Fax hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopiers, a smaller, 46-pound facsimile machine. This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to any standard telephone line. This machine was capable of transmitting a letter-sized document in about six minutes. The first sub-minute, digital fax machine was developed by Dacom, which built on digital data compression technology originally developed at Lockheed for satellite communication. By the late 1970s, many companies around the world (especially Japanese firms) had entered the fax market. Very shortly after this, a new wave of more compact, faster and efficient fax machines
Internet fax to send faxes directly. Instead of first printing a hard copy to be then sent via fax machine, a document could now be printed directly to the software fax, then sent via the computer's modem. Receiving faxes was accomplished similarly. A disadvantage of receiving faxes through the computer is that the computer has to be turned on and running the fax software to receive any faxes. It also means that the document is no longer readable by computer applications, unless optical character recognition methods are used to read the fax image. Note: This method is distinct from Internet faxing as