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| Looks pretty useful to me. |
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| Eh, not so much... |
-The Space Cadet
PS - What says you? Comment below.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Space Cadet and the Onion
I'm feeling a bit exhausted this week. Sure, three-day weekends seem like a time for rest...not when you're having 6-rehearsals for an original musical and crunching to finish costumes for a Wizard of Oz Festival. That being said, it's times like these where I like to let my mind just float off into space. This morning, I found myself attempting to read the news; it just wasn't working. All the articles were downbeat. So, I let myself wander over to The Onion. There I found this interesting little article: Fax Machines Still Pretty Impressive If You Think About It.
Now, if you're not familiar with The Onion, it is more-or-less a satirical newspaper. However, it's not all baseless jokes. In fact, there often tends to be an ironic or funny-because-it's-true idea behind the article. In the case of this particular piece, they do actually make a decent point. No, seriously, think about it. Fax machines really are still useful. Not to mention they are actually more efficient than some modern technologies. Say you want to send a letter. You can be "tech savvy" and scan the paper, put it into PDF, e-mail it, upload it to Google Docs, drop it in Dropbox, send it to iLocker, and a multitude of other things. Yes, that's all very well. OR you could just take the letter, stick it in the tray, dial a number, and hit send. Boom, boom, done. I hear people complain that faxes are obsolete because they run on dial-up and take longer to send than an e-mail. However, it astounds me that they fail to realize all-in-all, this dial-up process takes a significantly less amount of time than the whole process required to do the same action on a computer. Besides, you don't have to sit there and watch the machine. You can hit send and then go, I don't know, make a cup of coffee, go to the restroom, check your e-mail, whatever. Or, if you're really all that tech savvy, set up your fax machine to run on a broadband line.
OK, OK, I'm not just rambling about fax machines. I have a point here. What I'm saying is, don't rule out forms of technology just because they're older. If they're still practical and useful, use them. For example, I have a digital sewing machine that I use for all my costume making but I know a seamstress who is still using an old Kenwood sewing machine from the late 1970's. When asked why she doesn't just invest in a new model she responded, "This one works just fine." I also know people who prefer a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo to a PS3 or an X-Box 360. Sometimes oldies are goodies. If they're still around, there's probably a reason for it. If something truly is obsolete, they'll disappear or find their way into antique stores. Go into Best Buy and you'll find a fax machine but when was the last time you saw a BetaMax player there? Huh? Yeah. Now, I think I'm gonna go get some tacos.
-The Space Cadet
PS - What says you? Comment below.
-The Space Cadet
PS - What says you? Comment below.
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I am one person that can vouch for the usage and importance of fax machines. I work in the business building on campus, and there are countless times when a professor will have a paper copy only of a document they need to be sent to another building on campus or a business out in the community, and it is much easier and faster on my part to take their document and fax it rather than scanning it, resizing it, making sure it is clearly readable, changing the file format, attaching it in an email, and sending it. As you said, while the fax machine is running, I am often making copies, sorting the mail, etc. and do not have to focus any of my efforts or attentions on the fax machine doing its job. I totally agree with your main point here. If something works and serves its purpose, why stop using it?
ReplyDeleteI can totally see your point- up until a month ago, I was still using my phone from 3 years ago, and it worked just fine the entire time I had it. (My plan was up so I got a new, pretty, shiny phone... which totally negates your argument, so ignore this!) I also have a sewing machine from the early 90's and it works like a beaut! As much as I love technology, I am not one to think that because it's new, it's automatically "better".
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