Good news! You'll soon be able to send faxes again with Windows 11 24H2

There is good news for Microsoft customers seeking to attach a scanner or fax machine to their Windows 11 hardware. Support for eSCL has been fixed, and a compatibility hold will be lifted. The issue, reported in November, caused problems with connected devices that support the Scanner Communication Language (eSCL) protocol. …

[abend0c4]

Given that Microsoft is phasing out third party drivers and that vendors will have to be Mopria-certified to ensure future Windows support, there probably couldn't be a more appropriate moment to reflect on the end-user benefits of swapping a myriad of proprietary drivers maintained by device manufacturers for a single point of failure managed by Microsoft.

[Tron]

....a single point of failure managed by Microsoft.

That is the very definition of a worst case scenario.

[elsergiovolador]

Faxing Berlin

Faxing Berlin as we speak...

[The Man Who Fell To Earth]

Faxes?

I want to store my data on audio cassettes. When are they bringing that back?

[JoeCool]

Re: Faxes?

The same day that legal offices and Doctors rely on them for communicating paper forms to vested parties easily and accurately

[Jamesit]

Re: Faxes?

I want punch cards.

[seven of five]

Re: Faxes?

I'd settle for just punching...

people.

with a hammer.

[Kiss]

Re: Faxes?

Well if you think a fax = a secure transmission of an image vs email which is normally insecure, there will always be a use case.

Fax transmission today is digital and fast. It's just that in mainly Western culture we all stopped using faxes when they were still analogue and jumped on the digital email bandwagon, even though it was insecure, so our reference points are probably jaded.

Think of all the effort and complications of getting users to digitally sign a document securely - no proper standards that allow easy use for end users. The same issue with encrypted emails - possible but proven unfeasible in practice.

If faxing does become more popular again (unlikely) we can then expect M$ to make it M$ propriety and will start to charge for it.

I have mixed feelings about moving drivers into the OS - works well in Linux where most drivers are open source, but they will never be open source in Windows, so I would vote against this.

[Phones Sheridan]

Forget bringing back cassettes, I still have an 8 Track in my attic! Bring back 8 Track!

Go icon, cos this thing ran in a loop forever. Changing side, that was the work of cassette devilry!

[keith_w]

music music music CLUNK music music music

[IGotOut]

Congratulations to MS on fixing this...

....now what else did you break in doing so?

[Oneman2Many]

I suspect Japan put some pressure on Microsoft for fax support. Still widely used there.

[Anonymous Coward]

I would think that faxing /without/ Microsoft involvement would be far more reliable..

[Mike007]

Fax? I mean I wouldn't be surprised if it was still in use, did you know there are still people who wear those watches that don't even have WiFi let alone Facebook notifications? The ones that don't need charging every day... Remember that outdated technology?

[Bebu sa Ware]

"The ones [watches] that don't need charging every day"

My Eco-Drive... cold dead wrist.

Grandad's "wind-o-matics" sort of needed a daily recharge (rewind) but the luminous Radium dial was a worry* - he got it before he went off to France for the 1914-18 shindig so was probably quite useful in the trenches.

_{* our school lab's geiger counter went berserk when I tested his watch.}

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Bizarrely, the Epson printer I bought at the weekend can send and recieve faxes, or it could if I had a landlie at home...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Assuming your landline is really a landline and not VoIP. We had to get a special landline to do faxes because a government agency insists on them.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Our exchange is FTTP only for new connections, so we have no landline, and I've not bothered with VOIP, no point when my mobile uses WiFi for calls at home.

[Oneman2Many]

If your VoIP service support T38 then you should be able to connect a fax machine. However most providers don't seem to support it these days.

[keith_w]

Vonage did, and I used it for faxing my wife's resumes as needed.

[Antron Argaiv]

It's not so much the landline as it is the CODEC used for VOIP. If you're using a u-Law or A-Law codec without compression, your fax should go thru fine (but perhaps at a reduced rate).

[spold]

I thought....

Fax is limited to being a colloquial office term.... as in "he's a real fax machine!" = sits in the corner and does nothing...