Carlos Alvarez wrote:
Sounds great, and is very logical. I said the same thing about fax ten years ago. Today we (the entire telecom community) are wasting huge amounts of time/money/resources in order to support this dead technology. What makes you think SMS will be any different?
Excellent question! I'm not sure. But I'm also not sure that's a very apples-to-oranges comparison. A lot of the remaining backstop for fax has to do with the preeminence of the written signature as the mark of legal validity. Until we come up with a good, universal way to electronically "sign" documents and law evolves to acknowledge it, I don't think the inertia behind fax will go away, even in industries where it continues to be used for reasons that are superficially very tangential to this. Also, the alternatives offered to users of fax by the vanguard of new technologies don't really add much new functionality, while striking people accustomed to it as cumbersome. Something about a scanner, saving files, attaching them to emails... yes, I know they're ultra-fast-acting document scanners and accompanying desktop software has made the process relatively turn-key, but it's still easier to just sign the page and put it in the fax machine. The same basic result is accomplished. The distinction between SMS and its prospective replacement is far wider and more pronounced, AND the reason SMS continues to dominate on phones capable of more (that is, aside from its ubiquity) is pretty much completely related to deliberate manipulation/coercion. It has very little intrinsic technological merit. That is why I think it will be different. -- Alex Balashov - Principal Evariste Systems Web : http://www.evaristesys.com/ Tel : (+1) (678) 954-0670 Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671