From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 6 17:50:49 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C8EC9106566B for ; Fri, 6 May 2011 17:50:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 89E998FC0C for ; Fri, 6 May 2011 17:50:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-63-204.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.63.204]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 61ED11E20D; Fri, 6 May 2011 19:50:48 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id p46HolMN001777; Fri, 6 May 2011 19:50:47 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 19:50:47 +0200 From: Polytropon To: David Brodbeck Message-Id: <20110506195047.621c5d13.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <723BE905-95AC-4B07-AD31-3D149F06527E@lafn.org> <462351.71539.qm@web36505.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Sending a Fax X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 06 May 2011 17:50:49 -0000 On Fri, 6 May 2011 10:30:58 -0700, David Brodbeck wrote: > On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 3:47 AM, Bill Tillman wrote: > > I read the other replies to your post so let me put in my 2 cents worth. For the > > last few years, I have basically abandoned faxing in favor of e-mailing PDF and > > other document files. Paperless is not only more efficient but its green too. The paperless office is an utopium since the 60's, and it will be, as printing gets cheaper and cheaper. :-( > Believe it or not, there are industries where faxing is still the > norm. Don't just think about "big industries", also keep small businesses in mind - LOTS of them. A manager writes a letter, prints it, faxes it to the secretary, she then types it, prints it, and faxes it back to the manager. In case the manager requires some changes, he phones her, or makes annotations to her fax and faxes it back. Then she processes the changes and faxes the result again. On both sides, it's an inkpee fax. If it's not used heavily enough, it will dry out. You think: Stupid! Inefficient! Expensive! Fully correct. And it's more the _norm_ than the exception, at least here in Germany. There are enough businesses that could invest in a computer-driven fax system (storage instead of paper, printing if and ONLY IF required), but they are too lazy in mind. > Many industrial suppliers want purchase orders by fax. This has to do with a legal situation in many cases. A fax, unlike an e-mail, is often said to have a status like "letter with receipt", so the statement: "You did get the message." can be made from sending a fax and applying the receipt printed by the fax machine (sending report). Also printing a text, signing it, and then faxing it makes it look "more legal". > It also > seems to be the common way that pharmacies communicate with doctors' > offices. These are conservative industries where email (and > especially, email attachments) are still viewed with some suspicion. Except it's a greeting card with a dancing bunny that requires you to download SALES.XLS.EXE and have fun. :-) > A lot of times these days the actual endpoint is a digital fax system, > though; sometimes the fax never actually reaches paper. In "bigger business", this may very well apply, as the "huge blocks of software" used there traditionally include such solutions. Small and medium businesses that use "one size fits all" kind of software tend to stick to traditional methods, and in many cases (I've SEEN them!) they combine them with inefficient methods and expensive operations. In the past, I've also used the hylafax port with a regular external serial modem, and it worked perfectly. I think the moden was an... Elsa? MicroLink something? Looked like a green toy, but worked very well. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...