From: tj@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Terry Jones)
Subject: Re: Fax option for NEC laser printers
Organization: UTCS Public Access
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 15:41:17 GMT

>I can only assume that it is hooked to a computer now, so why
>is it more desirable to turn your computer's printer into
>a FAX machine rather than letting the computer shove the
>bits around the phone lines and print when ready?
>
>Unless there is some convincing evidence that makes this
>superior, I say a FAX modem is far and away a much
>smarter arrangement. And cheaper. And more flexible. And...

Hmmm... I think there are some pretty good reasons. In many situations
the printer is already a network printer. This means instant access to
network fax. 

Everybody using a PC knows how to print. It is much easier to teach
them how to click an option in the print dialog than it is to teach
them a new technique or even a new dialog to fax from seperate
fax applications. But most current fax implimentations act like a 
printer anyways, sure, but there is virtually ALWAYS some formatting
that changes when you change printers, whether it is imageable area
or other such things. Often fonts are the major problem when switching
printers, less now that GUI's and TrueType and ATM are with us but
still... Also why should I have to have multiple printer drivers
on my hard disk and all sorts of utilities that go with the fax applications
as well. 

The only thing that I can see as a "drawback" to the printer fax is
that you cannot review received faxes on screen and/or convert them
to text via OCR or use them as images in DTP stuff. My experience here is 
that reviewing a fax on screen is detrimental to productivity. When
I get a paper fax I can scan through a 20 page fax from a vendor
in about 5 seconds to get to the page I am interested in. And when I have
found the right page, I can see all of it. On screen it often takes many
seconds per page to decompress the pages, and I can usually only view a small
portion of a page at a time at full resolution (1 screen pixel = 1 fax pixel).
I spend a lot of time zooming and panning around. If you have a 19 inch
monitor you are in good shape, but a quick survey in our department reveals
very few of these! As well, simple things like an upside down page is
pretty quickly flipped on paper, and takes a few seconds each time
that page is read on screen to re-flip it. Using the fax as
image material is a valid point that. I bet this is less than 1% of
planned uses. OCRing the incoming fax is a good idea but with 200dpi
input at best and 100dpi input often and true garbage quality
scanners on the bulk of the fax machines out there, the material
you OCR is going to be pretty rough at best. Of course, throughout
this I have assumed that the incoming fax has been electronically reouted
to the correct person which is another can of worms in itself. Either
you have an administrator to route which has all the flaws of a human
being, use expensive DID routing and get great routing and
double the management nightmare that you tolerate for telephone service,
or you get OCR or some proprietary routing scheme that works sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I have and use a faxmodem, but in a corporate environment
or even a departmental environment, incoming isn't there yet. Outgoing
fax can save time, paper and other tangible and intangibles. A printer/fax
is a great way to do it and the easiest way for users to accept and
immediately use the technology.

tj