<P> Floppy disks remained a popular medium for nearly 40 years, but their use was declining by the mid-1990s . The introduction of high speed computer networking and new formats like the USB thumbdrive led to the eventual disappearance of the floppy disk as a standard feature of microcomputers, with a notable point in this conversion being the introduction of the floppy-less iMac in 1998 . After 2000, floppy disks were increasingly rare and used primarily with older hardware and especially with legacy industrial computer equipment . </P> <P> In 1967, IBM tasked their San Jose, California development laboratory to develop a reliable and inexpensive system for loading microcode into their System / 370 mainframes in a process called Initial Control Program Load (ICPL). The System / 370 was IBM's first computer system family to make extensive usage of volatile read / write semiconductor memory for microcode, so for most models, whenever the power was turned on, the microcode had to be loaded (System / 370's predecessor, System / 360, generally used non-volatile read - only memory for microcode). IBM also wanted inexpensive media that could be sent out to customers with software updates . </P> <P> IBM Direct Access Storage Product Manager, Alan Shugart, assigned the job to David L. Noble, who tried to develop a new - style tape for the purpose, but without success . The project was reassigned to Donald L. Wartner, 23FD Disk Drive manager, and Herbert E. Thompson, 23FD Disk manager, along with design engineers Warren L. Dalziel, Jay Brent Nilson, and Ralph Flores; and that team developed the IBM 23FD Floppy Disk Drive System (code name Minnow). The disk is a read - only, 8 - inch - diameter (200 mm) flexible diskette called the "memory disk" and holding 80 kilobytes of data . Initially the disk was bare, but dirt became a serious problem so they enclosed it in a plastic envelope lined with fabric that would remove dust particles . The Floppy Disk Patent #3,668,658 was issued on June 6, 1972 with named inventors Ralph Flores and Herbert E. Thompson . The Floppy Disk Drive Patent #3,678,481 was issued July 18, 1972 with named inventors Warren L. Dalziel, Jay . B. Nilson, and Donald L. Wartner . IBM introduced the diskette commercially in 1971 . </P> <P> The new device first shipped in 1971 as the 23FD, the program load component of the 2835 Storage Control Unit. and then as a standard part of most System 370 processing units and other IBM products . Internally IBM used another device, code named Mackerel, to write boot disks for distribution to the field . </P>

Who invented the first memory disk or floppy disk why is it named that
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