Evolution of the Printer in a Digital World
A printer used to do just what it said on the tin – print. In the early days printers used black ink only and printed on just one side of A4. Remember the dot matrix printers which were popular around the 1980’s? Colour came later and became very popular with ink-jet technology and is now also becoming more common in laser and multi-function machines.
In this digital age technology has changed so much that printers can now act as fax machines, copiers, scanners and can even print your holiday snaps. The multi-function machines are so useful, enabling you to throw out the old cumbersome machines for a smart compact all-in-one system.
There are also the new small photo printers, which are designed exclusively to print your photographs onto nice glossy photo paper. These often come with connections for your digital camera and have slots for memory cards and built-in software so you don’t even need the computer in order to print. These photo printers are so easy to use even for the technologically challenged! You can just plug your camera into the printer and instantly make prints.
The corporate market has also taken off with the large networked printers designed for multiple users now a part of the furniture in most offices. This technology has also found it into the home with home networks becoming increasingly available, even with wireless networking built in.
The cost of printers is declining and it is common place now to find a printer in any ordinary home, being used for a multitude of purposes by various members of the family. The technology is now very easy and inexpensive to obtain.
So what is the future for printers? The paperless office idea was just never going to catch on was it? However, there are reports of erasable printer paper coming into production with self erasing print that disappears within 16 hours! I can just see piles of work sitting on the office desk with the text slowly fading away. Imagine the consequences of not meeting your deadline only to find your work has disappeared! With increased usage of printers in every day life at work and at home the future of the printer is secure, but where will technology take us next?
