In some lines of work, a lot of documentation is created. This is because it sometimes takes many revisions to come up with the official version of a document, and these revisions are sometimes printed as draft documents to ensure that formatting and layout are done properly before the document is released.
In the past, I used to print out my final draft only to find out that text I intended to be bold, wasn't or that pictures I inserted in my document did not appear as layed out in the doc, or just did not print out. There were font issues, layout issues, formatting issues, content issues, so in the end a 30 page document was generated after an entire ream of paper was sacrificed.
WYSIWYG in Word 2007 does a great job to help out with the layout of the information, and by using either Microsoft's XPS printer driver, or Adobe's PDF printer driver, I can now create documents that show me what my printed page will look like. Large wide screen monitors (i.e. 24" at least) have also helped that process by allowing 2 page layout of documents so it's now possible to clearly see what the document looks like at 100% of its size. Reviewing a document on the screen feels different than holding printed copy of the document, and for some reviewing documents on a monitor is hard.
The problem lies in the fact that in order to review data on a computer screen, one has to lean into the document and that can be hard on the body. Reviewing a printed page allows one to lean back in their seat during this process, or even lay on their back, lay the document on a table while looking down at it, but most importantly, it allows that document to move along with them as they might need to catch a flight, a train ride, visit the bathroom, ride in an elevator, attend a meeting, etc...
Using a tablet has an advantage because it does the same thing a printed page does. And a tablet offers other advantages over it such as integrated review tools (i.e. virtual highlighters, virtual ink, document routing), and (we're back to the original topic) cutting down on paper, ink/toner, electricity, and printer maintenance. I could even suggest that it could cut down on the cost of industrial espionage as the discarded draft copies would not require to be shredded, nor would they find their way in a recycling bin only to be pulled from the recycling pile by an astute spy of a competitor.
Hey!! What is this? Oh wow!! an iPad...
Other resources
- Poking holes in fonts to save money: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/doc/can-the-right-font-save-you-money/1225