Retire the Wretched Fax Machine

Please! Let’s make 2004 the year we retire the wretched fax machine!

This is despite some of the valid points Paul Rubens of the BBC NEWS makes in his article Fax – the technology that refuses to die (via Gizmodo)

“The fax machine is an ancient piece of office equipment – it was invented in its earliest form by one Alexander Bain in 1843. It transmits the contents of pieces of paper, but these days the chances are high that anything on paper started as an electronic document. So why print it out and fax it when you can e-mail the digital version?”

And this point which drives me truly insane!!

“It’s also likely that at least some faxed information will be typed back into a computer at the other end. So why convert it from digital to analogue and back again when you can keep it digital and save time and paper? Even if you fax directly from your computer, this still effectively turns a digital document into an analogue one.”

I know-I know! In comparison to signed faxed documents, digital signatures are not yet widely admissible as legal documents … Blah! Blah! Blah! Fix that!

My New Years Resolution is to make 2004 the year I stopped sending and receiving faxes … for good!

You should too :-) Please!