[inforoots] Ah, yes, how simple it all seemed back then ...

[Barrie Robinson]

When I was developing faxing software for LAN's I read somewhere that 
the faxing was invented 150+ years age !!???


At 06:23 PM 5/27/2008, Richard Friedman wrote:
>=======================================
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>
>I've always considered the introduction of the fax machine to be the 
>critical point where life as we knew it began to change.
>
>Before faxes, we actually wrote letters. Okay, they were typed 
>letters. Or maybe we even used a primitive desktop publishing system 
>(troff?)  to write them on a printer (DECWriter, SpinWriter..?). But 
>we did put them in envelopes and mail them.
>
>Then office life changed dramatically when they wheeled in a fax machine.
>
>Fax machines existed for many years before you could buy one at the 
>corner electronics or office supply store. The first one I saw was 
>in the print shop at college, around 1961. Two very large spinning 
>drums in a floor-standing unit .. one for sending, the other for 
>receiving. And it took a very long time to send or receive a page.
>
>But as soon as the desktop fax machine arrived, printed mail took 
>second place. If something arrived by fax, it was deemed much more 
>important than something arriving in the morning mail, and had to be 
>acted upon instantly... usually generating a reply fax asap.
>
>Life seemed a bit more leisurely before then. You sent out a request 
>for information in the mail, expected it would be received 3 or 4 
>days later, and a response sent back in another few days. Round trip 
>was maybe two or three weeks. Meantime, there were other things to do.
>
>But that fax machine meant that requests could be turned around in a 
>number of hours, within a single day. Life became much more hectic 
>for all of us that day.
>
>My wife has taken to hand writing letters to friends. And, she is 
>amazed and pleased when she gets a hand written letter in return. 
>Sitting down to take the extra time to write a letter by hand is a 
>serious sign of high regard for a more meaningful kind of communication.
>
>But, how many of us, who now spend large numbers of hours using 
>keyboard and mouse, have seen their handwriting skills deteriorate 
>into the illegible?
>
>Hmm. Maybe it's time to take out that old fountain pen and practice italic.
>
>On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 2:27 PM, David Pinto 
><<mailto:david_e_pinto at yahoo.ca>david_e_pinto at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>
>Somewhat off-topic, but still interesting.
>
>-0-
>
>Now that I have retired, I am beginning to wade through several 
>hundred -- that is not an exaggeration -- back copies of Le Monde, 
>the Paris newspaper, from a long way back.
>
>One of the many interesting aspects of doing something like this is 
>that, occasionally, one comes across articles which now, in 
>retrospect, seem to be absolutely incredible.
>
>Here is an example.
>
>On February 25, 1995, Le Monde carried a lengthy article pegged to 
>the discovery that letters between individuals amounted to only 7% 
>of the postal traffic in France.
>
>The article is quite long so I will not attempt to translate it. 
>Essentially, though, it talks about what could be done to increase 
>that 7% figure.
>
>Here's a quote: In the coming years, letters are going to have deal 
>with a competitor: the fax machine.
>
>If only they had known ...
>
>Soumds like a long-ago era, doesn't it? Yet it was only thirteen 
>years ago -- and look how things have changed.
>
>David Pinto
>
>
>
>--
>Richard Friedman
>Oakland, California
><http://rchrd.com/blog/>http://rchrd.com/blog/
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Regards
Barrie

Barrie Robinson
(705) 721-9060
http://www.britishv8.org/MG/BarrieRobinson.htm
http://www.britcot.com 
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