Stop Faxing

My Least Favorite Technology

Anyone who works with me for long hears The Paper Rant. I hate printed copies of things that could better be done by an attachment.



And I really, REALLY hate faxes. Seems I'm not alone. Mike Elgan at Computer World writes about 10 obsolete technologies to kill in 2010 and fax tops the list:

The document almost always begins and ends in digital format. But during this epic journey, the document is digital four times, paper twice and sound once.

The mass delusion that perpetuates this obscenely inefficient technology is that paper "hard copy" is somehow more legitimate. In fact, gluing a copy of someone's stolen signature to a document, then faxing it, is the easiest way mask a forgery because of the low quality of fax output.

Surprisingly, print newspaper is not on the list. My main old fuddy-duddy habit? Even though I know I can look up any phone number on the planet on line, I still reach for a phone book. Even though I've been cell-only since 2001. (Yes. land line is on the list.)

Thanks for all the love over the death of my friend Spot. Or, in lolcat speak:
HAI I IZ OK
SPOT IS IN KITTEH HEVIN
I CAN STILL HAS TWO KITTEHS

Over at the Register I look at the absurd response to the Christmas incident in Detroit.