The message 1137403539.11029.47.camel@localhost.localdomain from Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.plus.com contains these words:
More and more new x86 machines are now coming without the dreaded floppy drive installed...and believe it or not when we sell those we do get a few complaints....it's very rare to see floppy drives on laptops as well (I don't mind them so much on PC's as it adds little to cost and nothing to the size...but it is a waste of valuable space/weight on a laptop)
I'd be completely lost without the floppy drive on my laptop - runs DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11. Well, with a 500 MB HD, there aren't a lot of options, especially as it doesn't have an internal CD-ROM.
I might install a slimline Linux on it sometime though - I have an interesting old one of a complementary age which alleges it will run in a DOS partition.