[G4] Disk vs. disc

[Ernest Vincent Pons-Worley]

I'm probably in the minority, but I don't agree with Apple's "disk"  
vs. "disc" article.  I just sent them feedback to this effect.

This issue has been debated for the past 30 years or so.  I know  
because I worked in the disk drive industry for many years.  That  
doesn't make me an "authority," but I would like to share what I  
know.  The media manufacturers (e.g., Komag) use the word "disc."   
The drive manufacturers (e.g., Quantum/Maxtor) use "disk."

Disk comes from the French word "diskette."  It's a leftover from the  
days when computers came with floppy drives an no hard drive.  That  
would be the late 1970s early 1980s.  Disc comes from the Latin  
"discus," and applies to any flat, circular object.  To be  
grammatically correct it should always be disc, whether it's  
removable, optical, magnetic, inside a drive, or whatever.

I remember a similar debate about 20 years ago where people were  
saying that if it's rodents it's mice but if it's devices it's  
mouses.  Mice won.  I hope discs does too.