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A comment on The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big thing? (2004). Parent comment

Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by scottLobster on Wednesday March 19, 2025 @05:33PM (#43417543)
My dad used to be a Professor at a major State university, and he talked about how one of his older colleagues, who was a professor of Electrical Engineering, had his secretary (yes, he had a secretary) print out his emails for him every morning and put them in his physical inbox. He'd read them, type up his responses, print them out, and have her transcribe and send the responses later in the day.

Just sad really.

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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by piotrpdev on Wednesday March 19, 2025 @06:23PM (#43417868)
I'm confused, did he type them up on a computer that was not connected to the internet/school network but was physically connected to a printer close by? Why didn't he and the secretary copy emails from/to some form of portable storage?
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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by doubled112 on Wednesday March 19, 2025 @06:58PM (#43418123)
One time I had a client print an email, write on it, and fax it back.

Don’t try to understand the work flow. That’s impossible. Just try to realize the truth.

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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by reportgunner on Monday March 24, 2025 @09:56AM (#43461164)
Before "Information Systems" there was no need for a company/college wide network; computers with printers on the same desk were a replacement for the typewriter.
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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by wincy on Wednesday March 19, 2025 @10:48PM (#43419495)
I can only hope to one day be rich and successful enough that this could be my life.
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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by mr_mitm on Thursday March 20, 2025 @02:45AM (#43420347)
Your dad's colleague's professor was just like Donald Knuth!

https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html

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Re:The Intenet Slum: is abandoning the Internet the next big... by MITSardine on Thursday March 20, 2025 @08:52AM (#43422434)
This must still be somewhat common. I recall e-mails from administration at my previous French lab had in their signature something to the effect of "Think of the environment, do not print this e-mail".

I actually had an example of something similar before my eyes. My advisor's advisor's advisor (...), emeritus, occupied the office next to mine and printed his Fortran code to work on at home. He debugged on paper, then typed it down the next day in the office. His whole career had been at the crossroads of math and computer science, his main contribution algorithms and software, and he did not have a computer at home (says he). This software debugged by hand (and typed with the index fingers) is still used in commercial software!

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