On Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:52:19 +0200, andrel wrote:

> On 3-9-2012 22:43, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:15:10 +0200, andrel wrote:
>>
>>> Why on earth would you want to do that? The thing is meant for a
>>> paperless society.
>>
>> Paperless society is a myth,
> 
> like flat screens won't happen. Oh sorry we do have them now. They were
> a myth for a large number of years and then suddenly within a few years
> they replaced all CRTs.

I don't see a paperless society in place.  Do you?

I tried to order a transcript of my college grades about a year ago.  I 
signed the paperwork using my Wacom tablet and e-mailed it back. The 
signature was rejected - I had to print out the stupid form, sign it *in 
pen*, scan it back into the computer, and e-mail it to them.

Until legal requirements are changed in society so that an electronic 
signature is considered legal and binding - *uniformly* - we won't have a 
paperless society, and we're no where close to that.

>> but being able to scan existing documents could help get closer to
>> paperless, no?
> 
> No. Almost everything I read, and I assume you as well, was digital
> before it was painted on a dead tree. In stead of scanning and OCRing
> just give me that file.

Once upon a time, I had a set of books written by the author Honoré de 
Balzac that were printed in the early 20th century.  I can assure you 
those were not digital before being printed on dead tree.

I also have in my possession copies of the Sherlock Holmes stories and 
the works of H. G. Wells, printed before digital writing systems were in 
common use.  In fact, I've got a fair selection of books that were 
printed well before digital systems were in common use in publishing - 
and the vast majority (if not all of them) of those books are not 
actually considered "rare".

Can you read files in Envoy format?  I've got some materials in that 
format as well - good luck finding a system that can read them. ;)

Jim

Post a reply to this message