What is the name (including file extension) of the program file on the floppy? That will tell me what programming software you need to have installed to be able to do anything with the file(s) on the floppy.
I don't understand what you mean by "cant down loaded to my laptop". I assume the external floppy is connected to the laptop. Are you saying that you can't copy the file on the floppy to the laptop's hard drive? What happens when you try?
I have experienced problems when the file system on the floppy isn't compatible with the file system on a newer operating system, but that generally shows up when I try to read anything on the floppy. I've also had problems where I could read file names, but the file contents were corrupted.