Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!indetech!fiver!palowoda
From: palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Networks Considered Harmful...
Message-ID: <954@fiver.UUCP>
Date: 17 Dec 89 23:10:40 GMT
References: <1989Dec16.191021.26031@phri.nyu.edu>
Organization: Fiver Communications  Fremont, Ca
Lines: 36

From article <1989Dec16.191021.26031@phri.nyu.edu>, by roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith):
> In <25086@cup.portal.com> Nagle@cup.portal.com (John Nagle) writes:
>>      Well, in the real world, I understand that electronic mail is
>>on the decline, and is being replaced by fax.
> 
> 	A year or so ago, some people here had need to establish regular
> communications with somebody at Monash University in Australia.  We proved
> that email worked in both directions but then the guy at the other end
> insisted we switch to fax.  Seems that he gets charged for both incomming
> and outgoing email and fax was cheaper!

   I doubt this. It takes 4x times longer to transmit one page of information
on fax (asume ascii) than regular email. Also if they where being charged
for incoming calls than they where useing a service that charged them for
it. Way they didn't they just get a uucp connection and email direct? 

   Fax will still play a big part in communications.  It is very convenient
to receive fax messages via email. At least than you can have routers and/or
directory services. I see this popping up for Xenix and Unix system's already
where some software vendors have written drivers for boards like the AST 
fax boards. For a user that wishes never to store/retrieve/process such
documents than maybe a simple fax will do. For a paper office this is 
fine. In the real world computers keep track of information. Therefor
I don't see fax replaceing email. It would be difficult to repalce 
something like the whole Usenet by fax. Mergeing it would be nice.

---Bob

 


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