e-mail

 Overview
E-mail, or electronic mail, is a way of communicating via the internet. It is through servers that messages are sent, received, stored, forwarded, etc. Every time a user signs on, all messages sent to them since last log are available, including all previously stored messages. Everyone has a specific location where they can be reached and can reach others, an e-mail address. Messages have two parts; the subject and the body. Usually, the subject is only a few words that alerts the recipient to the nature of the message. The body consists of the real text. E-mail messages are mostly text, but can consist of graphics and can have attachments, which can be files including documents and pictures. Depending on the server and the e-mail program, attachment sizes and limitations vary. Standard e-mail has deviated to other forms through other internet programs. Websites like facebook have their own style of sending messages. Newer forms of messaging tend to be a part of other entities instead of existing as a unique program, like outlook, hotmail, or gmail. Communicating via the web is an ever evolving process, but e-mail is a foundation of such communication. It will be interesting to see how e-mail changes as websites like Facebook become more important to people's daily lives.

 History
E-mail is even older than the internet itself. The first form of e-mail began at MIT in 1965 and the program was called MAILBOX. It was as simple as leaving a note on somebody's desk. It was basically a folder on a computer that you could leave notes for the next user to see. You could not send mail from one computer to another. In 1972 Ray Tomlinson invented what we know as the internet today. He was the one that came up with the e-mail address; picking your own "nick-name", using the @ symbol and then the name of the computer. The military was the first big group to take advantage of Tomlinson's e-mail in 1974. E-mail grew rapidly. In 1975 folders were created to organize your e-mails and from there small discoveries were made until it became the fast and efficient system we use today. E-mail is used today by hundreds of millions of people and it is required for many jobs and universities. (nfoltz).

Data/Research

 * (There is no text here yet.) **

History

 * (There is no text here yet.) **

Opinion

 * (There is no text here yet.) **

Future Trends?**
(There is no text here yet.)