VsiFax and filePro -- frustration! --- RE: Filepro-list Digest, Vol 79, Issue 39

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010, Fairlight wrote:
>You'll never BELIEVE what Bill Campbell said here...:
>> 
>> We have been using HylaFAX since it was called flexfax, and we
>> hosted their e-mail list for several years before hylafax got
>> their own domain and hosting.
>
>Ah, that takes me back.  Pre-95, wasn't it?  I'm pretty sure it was flexfax
>in '93 yet.

The first fax software I used was Unifax by Stuart Lynne, then of
Vancouver BC.  Another Vancouver product is Faximum.

>The real question is why people are even using faxes anymore?  PDF-to-email
>solutions would seem to be the more optimal solution for anyplace with a
>network connection.  Most places worth existing have one of those nowadays.
>It seems that it would cut paper costs if only desired printouts were
>made.  It cuts development costs in half because you don't need to do the
>fax fork -and- the email fork, if you would have both.

Size might be a factor.  E-mailing a 25+ page PDF file might run
into maximum file size limits in many MTAs.

Another factor might be privacy.  Anything sent unencrypted via
normal e-mail is visible at one or more points along the way,
in particular to NSA that has splitters at most/all of the major
Internet hubs (see James Bamford's boot ``The Shadow Factor'' for
more on this).

My wife frequently has to fax information on her patients to
so-called ``Insurance'' providers, where the telco connection
might be considered more private (but not really if Big Brother
really wants to watch/listen).

If I were to provide better security for document transfers, I
would put the document on a secure web or ftp site, requiring
https, or ssl connections, then send a link to the file in an
e-mail.  Not only is it more secure, but it's about 1/3 smaller
than sending the encoded file in e-mail.

Bill
-- 
INTERNET:   bill at celestial.com  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
Voice:          (206) 236-1676  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820
Fax:            (206) 232-9186  Skype: jwccsllc (206) 855-5792

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who
are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. ... Such
laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the
assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent
homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater
confidence than an armed man. -- Thomas Jefferson