We’ve included Fax as a “standard” client field since we first started MIDAS two decades ago. But our previous article got us thinking…. are fax machines still a thing in 2026?

We’ll admit, here at MIDAS HQ, we can’t remember the last time we received a fax. In fact, we can’t recall ever having sent one either!

What is a Fax Machine?

Now, it occurs to us that some reading this article may never have come across a fax machine! (Yes, we’re showing our age!)

So, if you’re not familiar, a fax machine – short for “facsimile machine” – is a technology used for transmitting documents over a traditional telecommunication (phone) network. It allows the near-instantaneous reproduction of text and images (all be it at low resolution) at a distant location.

The History Of The Fax Machine

Early Conceptualization (19th Century):

The concept of transmitting images over long distances actually dates back to the 19th century. In 1843, Scottish inventor Alexander Bain received a patent for his idea of a “Copying Telegraph” that could transmit images using a series of synchronized pendulums.

Pantelegraph (1865):

In 1865, Italian inventor Giovanni Caselli developed the “Pantelegraph,” which was the first practical fax machine. It used a rotating stylus to scan and transmit handwritten messages and images over telegraph lines.

Facsimile Transmission (1920s):

During the 1920s, advancements in radio technology led to the development of early versions of fax machines that utilized radio waves for transmission. These machines were primarily used for newspaper photo transmission.

Telephotography (1930s):

In the 1930s, “telephotography” systems emerged, allowing photographs to be sent over telephone networks. However, these systems were expensive and not widely adopted.

Xerox LDX (1964):

The first commercialized fax machine was the Xerox LDX (Long Distance Xerography), introduced in 1964. It used the then-common electrostatic printing technology to transmit documents over long distances.

ITU Standardization (1980s):

In the 1980s, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed standardized protocols for fax transmission, which facilitated interoperability between different fax machines and networks.

Thermal Transfer Fax Machines (1980s-1990s):

In the 1980s and 1990s, thermal transfer fax machines gained popularity due to their lower cost and improved printing quality.

Internet Faxing (1990s):

With the rise of the internet, fax technology evolved to include internet faxing or “fax over IP,” which enabled faxes to be sent and received through email and online fax services.

Decline and Legacy (2000s-2010s):

As digital technologies like email and document scanning became more prevalent, the use of traditional fax machines declined. However, fax technology continues to be used in some industries, especially in areas where secure document transmission is essential.

Modern Fax Services (Present Day):

Today, faxing has largely transitioned to digital platforms and online fax services. These services use internet protocols to send and receive faxes electronically, eliminating the need for physical fax machines and allowing for more efficient and secure document transmission.

Though the traditional standalone fax machine’s popularity has waned, the concept of faxing lives on in digital form, offering a reliable means of transmitting documents in various professional settings.

Do people still use fax machines?

The number of people using fax machines has declined due to the increasing adoption of digital communication methods like email, cloud-based document sharing, and secure messaging platforms. As a result, faxing has become less common in many regions, especially in developed countries.

While some specific industries and regions might still rely on fax machines for certain purposes, it’s safe to say that the number of people using traditional fax machines globally has significantly decreased. Online fax services and digital communication in general provides a more efficient and convenient way to send and receive documents these days. The traditional fax machine has become far less relevant.

Getting The Facts on Fax!

As MIDAS includes a field to enter a Fax number for each client record, we were keen to understand how – and indeed if – our customers use this field.

In August 2023, we took an anonymized random sample of 190 of our cloud hosted customer’s MIDAS systems. Between them, this sample of MIDAS systems contained a total of 213,887 individual client records. Here’s what we discovered…

90% of MIDAS systems have the “Fax” field enabled

We were quite surprised that this was figure so high! However, it should be noted that the Fax field is actually enabled by default in all fresh installations of MIDAS. Therefore, only 10% of customers have taken action and disabled this field.

Of the 90% of MIDAS systems where the “Fax” field is enabled, not a single system has been configured to mark this as a “Required” field.

Only 0.44% of clients have a fax number

We found that only 0.44% of client records within our anonymized sample of cloud-hosted MIDAS systems we host, contained an entry in the “fax” field. It’s also possible that some customers actually use the “Fax” field to record other client data – like an additional cell/mobile number. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that less than 0.44% of clients have an actual fax number.

Facing The Facts on Fax!

So what are our key takeaways from these facts? How can we use this information moving forward?

Despite 90% of MIDAS systems having the Fax field enabled in 2023, this field was utilized by less than half a percent of clients.

It’s fair to say that the “Fax” client field wasn’t really used! For all intents and purposes, it was obsolete.

Our first takeaway from this was that the “Fax” field probably shouldn’t be enabled by default. By initially “hiding” this field, it would simplify the editing of client records.

We took this one step further in MIDAS v4.35 by actually removing “Fax” as a standard MIDAS client field all together. Instead, if customers do wish to capture client fax numbers, they could easily create a custom client field for this purpose instead.

Customers using the previous standard “Fax” client field need not worry! We ensured that the software update process to v4.35 automatically migrated fax data over to a custom client field with the same name.

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What do you call your meeting rooms? Do they have names? …or are they simply numbered “Meeting Room 1″, “Meeting Room 2“, and so forth?

Whatever naming (or numbering) convention you use, there will probably be some sensible logic behind it.

Our MIDAS booking software is used by organizations around the globe to manage countless meeting and conference rooms. It’s really easy within the software to change the names of your bookable rooms at any time.

So if you’re getting a little bored with mundane names for your rooms – if “Conference Room A” just isn’t cutting it any more, maybe it’s time for a refresh? …perhaps with a fun or humorous new name which will make users smile?

To give you some ideas, here are some funny, humorous, real examples that organizations have used to name their meeting rooms:

Google

Google is known for its quirky workplace culture, and they have various offices worldwide with creative meeting room names. For example, at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, you might find meeting rooms named after different desserts like “Cupcake“, “Donut“, and “Eclair“, as a nod to their Android operating system releases.

Facebook

Similar to Google, Facebook is also famous for its playful office environment. At Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, you’ll find meeting rooms named after popular board games like “Monopoly“, “Scrabble“, and “Risk“.

X / Twitter

Before Twitter became “X”, their headquarters in San Francisco has meeting rooms with names related to birds, reflecting the company’s then logo and theme. Examples include “Ostrich” “Hummingbird” and “Penguin“.

Airbnb

The vacation rental company Airbnb is known for its themed meeting rooms at its San Francisco headquarters. They have rooms named after different travel destinations, such as “Tokyo“, “Paris“, and “Rio“, adding to the company’s travel-inspired culture.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed, a digital media company, has meeting rooms with amusing names related to internet culture and memes. Examples include “Fail Whale“, “Cat Video“, and “Viral“.

Slack

Slack, the popular workplace communication platform, has fun and quirky meeting room names at its offices. Examples include “Llama Drama“, “Nerd Cave“, and “Corgi Corner“.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, also has creatively named meeting rooms at its offices. Examples include “Career Catapult“, “Networking Nook“, and “Connection Corner“.

Groupon

The online deals company, Groupon, gets creative with names like “The Fountain from Friends” (referencing the show’s iconic hangout spot), “Disappointment Beach” (perhaps for giving feedback sessions a lighter touch), and “Tiny House for Big Ideas“.

Etsy

The Etsy online marketplace for crafts and handmade goods uses playful food-music combos for their meeting rooms, like “Fleetwood Mac ‘n Cheese” and “Wu Tang Clams“

These are just a few examples of organizations that have embraced humor and creativity in naming their meeting rooms, adding a touch of personality to their workplace environments.

If you’re feeling inspired to now do the same with your meeting rooms, it’s easy to change your room names in MIDAS.

Simply login (as an administrator) and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage Venues. On the Manage Venues screen, select the room you wish to rename, enter a new name for it and click “Save Changes”. Voila! Now your bookable space has an exciting and fun new name.

Now all there is to do is to get new name plates and signs made up for the actual doors themselves!

…or you could also consider our “Digital Signage” addon. This addon allows you to display upcoming bookings on display devices outside each of your rooms. If you update the name of a room within MIDAS, it will automatically be reflected on your digital signage screens!

The post What’s in a (Meeting Room) name? appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

“.as” is the domain extension for the country American Samoa – knows as a Country Code Top-Level domain (or ccTLD). Every country in the world has been assigned a ccTLD. For example, “.fr” is the ccTLD belonging to France, “.au” is the ccTLD assigned to Australia, and so forth.

Typically, ccTLDs are used for individuals, organizations, and businesses based in that country. For instance, a UK-based business may choose to have a “.uk” domain name.

If MIDAS isn’t based in American Samoa, why use an “.as” domain?

We’re using a .as domain as a “domain hack“.

What is a ‘domain hack’?

Firstly, don’t worry when you see the work ‘hack’ in this context. This does not relate to computer ‘hacking’ or other such illegal activities.

A “domain hack” is simply a domain name that suggests a word, phrase or brand by combining two or more adjacent parts of the domain, which usually ends by incorporating the letters from a ccTLD to complete the word.

Here are some common Domain Hack examples:

• goo.gl (using the .gl ccTLD of Greenland)
• instagr.am (using the .am ccTLD of Armenia)
• youtu.be (using the .be ccTLD of Belgium)

Because our room booking software is called “MIDAS”, we chose the domain name “mid.as”.

So where is MIDAS based?

We’re actually a British based business located in the United Kingdom.

So whenever you see a domain name ending with a ccTLD, don’t assume that the website or business is specific to the country indicated by the ccTLD.

It may well be that the business is global or located elsewhere in the world and is just using a ccTLD as a “domain hack” to form part of a word.

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PLEASE NOTE: This promotion ran during July 2018, and has since ended. To view our current prices, please visit https://mid.as/pricing

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You’ve probably heard of Mozilla – they’re the folks behind the well known and popular Firefox web browser. As you may also know, we develop a leading Room and Resource Scheduling System, MIDAS, which we support in all major browsers. This includes Firefox.

In fact, ever since we first began development of MIDAS back in 2005, the primary browser we do the bulk of our development and debugging in has been Firefox! It’s been our browser of choice for many years. We’ve long been admirers of Mozilla’s open and inclusive approach to the development of Firefox and the web. In fact, their company ethos states that:

“Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality”

However, today Mozilla have demonstrated that this ethos is in fact untrue. Mozilla sadly no longer believe in equality and freedom of speech for ALL.

What happened at Mozilla?

In March 2014, Mozilla appointed a new CEO, Brendan Eich. Eich was the inventor of Javascript (one of the programming languages that our software utilizes!) and co-founder of mozilla.org.

Six years earlier, in 2008, long before he became CEO, Eich made a personal donation to a campaign for “California Proposition 8“. This was a bill which opposed same-sex marriage taking place in the state of California.

Who is Brendan Eich?

Following his appointment to CEO of Mozilla last month, a number of Mozilla employees, board members, and members of the global L.G.B.T community expressed their unhappiness with Eich’s appointment to the role of CEO. They felt that because he’d previously supported a campaign opposing same-sex marriage this made him unsuitable to be CEO of a company that had equality and freedom of speech at the very heart of its core values.

For the past several weeks, since Eich’s appointment, there has been a sustained and vicious campaign targeted against Mozilla, Firefox, and Eich himself, with pressure from all sides for Eich to stand down or be removed from his role as CEO.

Today, following this sustained pressure, Eich has stepped down as CEO.

Brendan Eich bows to pressure

Many are celebrating Eich’s departure, however, regardless of your view of Brendan Eich or your position on same-sex marriage, Mozilla as a company promoted “equality and freedom of speech” for ALL.

By this token, Eich (along with every other Mozilla employee, regardless of position, gender, religion, or sexual orientation) has the same right to express his views without fear of censorship or persecution – whether you agree with his views or not.

No one should be denied the right to express their PERSONAL opinion or view on any subject, and remember, this was only a personal view of Eich, not an official Mozilla/Firefox view/policy/position.

Mozilla’s Contradictory Position

In pressuring and forcing their CEO to step down because of his *personal* view on a subject, Mozilla have denied Eich his right to equality and demonstrated that they no longer stand for true equality and freedom of speech for everyone.

We used to believe that Mozilla were promoting an “open web for all” – we are now struggling to reconcile this ethos with Mozilla’s actions and stance today.

Backlash against Mozilla

Many Firefox users have since taken to Twitter to vent their anger & disappointment at @Mozilla and @Firefox‘s stance on this matter. Many previously loyal users are now uninstalling and boycotting their products in protest.

Our web based Room and Resource Scheduling Software MIDAS is supported in Firefox, but also supported in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera browsers as well. That’s because we believe in giving you the choice over which browser (and company) you choose.

UPDATE 6th April:
Two days later, and Mozilla’s own customer feedback site (https://input.mozilla.org) now clearly shows a significant amount of negative feeling towards the company as a whole following this episode:

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Here in the UK (where MIDAS is based) we get a special 4 day weekend this weekend, with the addition of Tuesday’s National Holiday! …but don’t worry, we have both sales and support staff on hand throughout the Jubilee period!

To claim this special discount, simply enter Promo Code “JUBILEE” when purchasing MIDAS through our secure website before Wednesday 6th June!

You’re welcome to share this offer with your friends and colleagues too! – Just use the Social icons at the top of this post!

Finally, if you are celebrating over this special Jubilee weekend, perhaps you’re having a street party, a BBQ, or attending a public event to mark the occasion, we hope you have lots of fun!!

PLEASE NOTE: This promotion ran in June 2012, and has since ended. To view our current prices, please visit https://mid.as/pricing

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