[Cubeoid]

Hmmm

[Superchicken]

Hmm Safari doesn't seem to like the idea of opening that through iTunes.. weird.

As to the topic... to many old people... I don't use paper much at all.

[mitchell_pgh]

Apples and Oranges.

I hate to say this, but paper is faster in many situations then a computer will ever be. It's the same reason I no longer have a palm. I can scribble some notes on a sheet of paper faster then i can boot up my laptop or palm.

Also, not everyone feels comfortable reading long documents on a laptop. Their eyes tire much more quickly. Also adding notes to a document can be much more difficult on a computer if you aren't very technically inclined.

Also, from a design standpoint... sketching something is 1000X easier using a pencil and paper as compared to starting on the computer. The computer in many ways will limit your thinking.

I could probably think of a few additional reasons...

just my 2�

[Xeo]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Apples and Oranges.

I hate to say this, but paper is faster in many situations then a computer will ever be. It's the same reason I no longer have a palm. I can scribble some notes on a sheet of paper faster then i can boot up my laptop or palm.

Also, not everyone feels comfortable reading long documents on a laptop. Their eyes tire much more quickly. Also adding notes to a document can be much more difficult on a computer if you aren't very technically inclined.

Also, from a design standpoint... sketching something is 1000X easier using a pencil and paper as compared to starting on the computer. The computer in many ways will limit your thinking.

I could probably think of a few additional reasons...

just my 2�

"Ever will be" is a bit strong. With the advent of digital paper, sketching and reading on a digital medium that can be transferred and stored easily and electronically will come. We aren't there yet, but it will come.

I'm sure paper will always be used as a physical backup of important documents that need to be filed, but in 20 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the use of paper declines drastically.

[ManOfSteal]

I blame Post-Its.�

[CD Hanks]

It got recycled.

[Nicko]

IMHO: People from a certain time period are unable to work without having a copy on paper that they can feel, touch, hold, to read. Its really weird.

The office I work in they demand to have no less than 6 printed copies of everything.

[moonmonkey]

My company has three branches in China, My office is fully automated with Digital records of everything, two are still semi automated and still reply on paper based files for all the customers.

On the 1st of march the primary HP server mashed up, a powersurge killed the RAID thingy and pranged two disks in the array, the nightly backups all the way back to Feb were fried too because of some dumb ass IT company configuring the tape backup incorrectly.

Guess which office is worse off, my one.
Screw the paperless office.

Photocopy everything and lock it in a safe place.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
My company has three branches in China, My office is fully automated with Digital records of everything, two are still semi automated and still reply on paper based files for all the customers.

On the 1st of march the primary HP server mashed up, a powersurge killed the RAID thingy and pranged two disks in the array, the nightly backups all the way back to Feb were fried too because of some dumb ass IT company configuring the tape backup incorrectly.

Guess which office is worse off, my one.
Screw the paperless office.

Photocopy everything and lock it in a safe place.

Paper can be burned in a fire if not protected. Data is the same (figuratively speaking, of course).

I just visited Thomson West in Eagan, MN with a group from my school. We were supposed to tour their data center which would have been sweet, but instead we got to watch a flash file about it. Anyway, they won't have a problem with losing data. Granted, it costs a hell of a lot more to guarantee that digital data remains secure over paper.

[Randman]

Same thing with newspapers. As much as one can get news from sources such as TV, the radio and the Internet, there's something satisfying about wading into a newspaper and going through it. Same with a book or even a magazine.

[Superchicken]

I dono... I hate news papers... I much prefer reading news online.

[Randman]

Originally posted by Superchicken:
I dono... I hate news papers... I much prefer reading news online.

How old are you? Most teens would say the same thing (according to many newspaper studies) but many change their mind upon attending uni or graduating from uni.

[Nivag]

i love reading newspapers, it means i don't have to look at anyone on the tube!

[hart]

Funny. I'm 44 and I never read newspapers until I could get them online at a decent speed. Hated all that ink. The tactile feel of newsprint with the cheap ink on it was an asthetic turn-off.

Of course, I just dumped my Palm because it just wasn't functioning (rant elsewhere in these forums). Everyone else would say OH, right, meeting at 3, jot it in their little calenders or notebooks and be done while I'd still be poking away with my stylus and swearing. The indignity and nonfunctionality finally got to me after almost 2 years. I now have addresses, schedule and alarms on my ipod but take notes on the road in a 69 cent notebook. (I also got the iVoice but haven't gotten it to function smoothly. Besides I always feel like that spy in the old TV show Get Smart muttering into my music player)

I have three hi end computers sitting on my desk and yet it's covered with little notes on paper. Stickies is on my desktop with some things I need in the digital world, like UPS tracking numbers but generally, no matter how I try to digitize my lists they end up on little pieces of paper I can slip in my pocket on the way out the door and throw in the trash at the end of the day.

Case in point, today I'm going to try to find a location in Brooklyn. I looked it up on mapquest, but when I go out to the car I'm carrying 4 printed maps of the area. Sure I could in theory have some GPS system or whatever but what, I'm going to be pressing buttons trying to zoom in and out or find the right page while negotiating mid-day brooklyn traffic in an industrial area? A recipe for disaster. The functionality just isn't there for digital, but 4 sheets of paper have all the info I need (plus a little slip of scrap paper with notes to myself on which streets to use).

Digital doesn't have the broad-range portabiity, compatibility and simplicity of analogue paper at this point in it's developement. If I want to read a book on the computer I have to worry about charging a laptop or getting my face up to the screen. A book I can read anywhere, even in a wet environment (of course, not ideal) w/o losing my data, I can hold it comfortably at any range from my eyeballs, I can lie down in bed, I can sit on a mountaintop. For hours. Reading. w/o getting out my solar charger.

Digital has glitches that paper is not subject to. 10 sheets of paper can be laid out on a table to compare, digital sheets can't. You couldn't, for example spread out a complete fashion collection on your table to get a feel for your whole line. Or the added layers of complexity to make sure that everyone at a meeting has a document to look at digitally over the same process using paper is measured in terms of orders of magnitude. Hand out 20 copies, no problem. Everyone can scratch notes on them to their hearts desire. 20 more people happen to stroll in? no problem, 20 more copies. copier broken? send someone downstairs to another copier. you don't have to come up with 20 more digital interfaces for these people to view and ways for them to take notes about them.

Ultimately, the technology may develop the smoothness of paper/pen interface but it's a LONG way away in terms of the way real humans interact with real data. We're not all uberGeeks after all.

end lecture.

[Dougmc]

Originally posted by Cubeoid:
Hmmm

Didn't you get the memo?

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Xeo:
"Ever will be" is a bit strong. With the advent of digital paper, sketching and reading on a digital medium that can be transferred and stored easily and electronically will come. We aren't there yet, but it will come.

I'm sure paper will always be used as a physical backup of important documents that need to be filed, but in 20 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the use of paper declines drastically.

I'll agree that paper will continue to decline, but I firmly believe it will never go away. There will be situations (as there currently are) where electronic transfers will be faster, but there is nothing faster then me handing you a piece of paper with all the information on it.

You can fold it up, put it in your pocket and walk away.

There is something about the "worthlessness" of paper. Perhaps someday we will all have free paper thin "laptops" that can transfer information instantly, but I would argue that you are talking about hundreds of years.

It's like saying "why do we still screen print" IMHO.

[budster101]

You can buy the manual to teh "Paperless Office" online. It's a volume of 23 and 500 pages each... you can read it online or you can order a printed copy...

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by Cubeoid:
Whatever happened to the paperless office?

Laser printers.

The biggest reasons:
1. Paper is more portable
2. Paper is more secure
3. Paper doesn't crash
4. Paper is easier to read
5. Computers can't be folded into paper airplanes during boring meetings.

[pooka]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
5. Computers can't be folded into paper airplanes during boring meetings.

No, but if you're angry enough, they can fly almost as well.