The paperless office? Don’t talk sheet

And that means that on the rare occasions I do choose to print such an email, it now takes up an additional piece of paper because of the footnote telling me not to waste paper.

Don't feel bad. I have more than offset that by spending a _{twenty-something} year career printing every email I ever received until I first saw that footer and realised that you can read them on the monitor. Who knew?

Re: Paperless. Ah, I wish

It is coming sooner than you think. Laptops + Reliable large screens in all conference rooms + Hotelling = paperless office. I am living it. The printers on the floor stand idle.

Re: I'll see your dot matrix

Are those the same as band printers? Things that could throw fanfold up in the air like a fountain.

On another matter, of course smartphones and tablets can print without airprint, you don't even need to be in the same country as the printer.

Re: I'll see your dot matrix

Not many people had their own line printers though.

Anyone could buy a daisy wheel. I used one for a while. If it had been only a little louder and more distracting, John Peel would have invited it in for a studio session.

Re: I'll see your dot matrix

I still have boxes of line printer output that I use for lining the larder shelves.

Re: I'll see your dot matrix

And don't get me started on that chap in the Forum with his granite, mallet and chisel.

Re: I'll see your dot matrix

We used to have a room of high speed printers for what would now be called a server farm. Every once and a while, somebody would "mess up" and send a file full of form feeds to a printer. The printer would send a beautiful arc of paper across the room for the 30 seconds it took to completely empty the box of paper. The parts in those things moved fast enough that it was a serious safety issue to run one with the covers open. Other people were not allowed in the room during repairs or maintenance.

RE : Woooosh ... Im probably still missing the point sorry :(

RE: AC .... Didn't mean direct to printer, having used followme its done via a central print server, but all the gubbins for connecting from other devices are there.

I did a PEN test less than 2 years ago for a 'security conscious' systems integrator - with access to highly sensitive information (if the level of security clearances whispered around was any clue - although to be fair the really sensitive stuff lived in another building to which I was not permitted access).

A cleaner (they were all temps on some zero hour shitty contract and always changing), installed a network 'device' for us, running on batteries and with a discrete wifi connection to the outside world and importantly, to the car park where we left a smartens looking car. I had noticed a preponderance of HP net connected printers/copiers, and even been able to play idly with the console while finishing a rather awful cup of coffee while waiting for my guide. Lo and behold, the configuration was not what it could be. We captured almost a weeks worth of documents that went to the big, fast printer - and presented selected highlights as part of our report.

There was some discussion as to whether our cleaner could retain the pittance she was paid for two weeks on top of her already decent salary - in the end she got some good dinners on expenses instead (paperwork would have been horrendous).

And that was just the start. The number of men who will hold open a door for an attractive woman with what looks like a pass of the correct colour round her neck while she 'juggles' a mountain of paperwork, even though her pass has a snowball's chance in hell of opening the door on its own still fails to surprise me. Said individual then has access to half the building and an opportunity to do all sorts, including talking to the hell desk from an official telephone on a temporarily abandoned hot desk over lunchtime.....

Blow technical hacks, a smile and a little (OK in her case a lot) of tech knowhow can go a long way towards breeching security.

We never did get a look at the 'secure' building, not high enough security clearances I was told. But they did pay well.