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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE not ready for the desktop
From:       Casey Allen Shobe <cshobe () softhome ! net>
Date:       2003-12-03 16:03:38
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On Tue, November 25 2003 09:52, Luke Chatburn wrote:
> Just to deflate this situation somewhat, it is worth pointing out that
> desktop users very rarely use faxing. One of the great disadvantages has
> always been that people generally need to receive faxes as well, and
> haven't provided a unique line to do so. Moreover, if there is a phone line
> for the internet which the user has dedicated, they tend to use that for
> internet access, at which point, they can't send or receive faxes either.

And this is changing rapidly as people are moving to broadband, but think 
"Well I can just use my old modem for faxing!".

> In general, people who want faxing buy a fax machine, not a computer.

Well, some years ago I went to the store and paid good money for a Fax/Modem, 
not a Modem.  One of the reasons I bought such a device was because even 
though the need to fax is rare for me, it promised to accomodate my needs.

After moving away from dialup, I realized that I could buy a cheap device to 
detect if incoming calls were faxes, and direct such calls to my computer.  
Wonderful because I'd like to get as much out of that phone line I have to 
pay for every month as possible.  Even though I fax rarely, the need 
occaisionally arises, and I'd rather not have to spend the time/trouble going 
to a place which will do the faxing for me or go out and buy a big fax 
machine which is beyond my needs and expensive.

Not to mention that in the paperless office era or simply with regards to 
conservation, we should encourage the use of digital copies over 'a print the 
ads that come in on your phone line' setup ;-P.  Also my fax/modem will 
handle an unlimited amount of volume, with no worries of running out of paper 
or toner.

When I moved to linux some years ago, faxing disappeared from my life simply 
because there isn't any good support for it.  In Windows 95 with Microsoft 
Fax, I could simply hit print, choose the fax, and get an address book 
selection prompt.  Simple, but powerful.  How I'd love to be able to hit 
Print from a KDE application, select the fax, and get to pick contacts from 
the kaddressbook to send the content to.

> That is not to say that fax facilities aren't useful to a few people, but
> it is rare. I do plenty of work for multiple clients, but they just e-mail
> me their documents these days, because what they would want to fax is in
> fact just a print-out of a document they just produced. As a result, I sent
> precisely one fax last year, and an e-mail would have sufficed, except that
> the recipient was out of the office.

There are many cases when faxing is required.  For example, when I decided to 
move to the state I'm living in now, I prearranged a lease with an apartment 
complex before moving.  They faxed me a rental agreement, which I signed and 
faxed back (by utilizing my scanner in addition to my fax/modem).  Without 
this ability, I would have had to stay in a hotel for a while after arriving 
here (costing a lot more money), or paid somebody to handle the faxing for me 
(also more money).

> At the same time, however, they are needed by very little of the market
> indeed, and therefore are not, by any means a showstopper for KDE on the
> desktop. 

I agree, but they would be very nice to have.  As a previous boss used to tell 
me about some projects "This isn't required, but it's a nice-to-have if you 
can find the time".

> So by all means, let's fix Kfax to your satisfaction, but let's not engage
> in extravagent overstatement that it stops KDE being useful on the desktop

Yes.

> (let's remember that Windows < 2000 didn't have built-in faxing, and you
> needed a 3rd party app anyway, so does that mean that windows 98 was not
> ready for the desktop?

I believe Windows 95 included Microsoft Fax - if not part of the regular 
installation then it was available on the CD or via free download.  I know 
for fact that there is a copy of Microsoft Fax on the Windows 98 CD in the 
oldwin95/ directory.  This is one area where I respect Microsoft's work, 
because this simple program was much better than any of the horrid 3rd-party 
junk I ever tried.  Does Windows 2000 have built-in faxing?  I have never 
seen it so they must have done a very poor job of implementing it since I 
cannot even find it and instead spent hours fiddling with 3rd party 
implementations the last time somebody I knew needed to send/recieve faxes 
from their Windows 2000 machine.

> I think most would disagree, and KDE and Linux are now far better than Win98
> ever was). 

"Better" cannot be said.  Overall better when you add together all of the 
functionality, probably; but in some regards, NT4 or even 95 (and probably 
even older UIs by all different people) still have a few advantages over 
Linux/KDE.

-- 
Casey Allen Shobe
cshobe@softhome.net
Jabber: sigthor@jabber.org; ICQ: 1494523; AIM/Yahoo: SomeLinuxGuy
Despite the rising cost of living, it remains a popular activity.
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