That is SO stupid. Dell is just doing that to save money, thus increasing their profit. There is so much software that requires you to use floppies for back-ups. How can you flash the bios without a floppy drive?(I guess use the CD ROM).
Next, the tower will be optional and Dell will just send you the motherboard.

about the BIOS flash...

Dell now creates special installshield installers that place the BIOS update file into the HD and flash the BIOS on the next reboot.

no floppy use there! however, it will be optional, not standard like it is now. the FDD option won't be gone.

I've got a lab system at work that I used for a couple of years before I found out that it had a defective floppy drive -- never needed to use it. When I had to flash the BIOS, I did it like you guessed -- booted from the CD drive. I've very happily used CD burners instead of floppies to move files around when I couldn't just use the network. I know people who are enthused about the USB flash ROMs and have abandoned floppies as well.

When was the last time you needed a 5 1/4" floppy drive? How about an 8"? Isn't it about time the 3.5" drive went too?

Expect the "legacy ports" - serial, parallel printer, PS/2 keyboard, and PS/2 mouse to go away as well shortly.

Hydralisk, I visited your website. Nice!! But I'm dreaming that someday, someone will have a way to re-install the Users and Device Guides into Help and Support in Windows XP, and have the files to do so. They are lost forever from Help and Support when you re-install Windows.

Go to downloads at the top of the page and download "Dell User Guides Viewer" for your help and support in Windows XP.

Lisa

good job lisa! no dreaming needed, just do a little looking.