Discussion on:
View:
Show:
I would swear I saw this same infographic 5-10 years ago. Not just the same tired list, but the same graphic.
I haven't seen a rolodex or tape recorder in the workplace since those years that began with '19'. We still have half a dozen fax numbers I'd love to kill, but they're on multipurpose printers; I haven't seen a stand alone fax this century either. We use a third-party faxing service for those antiquated contacts that haven't figured e-mail or don't get that a physical pen-and-ink signature is NOT a legal requirement.
I worked for a filing system company somewhere between 90-95 and we were looking into what has now become document management systems and the elusive quest for the paperless office. Anyway at that time, certain states held that a copy of any document was not court permissible. I'd guess that's changed some since then. I'd still be cautious in making too many assumptions without being 100% certain especially in a HIPAA or otherwise regulated environment.
I currently am contracting with a Japanese company. There is a ping pong table in the hallway outside my office. 
Seems to me, they also said the Laptop was dead quite a few years ago with the advent of Tablet computers (Not like the iPad, etc.. But the touch-screen laptop that the entire face was a touch-sensitive LCD, yet still had the bulk of the laptop case below it, just no keyboard.) As we all know, Laptops are still hot sales items, yet they seem to get thinner & thinner.. (and pricier & pricier, and less repair-able.) (don't even get me started on the audio quality!) Are Cloud based computers the wave of the future? I still say not likely.. If the Mega-Upload scandal wasn't warning enough, as well as quite a few cloud storage facilities being hacked into, Off-site storage of software & data is a shark-infested lagoon, just waiting for someone to pull the plug from the bottom, and have all content lost. I still have in my collection, a Version 2 Osborne-1 suitcase computer. (Yes, and Compaq thought they originated it? the Osborne was Pre-PC based, but I digress...) It STILL works! Can the PC run data from it? Yes, as long as (a) it's been transferred (I still have the majority of its data on 5.25" floppy disks. (I still have a few machines which run the old 8" disks as well, but again, I digress.) Someone asked me to burn an EPROM (sorry, again, showing my age.. Pre-Flash RAM technology) for another computer.. I have the burner, but the old IBM PC I used to use it with, did eventually burn-out. (over-worked.. for 22 years).. I just resurrected an old IBM Thinkpad 755C with dock, that still runs Windows-95-Plus! Why? Because it required an ISA Bus expansion card.. So, while everyone is abandoning their old hardware, in search for the latest & greatest expense... I'm basically recycling their old hardware to keep it running.. Not destroying it.. RECYCLING. It's still functioning.. Just because it's yesterday's technology, doesn't mean it's totally dead.. If such were the case, the majority of the entire internet would be running something other than a derivative of an ancient OS made by Bell Labs.. .. Bell Who? Sorry.. again, showing my age.. and support for old hardware..
I think the desk phone will not disappear within the next 5 years or even 10 because many businesses with multiple offices and buildings will need them; how else will they have interoffice communications?. I don't see companies buying cell phones for all their employees.
When my previous company moved to a new corporate office back in 2007, we built our own and went LEED Gold. 90% of the staff sat near (or in sight of) floor-to-ceiling windows -- the VPs had their offices on the inside walls by their own request, because they were in so many meetings that they were rarely IN their offices. Each floor had a ping-pong room, too.
Personally, the one I want the most is the nap room, especially for about 30 minutes after lunch. I would work SO much better throughout the rest of the day -- and probably stay later, too.
Standard work hours won't go away as long as manufacturing works in shifts and service industries exist and held desks need to be staffed. But the flexibility to work split shifts, odd hours, or work from home is definitely on the rise and I see that continuing.
Desk phones are going away because many enterprise phone systems can now work right on your computer. Why buy an expensive phone system AND headsets when all you really need is a headset and the soft phone -- which will work from anywhere the computer can get on the company network? At home? Check. In a hotel? A client site? Starbucks? Check, check and check if you've got VPN or similar technology.
Fax machine? It's part of the multifunction unit that also prints, copies and scans. Rolodex? Only in my father's office -- but then, he's 80.
Tape recorder? I have an app for that...
Personally, the one I want the most is the nap room, especially for about 30 minutes after lunch. I would work SO much better throughout the rest of the day -- and probably stay later, too.
Standard work hours won't go away as long as manufacturing works in shifts and service industries exist and held desks need to be staffed. But the flexibility to work split shifts, odd hours, or work from home is definitely on the rise and I see that continuing.
Desk phones are going away because many enterprise phone systems can now work right on your computer. Why buy an expensive phone system AND headsets when all you really need is a headset and the soft phone -- which will work from anywhere the computer can get on the company network? At home? Check. In a hotel? A client site? Starbucks? Check, check and check if you've got VPN or similar technology.
Fax machine? It's part of the multifunction unit that also prints, copies and scans. Rolodex? Only in my father's office -- but then, he's 80.
Tape recorder? I have an app for that...
- Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Prev
- Next
- Toggle
