Data communications over telegraph circuits 1903

In our company, everyone (sophisticated or otherwise) has convenient access to Lexmark multifunction machines (I forget the model # at the moment, and I am typing this from home) which serve as networked printers, copiers, etc. They are all setup to allow the user to email a scanned document as a PDF, TIFF, JPG, etc. attachment. If we want to send a fax, in fact, we scan it on the machine and then send it as an email attachment addressed to the outgoing fax server.

It's no big deal to use, you just enter your user ID and pbuttword (and the destination fax # or recipient's email address) into the machine so it knows you're properly authorized to use it. The biggest hbuttle is using the on-screen touch "keyboard" which is not quite as nice as the one on your PC :-(

The point being that you are basically correct about the ease-of-use of fax machines (in fact, many departments have independently kept their existing standalone fax machines for incoming as well as outgoing messages) but the situation **is** gradually changing.

I must say that I personally prefer using the Lexmark multifunction box; that way I can simply cc: my email inbox on faxes which I'm sending, etc. for archiving & other messaging purposes. The scanned image file is also then available for further additional use without messing around with the paper originals again. Plus the fact that the Lexmark units are regularly maintained by trained personnel, unlike the standalone fax machines, and the image quality is almost always superior.