Advantage faxes!

When it comes to reliable, safe communication, the fax is still a force to reckon with

Why? With the advent of e-mail, texting and now photo messaging, why would anyone want to communicate by fax? Isn't the fax machine becoming obsolete?

The answer, strangely enough is a resounding ‘No'. According to Paul Rubens who authored an article entitled Fax - the technology that refuses to die, faxing is more popular than it's ever been.

Last year an estimated 40 per cent more pages were faxed than the previous year. Sales are also not showing much sign of decline.

Some argue that when it comes to reliable, safe communication, the fax is a force to reckon with.

A signed document sent by fax is admissible as evidence in a court while a simple e-mail may not be - this of course has to change as the e-mail gains maturity.

But there's another more subtle reason. The fax machine has entrenched itself into the world of digital communications to such an extent that the distinction between a fax and an e-mail is increasingly blurred.

Web-to-fax gateways

Today, one might own a fax, but the person you are communicating with does not. No problem. To send a fax without a fax machine, one can use one of many websites which offer web-to-fax gateways.

Write a message or specify an existing document on one's computer, provide a fax number, and the message will be converted into a fax.

Now if one doesn't have a computer to receive e-mails, and have hung on to the fax machine, e-mail-to-fax services exist which automatically convert e-mails into faxes.

This does have the advantage that while computers and e-mails can carry viruses, fax machines can never be put out of action by a hacker.

Despite popular belief that the fax machine was invented in the 70s, the truth is that it is much older. Alexander Bain first invented it in 1843. The '70s gave it credence, the '80s and '90s made it ubiquitous.

There are, of course, the downsides to the machine. Sometimes documents, especially ones that are drawn or handwritten, can get smudged or dirty and at times entire passages might disappear altogether. Irritating, indeed.

Then there is an analogue to digital conversion and back again. Whatever the pros and cons, as long as internet to fax and fax to internet gateways exist, it will be quite a while before the e-mail usurps the fax's position in the working environment.