One stalwart component has survived through all of these innovations: the 3.5″ floppy. Originally designed by Sony, it quickly became a standard feature on IBM-compatible PCs (remember when they were called that?). The floppy is the only component that still remains in use today, practically unchanged in its 18 years of service, running at 360 rpm and offering a transfer rate of 34 kB/s. Once again, let’s put that in perspective with regard to today’s world: Transferring a file to your computer from a server that is 10,000 miles away on another continent is three times or even faster than getting it from your internal disk drive. And despite all this - the floppy lives.

Tom’s Hardware Guide Processors: The Mother of All CPU Charts 2005/2006 - Facts & Figures - The Evolution Of Performance