I never said they didn't, and indeed, cited 100GB optical media. I said they made _limited_ progress.
In 1982, a 20MB HDD was considered large, while a CD is 640MB. That's an almost insurmountable 20x advantage to optical.
By the late nineties, a DVD was 4.7GB, while typical HDDs were maybe 500MB-2GB, giving a more modest advantage to optical.
In 2024, a HDD is maybe 200 times bigger than optical (20TB versus 100GB), while an SSD is maybe 10x bigger (1TB versus 100GB).
Prices are also worth looking at. 100GB media is maybe $10/disk. I remember buying CD-Rs and DVD-Rs in stacks of 20-100, at maybe 10 cents-$2 per disk, depending on type, quantity, and year. The cost-per-byte for optical media has hardly changed in two decades.
In 1982, a 20MB HDD was considered large, while a CD is 640MB. That's an almost insurmountable 20x advantage to optical.
By the late nineties, a DVD was 4.7GB, while typical HDDs were maybe 500MB-2GB, giving a more modest advantage to optical.
In 2024, a HDD is maybe 200 times bigger than optical (20TB versus 100GB), while an SSD is maybe 10x bigger (1TB versus 100GB).
Prices are also worth looking at. 100GB media is maybe $10/disk. I remember buying CD-Rs and DVD-Rs in stacks of 20-100, at maybe 10 cents-$2 per disk, depending on type, quantity, and year. The cost-per-byte for optical media has hardly changed in two decades.
So limited progress.