Comment What ever happened to going paperless? (Score 1) 362
Off-topic, but I've not had a printer in 10 years. I do stop by kinkos now and then for the occasional resume or ultra high quality hard copy project, but I do so less and less each year as electronic document formats become more acceptable. For me, PDF's make flawless wysiwyg documents, if any recipient ever does feel the need to print it. High resolution monitors and multiple monitors relieve eye strain and create the screen real estate I need when the desire arises to see everything at once. Internet fax services have never failed me for outgoing/incoming. Flawless syncing with/emailing to your palms/pocket PC/phone/mini-PC makes on the go documents easy.
At work, I am just stunned that the technology that can drastically reduce the need for paper has buried us even deeper in it. I guess their are times when a printed page is easier to use than a computer display, but come on. Printer queues easily take up 25% of a terminal servers resources and who knows how much bandwidth. When I look at the queues, what are people printing? Not invoices for customers...typically users print their email, web pages, PowerPoint presentations and the same document over and over and over. I know some people need them, but I would guess 90% of printer use is frivolous. Oh, and not to mention the cost of paper, toner and fixing the damn things.
Ah well, I guess they keeps some of us geeks employed, so they are good for that at least.
At work, I am just stunned that the technology that can drastically reduce the need for paper has buried us even deeper in it. I guess their are times when a printed page is easier to use than a computer display, but come on. Printer queues easily take up 25% of a terminal servers resources and who knows how much bandwidth. When I look at the queues, what are people printing? Not invoices for customers...typically users print their email, web pages, PowerPoint presentations and the same document over and over and over. I know some people need them, but I would guess 90% of printer use is frivolous. Oh, and not to mention the cost of paper, toner and fixing the damn things.
Ah well, I guess they keeps some of us geeks employed, so they are good for that at least.
