Fax, tape recorder and Rolodex to be extinct in five years?
SEATTLE - Does your office still have a fax machine?
Do you know where it is?
Do you even know how to use it?
A recent survey of 7,000 global professionals by business networking website LinkedIn found the fax to be one of the top 10 office tools and trends that will likely disappear completely within five years.
Just above the fax machine on the list was the tape recorder. Rounding out the other spots in the top five were the Rolodex, standard working hours (banker's hours) and the desk phone.
The survey also asked professionals to reveal their 'dream' office tools. That list includes a quiet place to nap, a place in the office to enjoy natural sunlight and the ability to clone one's self.
Mashable.com has the full top 10 list of soon-to-be-extinct office tools:
1. Tape recorders (79 percent)
2. Fax machines (71 percent)
3. The Rolodex (58 percent)
4. Standard working hours (57 percent)
5. Desk phones (35 percent)
6. Desktop computers (34 percent)
7. Formal business attire like suits, ties, pantyhose, etc. (27 percent)
8. The corner office for managers/executives (21 percent)
9. Cubicles (19 percent)
10. USB thumb drives (17 percent)
I dont see desk phones going away. They just keep growing larger with more functions.
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I dont see desktop computers going anywhere either, you cant very well type reports and emails on an ipad all day You can add a docking station, or bluetooth keyboard and mouse but then you could have bought 2 PC's for that price. Then connecting one to a business network, networked printers, scanners & faxes is not an easy task. There are lots of news stories about businesses and schools trying to replace computers with tablets and after several months they all switch back.
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But fax machines should have died a long time ago, its so much better to scan and email. No long distance, no waiting for someone else to get off the phone and the page quality is 10 times better. The only problem, for most people faxing is easier, so thats why its still here.
 @SkaBob There  are too many things powerful desktop computers are still needed for -- higher end graphics and video, for example. And for the moment they are much less expensive, fully equipped, than an equally powerful laptop. And try hooking up multiple screens to a laptop...where I work, multiple 17 inch or 22 inch screens are the norm, and make work much easier. Tablets are extremely useful in many situations, but I'm not sure they'll be versatile enough to make desktop computers "disappear" in the next five years.
 @TheMadTurk I use a desktop with dual 24" monitors with AutoCAD, no way I am giving that up.
 @SkaBob They switch back from tablets because what we have is good for email, web browsing, you tube and angry birds. That is until Windows 8 tablets emerge, they will easily displace office desktops.
I don't really think fax will disappear in 5 years. While most people can "scan to PDF", many government offices still require the use of fax. I know of quite a few places who have not embraced new technology and you cannot send something any other way. It blows my mind that fax is still a tool used today.
 @aaronnwcs I think you're right about fax. Fax is recognized as a legal duplicate for signatures that email isn't, and fax has the advantage of delivery confirmation, which isn't universal (or, again, legally binding) in email. There are still a lot small offices and remote places where scanning to PDF is talking Martian and the high-speed Internet connection necessary to transmit graphics quickly don't exist.  I think fax will be a small but viable part of the communications market until every person is born with a smartphone in their hand and every telephone line has disappeared.
Those 3 already are. Â My fax was gone about 6 year ago, the rolodex and tape recorder at least 15 years.
I noticed one sign of these changes looking over some old drawings, we used to list contact info for people with phone and fax, now it's cell phone and email.