A couple years back we were asked to make a few changes to an existing site.  This changes were mostly cosmetic (updates to the marketing text) along with a couple minor enhancements to the application.  The client making the request told me they "did a lot of cutting and pasting" and had a document with mocked up screen shots of the changes they wanted.    I asked them to send it over and a few minutes later a dozen screen shots arrived by fax.  I was confused about why it was faxed but just assumed they lost my email address or something like that.  Anyway, I reviewed the proposed changes and called the client back to make a few additional suggestions.  They agreed and promised to send over revised screen shots.  I asked them if instead of fax they could just email me the document.  The response was "We can't.... we were cutting and pasting".  Even more confused, I asked why cutting and pasting some text inside a word document would prevent them from emailing it to me.  Turns out that this version of "cut and paste" involved a screen print from a browser, scissors, and a bottle of glue.

To be fair, the person making the request was not very proficient when it came to computers.  But you would think that someone managing the IT vendors for a pretty big company could find a better way. 
 

first

 THis sounds like something that should be on Computer Stupidities. (http://rinkworks.com/stupid/)
 

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

"The dark gray slice of the chart represents North American sales, while the light gray represents European sales."

I don't see you're problem.  Just deplug the cable for the fax machine and stick it into your computer. The fax will be re-encoded auto-on the fly.
 

Stupidumb:

I don't see you're problem. Just unplug the cable for the fax machine and stick it into your computer. The fax will be re-encoded auto-on the fly.

Fixed it for you.

Lingerance:

Stupidumb:

I don't see you're problem. Just unplug the cable for the fax machine and stick it into your computer. The fax will be re-encoded auto-on the fly.

Fixed it for you.

Still needs:

you're your

auto-on  on (or anything less wierd, really)

I assume Stupidumb isn't a native English speaker so I'm not picking on the first post, but if you want to correct people's posts, at least have the decency to do it properly.
 

Actually the lack of sarcasm notification is the initial thing, the unplug/deplug was an after thought.

Lingerance:

Actually the lack of sarcasm notification is the initial thing, the unplug/deplug was an after thought.

True. I'd like to know where to obtain Stupidumb's amazing fax software that can restore the colour to a b/w fax (since that would be the only significant downside to the faxing other than wasted time).
 

I have a bunch of photographs of great grandparents I'd like to see in full colour :)

Or a fax system that converts a fax of a screen shot of a webpage into the corresponding HTML code.

drinkingbird:

Lingerance:

Actually the lack of sarcasm notification is the initial thing, the unplug/deplug was an after thought.

True. I'd like to know where to obtain Stupidumb's amazing fax software that can restore the colour to a b/w fax (since that would be the only significant downside to the faxing other than wasted time).
 

I have a bunch of photographs of great grandparents I'd like to see in full colour :)

it is actually possible, i've read about it in some course couple of years ago ... 

 

Nelle:

drinkingbird:

Lingerance:

Actually the lack of sarcasm notification is the initial thing, the unplug/deplug was an after thought.

True. I'd like to know where to obtain Stupidumb's amazing fax software that can restore the colour to a b/w fax (since that would be the only significant downside to the faxing other than wasted time).
 

I have a bunch of photographs of great grandparents I'd like to see in full colour :)

it is actually possible, i've read about it in some course couple of years ago ... 

It's called colorization

belgariontheking:

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

Depends on the fax. There are some that support colour faxing.

ender:

belgariontheking:

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

Depends on the fax. There are some that support colour faxing.

What's the point in using a fax machine if you don't reduce your image to a grainy, black-and-black blob that nobody can recognise? 

We once received faxed shots from a design agency.

belgariontheking:

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

Some can, but the protocols may be proprietary.

I can send colour faxes from my home to my office, and vice-versa, but the fax machines in question are identical.

 

Critter:

Some can, but the protocols may be proprietary. 

Standards, people! Standards!

Seriously.. I can never understand why they'd make crap proprietary like that.


Salesperson: This fax can send and receive in color!
Customer: Can it do that with other fax models?
Salesperson: No. It can only communicate with other machines of the same model.
Customer: Then why would I want it if it won't work with other fax machines?
Salesperson: Because it can do color!

Lingerance:

asuffield:

prepBut nI vrbLike adjHungarian! qWhat's artThe adjBig nProblem?.

Since we're being picky, this has bothered me for a while. "But" isn't a preposition, it's a conjunction.

That was mentioned in the thread I quoted my signature from. The one I have is much more readable than the one with the corrections.

don:

Lingerance:

asuffield:

prepBut nI vrbLike adjHungarian! qWhat's artThe adjBig nProblem?.

Since we're being picky, this has bothered me for a while. "But" isn't a preposition, it's a conjunction.

I've never really been sure whether that was deliberate. But you don't really want to go changing a quote like that. 

Critter:

belgariontheking:

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

Some can, but the protocols may be proprietary.

I can send colour faxes from my home to my office, and vice-versa, but the fax machines in question are identical.

 

Huh? Faxes use TIFF as the image format.   TIFF supports color.   The only reason most faxes are B/W is because most use the hideous thermal paper.  

 

My HP all-in-one printer/copier/fax  has two buttons to start the fax - one for black and white, and one for color. 

notromda:

Critter:

belgariontheking:

heh, not to mention that (I think) fax machines can't handle color.

Some can, but the protocols may be proprietary.

Huh? Faxes use TIFF as the image format.   TIFF supports color.   The only reason most faxes are B/W is because most use the hideous thermal paper.

You are partially correct. A lot of modern faxes support TIFF-F (not necessarily the full TIFF specification) directly, and event then, support of color faxes vary. For faxes using just scanline information, support for color fax is hit-and-miss when transferring between different makers of fax machines (and sometimes, even with different models from the same manufacturer).

ole gustie:

Turns out that this version of "cut and paste" involved a screen print from a browser, scissors, and a bottle of glue.

Compared with stuff that a number of my clients have sent over the years, I would be happy to get something that looked pretty close to what they really wanted. No WTF here, excluding of course the grammar nazi's.