Way back in the 80’s, disk capacity was limited (and costly) and hence most enterprise operating systems of that era such as Unix systems employed disk quotas to limit the amount of space that any user could enjoy. However with huge advances in storage technology and rapidly falling costs, it is common to see 160 GB disks even in home computers and storage is no longer a scare resource. Google and many others including Rediffmail offer unlimited online storage. So having the disk quota feature is not as compelling now.

However given that enterprises are increasingly becoming conscious of and accountable for their impact on the environment, technologies that align with "green IT" - such as reduced paper consumption will become common. Enter printer quotas – that will limit the number of pages that a user can print in a day. This will serve to conserve paper utilization whilst controlling costs. Interestingly, none of the leading Operating systems have support for print quotas out-of-the-box and will need third-party software such as PaperCut, PyKota and PrintUsagePro to enforce print quotas. In addition to such print quota software, enterprises can also consider special printer software such as FinePrint that will further optimize printer usage by saving ink, paper, time and money thru controlling and enhancing printed output.

Here is to a greener world !