Quote Originally Posted by welshwizard View Post
I suppose the difference is that you can shave very well indeed every day with a straight razor but a fountain pen is limited to an office environment for most practical purposes.I'd guess mostly for just adding a signature to various printed documents. Nearly all of my written communication at work is via various forms of electronic data exchange. Even out of work, Open University assignments are mostly e-mailed Word documents these days, nothing on paper.
I don't like the reliance on modern technology, but to earn a living, I have no choice but to use it. However, I can choose what I shave with.
Ahh, another Open University Alumni! I remember well the distance learning software I had to use for joining online tutorials etc. This was years before GoToMeeting was invented. TMAs were just starting to be submitted via the internet when I was doing my degree. In those environments, pens were about as useful as a fish with a bike.

But outside of that, real life dictates I have to use a pen to sign off with. Legally, our contracts and agreements and licenses are worth zip with a digital signature or a scanned signature. It has to be real, and it has to be ink. Or it's not worth the paper its printed on.

It is a strange dichotomy. So many situations (e.g. with the bank) will accept documents via fax, but not via an email attachment. There should be no difference, but