Yeah, my fax has broken. I'm broken.
this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Fax is vintage tech since at least a decade, but it was useful.
My first contact with them was not on a fax machine, but using a Sportster Winmodem/fax. Faxing was possible using a Windows 3.1 computer, using QuickLink II software.
Later on, I got this "marvelous" Panasonic KX-FT38 fax machine, with its markings in Spanish of course. A noble 300dpi device, with 20min digital recorder for voice and data (delayed thermal printing was possible). Also has an automatic cutting blade. 14.4 kilobauds of pure faxing power!
It was so nice I even didn't care to remove its tacky stickers.
I used it daily. Somewhat people REPLIED to fax transmissions, as it served to speed response time on bureaucratic nonsense. Secretaries did their thing when they got a fax with their names handwritten on them. IDKW but it worked.
You would like Japan. Fax just refuses to die. There's the cultural notion that an email isn't legal, but a fax is ;)
That used to be true in my country too. For some bureaucratic issues, fax was legal-binding. For example, for public health/social pharmaceutical deliveries, it acted as a valid receipt, it was "official". I noted fax used to improve delivery times, reducing errors.
Also there was that psychological effect of paper.
On the Health&Edu sector, most of the secretaries were young girls and they loved to be written something after the official receipt was delivered (the first page in the call). I would write them something as a personal sidenote, and they will do the office work like a charm. Low-rank bureaucrats love to be addressed. These "Social skills" were not used on the official first page of course, but it worked! It saved me lots of headache and phone-drama.