You Coulda Just Faxed From Your PC (Since 1995)

Almost every PC you've ever used was capable of sending and receiving faxes, it put the feature right in front of you, and you didn't look at it because fax is the most boring subject on this entire planet.

This video was made at the beginning of February for what was going to be Fax February, but then February was a disaster for me and disrupted my life in many ways, so I've decided it's Fax February indefinitely. I consulted nobody on this and will accept no arguments to the contrary.

A footnote: It seems that fax functionality disappeared between 95 and XP. I didn't realize this while shooting, so that's a misstatement; I checked in 98, ME and 2000 and could not find it. Still, that only covers five out of 25 years, and a lot of people watching this weren't around for any of those OSes.

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[MrRadar]

The presence of the "Fax" printer in my printer dialog is blowing my mind. I've *never* seen it before yet I know it's always been there. This has to be some kind of SCP that escaped containment, only perceivable by people obsessed with obsolete technology.

[ds-ilik]

Hope everything's ok over at the Florida branch, that fax seemed urgent.

[duncathan_salt]

the fax button in the printer selection is a more earth shattering realization than when I realized the "save as pdf" button was real too

[LonSeidman]

I had a fax modem on my Newton back in the 90's. It was magic! Somebody at Microsoft is going to be very excited to see their work covered like this :)

[CarlLevitt]

This is massive. My union (at a legal services org.) is currently in the process of yelling at management for making us go into the office to send and pick up our faxes. I literally went into the office today to pick up a client's fax. If it is possible to send faxes from our computers at home that would change so much.

[deadhero]

I work at a store that faxes things for people daily. Since I have access to a fax machine I always fax memes to a friend at another store across town

[sofieo]

Uh oh. you broke the "somebody else's problem" field. MS is going to realize the fax is there and rip it out next update.

[elecxonica]

Not gonna lie, you've got me horrifyingly interested in digging up my old laptop and sending faxes.

[Stjaernljus]

Fax don't care about your feelings, fax only care about phoneline.

[BobWidlefish]

As someone who worked in desktop IT and network administration during Windows 3.11 and Windows 95 days for a public school district I can confirm that faxing has been a regular computer feature since literally before Windows existed. It’s as old as dirt and there have been mail merge features in DOS software on 5.25” floppies and on Novell Netware servers since dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Ancient VAX mainframes connected throughout Washington state for the schooling system could fax in bulk too, and auto-generate cover letters. Schools make strong use of central printers, central faxes, modem banks, phone call-out banks for voice messages, etc. You need stuff like that to call substitute teachers, announce truancy, announce school closures, etc. Public schools are also major bureaucracies, so faxes (physical and virtual) are very common. At a district with 12 sites and around 500 staff and 2, 500 computers it’s just big enough to need lots of automation systems, but not big enough to have lots of money, so there’s extensive use of “free” and cheap solutions relating to fax et al.

[Mitchn]

I remember My self taught Mother setting up and sending a fax off our gateway around the year 1999, she'd learn the newest tech just to teach her Sons. <3 miss you Mum.

[Ranger_Kevin]

Fun fact: Even under windows 10 you can still use the "Old" picture viewer instead of the new one. It is still there, you just need to change some settings in the registry.

[softchassis]

Yup I'm one of the people who has seen the word "Fax" in every version of Windows I've used since 98 and the word immediately leaving my brain after reading it each time I saw it

[theoriginalsjmc]

I had been supporting fax machines well in to 2020 and a simpler more cost effective way was right under my nose all along?

WINDOWS FAX SERVER!? MULTIPLE USERS!? Bloody hell. I could have saved hundreds of pounds if I'd just purchased a bloody USB Fax modem.

Love the content. This is my kind of video.

[redyau_]

"Mailmerge is an expensive piece of software"
He has yet to discover that Word has it built-in.

[kai]

Faxes are so much better than the telephone. Why do people always want to talk?

Also i think the reason that they "suck" is that they are related to scanners and printers, which are all really annoying to work with.

[topfacemod]

I've watched ALOT of vintage and nostalgia tech channels for years and never as satisfied with the coverage and research given to a subject as I am with this channel! Thanks CRD!

[threeonesixer]

I enjoy this guy’s videos. I always learn something.

[TylerComptonShow]

Honestly, I think fax has exited enough peoples' lives long enough ago that it's become interesting again. Sometime within the last 10 years, fax has turned from this nuisance that I hoped to never need into an arcane low-tech curiosity. I'd be happy to see more fax videos!

[moonchild]

The end bit about hating fax so much that you don't even see it is accurate as hell. I print a shitton daily and never once have I registered the fax option.