Software On Thumb Drive

[scorecard]

Just bought an ACER netbook and as you probably know, there is no CD drive.

One of my IT industry friends tells me that there is an overall industry move towards all notebook / laptop computers NOT having a CD / DVD drive. As happened with the demise of the floppy drive and floppy disk.

Also seems to me that notebooks / laptops now all have more USB ports than previously.

If this is true, does it mean that, in the future, software, and in fact anything currently on cd / dvd (movies?) will all be on bigger capacity thumb drives?

Appreciate your comments.

[ungcas]

Just bought an ACER netbook and as you probably know, there is no CD drive.

One of my IT industry friends tells me that there is an overall industry move towards all notebook / laptop computers NOT having a CD / DVD drive. As happened with the demise of the floppy drive and floppy disk.

Also seems to me that notebooks / laptops now all have more USB ports than previously.

If this is true, does it mean that, in the future, software, and in fact anything currently on cd / dvd (movies?) will all be on bigger capacity thumb drives?

Appreciate your comments.

CDs are still a much cheaper cost. It would be a while before they get replaced, but I wouldn't count it out. Memory sticks are pretty cheap these days as well.

[LivinLOS]

Distribution is moving online instead of on media..

Even at Thai speeds I download 100's of movies a month.. and any and all software I need..

[MisterBean]

I have been using a U3 enabled Sandisk thumb drive for a couple of years now, it is capable of running software directly from the thumb drive without installing anything on your pc. I run Firefox, Skype and Open Office directly from it. It doesn't matter which computer I plug it in to whether it be my laptop, home pc, or a public pc, my bookmarks, history and scrapbook (I love this firefox add on) and Skype history go with the drive. I also like the fact that if someone steals, or I lose my laptop there is no personal info on it. Everthing is on the U3 drive and it is password protected. They claim if you forget the password there is no way to recover anything, I am not sure if this is true but it does make me worry a little less if I were to lose it.