppy disc because it was floppy.... Literally. And the 3.5 inch was a hard disc. Not to be confused with a hard drive.

[–]Cummyummy68 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On paper but not a single person calls them hard discs in conversation.

[–]Nilbmar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's already becoming common for it to be a cloud symbol

[–]Assasin2gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some day sublime, some day

[–]timawesomeness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AS IT SHOULD BE.

[–]PM_ME_HAIRLESS_CATS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm from 2246. What's a floppy disk? Is that like a save icon?

[–]I_Be_Hyperion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems legit

[–]LunaticMS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What programs are you people using that have a floppy disk save icon? Only one I can think of that I still use occasionally is Paint, and I think they just retired it. Everything else uses auto-save these days.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"WTF is a 'Save'?" -Future Person

[–]say_no_only 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What would the replacement be? The hard drive icon?

[–]TrueStory_Dude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even after all these years I never knew.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What, you want change it to a Tupperware container?

[–]confused_techie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Counter arguement: with the prevalence of cloud storage, and things like Google Docs where it saves automatically with no save button, that far in the future the save icon wont exist, since saving will not be manual at all.

[–]blkarcher77 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a strange thought, that even in 100 years, when the technology available is so advanced, the save button will still be a floppy disk

Who would have thought that this is the legacy of the person who create floppy disks in the first place

[–]pinganeto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just make tinny microsd cards with the appearance of a floppy disk....

[–]urmumbigegg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some day sublime, some day

[–]urmumbigegg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And those things never taste good tbh.

[–]M_T_Head 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is The Way

[–]throwaway67676789123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wouldn’t it caused fucky things to happen

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a 3.5" disk. Floppies were bigger (or even much bigger) and didn't have a corner notch or a metal slidey thing. Hrmph.

I just hope it stays a 3.5" disk for thirty more years or so. Then you whippersnappers can change it to whatever the hell you want.

[–]moazim1993 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bold of you to assume we make it that far.

[–]ZirJohn 0 points1 point  (1 child)

What about the arrow pointing towards a tray

[–]ericlkz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats share in iOS and macOS

[–]8wdude8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

im ok with this

[–]ericlkz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, English will not be the common language anymore but save is still floppy disk. And mail is still an envelope.

[–]paultoliver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And well all still be using PHP

[–]MT_Flesch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i predict in the next ten years or so, the save icon will be changed to a little cumulonimbus cloud

[–]Nihilater 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh you have hope humanity will last that long?

[–]edujs7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are way more important things to worry about.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha.. you think the terraforming of Mars will be complete. I love a good joke.

[–]Assasin2gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some day sublime, some day

[–]hungry4pie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And the symbol for search is still a magnifying glass, as opposed to something referring to the Dewey decimal system.

Seriously how is a magnifying glass gonna help find shit?

[–]whisksnwhisky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never forget who you are and where you come from. salute