USB ext floppy drive not recognized?

I'm loving my macbook, and figured out how to use bootcamp and set up win xp, so I can use the two stupid apps I need that don't come in mac flavours. Anyhow, one app needs to write to a floppy (don't ask why!), and I just bought a new external USB 1.44 floppy drive - someone stepped on my old one 😟. The macbook doesn't recognize it when I plug it in, whether in Leopard or in windows xp, but I know it works, because when I plugged it into my wife's laptop, it worked fine. Also, when I plug in my USB external hard drive, in Leopard, it works fine, and an icon for it immediately appears on the desktop. Any ideas of how to get the external floppy drive working? If it's recognized, should an icon for it appear on the desktop? I checked in finder, and it's not listed under the drives there. Am I missing some simple step?