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The Myth of the Paperless Office

Posted by timothy on from the fire-hazards-are-a-fact-of-life dept.

AdamBa writes: "The New Yorker is running an interesting review of the book 'The Myth of the Paperless Office', also discussing 'Scrolling Forward'. Read it and the ever-informative Malcolm Gladwell will explain why paper enables collaborative work much better than computers do, why a messy desk is a sign of productivity, and give a little background on the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System to boot."

2 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Snob alert! by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I'm one of the guys that makes computers work, that understands them. In corporate america, I'm 1 in 100, or even 1000. The rest are still stuck in the 15th century, and if you don't believe me, duck into the helpdesk call center. The sad thing is, by the time computers are smart enough to do the thinking for these retards, they'll also be able to do the job for them.

    You probably make a lot of computer decisions out there for others, and that you might have some skills that others in your office don't have, but the reality is that there are plenty of people out there that have zero time in their day looking out for their computers. That is your job. They are experts in their job.

    From your comments, let me take a stab at your personality...

    You're probably one of those assholes that make people feel stupid abut their taste in movies, operating systems, and religion. Please prove me wrong. Tell me when people look at you they don't see everything that is wrong with fat, smelly, elitist, dateless losers that run their computers. I'm going out on a limb here, but I bet the word 'tolerant' has never been used to describe you. Do you even have a social life? Or do people see you as an asshole because you project that on them?

    Here is an analogy for you... What if you had to fill out and do your own W-2 form every year from the company and messed it up? Would anyone go behind your back and call you an idiot for not being an expert in taxes? Tax records are complex and controlled by a select few people in the know, just like computers. DO THEY WALK AROUND LIKE THEY ARE GOD?

    Get over yourself.

    People have other problems in the world than to take your Think Geek T-Shirts seriously.

  2. So you are some kind of gold standard? by Polaris · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Paper seems to be disappearing from your life, and you're young, so therefore the future holds less paper? Did you ever think that maybe you use less paper because you're in a job where that is possible (no collaboration, no building relationships with suppliers) and that therefore you are not relevant to the article, rather than the article being wrong? I know who I think has set himself up for a round of ridicule.