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Email Is 40 Years Old

from the 40-years-young dept

Mon, Oct 17th 2011 3:41pm — Mike Masnick

For a few years now, we've been joking about how email is for old people. Studies have increasingly been showing that the younger generation prefers text messaging, instant messaging and various social networking private message systems to good old fashioned email. So it's worth noting that sometime this month, email apparently turned 40 years old. So perhaps it's showing its age, which is why the kids today don't bother with it.

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Filed Under: email, history

30 Comments

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Keith_Emperor_of_Penguins (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 3:58pm

E-mail is so old now
it has turned into regular mail for the younger generation.
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- UVShane, 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:04pm
  
  Re: E-mail is so old now
  Especially now that UPS can send any package via email. ;)
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  - TheStupidOne, 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:24pm
    
    Re: Re: E-mail is so old now
    UPS? So last century. I added my replicator address to my amazon account last year. Free one hour shipping from anywhere in the world!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Keith_Emperor_of_Penguins (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:27pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: E-mail is so old now
      pffft, you call that advanced?
      I use a tachyons modem. I get all my packages before I order them.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 5:54pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: E-mail is so old now
        I use an object reconstruction printer. I get my packages delivered via the Internet and printed out via my 3D printer.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 7:19pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: E-mail is so old now
      http://fabathome.org/
      http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
      
      Did you print that already?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Paul (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:21pm

I think it's conception was 40 years ago...
... it required another 11 years before it was born in any form that people could use widely across a wide range of hardware and software. This took SMTP, and SMTP was defined in RFC 821 in 1982.

That is when I would claim email was born.
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- Ron Rezendes (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:27pm
  
  Re: I think it's conception was 40 years ago...
  guarantee there is an IP troll out there that would probably file suit for even suggesting the reality of the situation.
  
  You should be receiving something from their attorney in 3...2...1...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 7:10pm
  
  Re: I think it's conception was 40 years ago...
  >... it required another 11 years before it was born in any form that people could use widely across a wide range of hardware and software. This took SMTP, and SMTP was defined in RFC 821 in 1982.
  
  And another decade before everyone got onboard with that. Remember UUCP?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Krish (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 4:57pm

I use a tachyons modem. I get all my packages before I order them.

My neutrino modem was supposed to do that too but it looks like it was just hype.
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- Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 17 Oct 2011 @ 5:03pm
  
  Re: Neutrinos?
  Those neutrinos probably were delivering the packages, but they passed right by your address without stopping. You know you need something like 1250 tons of lead just to get one of them to notice you once in a while?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jim_G, 17 Oct 2011 @ 5:05pm

Oh yeah, tachyons modems. I remember those. Nowadays I just use a quantum model configured for the "Many-Worlds" interpretation. All possible version of myself receive every possible package.

Much better than the old "Schr�dinger's cat" models, because then all my packages were simultaneously broken and non-broken. Very confusing until the wave function collapsed into one state.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2011 @ 6:50am
  
  Re:
  This entire thread has made my morning.
  
  Did you opt for the Heisenberg package tracking option?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Hephaestus (profile), 18 Oct 2011 @ 6:55am
  
  Re:
  "Much better than the old "Schr�dinger's cat" models, because then all my packages were simultaneously broken and non-broken. Very confusing until the wave function collapsed into one state."
  
  Next time buy the Schr�dinger shipping insurance, it will either be paid out ... or not. And for some reason they don't insure cats.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Christopher (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 5:21pm

E-mail is slow compared to IRC, instant messaging, etc. That is why most people won't bother with it, they want instant gratification.

Add into this that regular e-mail without encryption is unsafe, and you have another reason why it is unpopular.
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Gracey (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 5:49pm

These days my packages come stamped with "Delivery by Starship Enterprise"...but my messages still come by emai and even (gasp) telephone.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 6:41pm

I guess im young, 23 :D. Don't use email except for official type business, between friends NEVER, hell, don't know most my friends emails. Also, we hate grammer
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 8:07pm
  
  Re:
  When you have nothing of consequence to say, Facebook / Texting / Twitter will do just fine. To folks like that, writing an email must feel like writing an essay.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Rekrul, 17 Oct 2011 @ 8:23pm
  
  Re:
  Also, we hate grammer
  
  Yes, your message demonstrates that.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Mahoney, 18 Oct 2011 @ 4:55am
    
    Re: Re:
    I hate Kelsey Grammer too!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Slicerwizard, 18 Oct 2011 @ 6:47pm
  
  Re:
  "Also, we hate grammer"
  
  And spelling, obviously.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 7:28pm

I tried to create an email the other day, holly mother of God, what the hell did I get myself into.

I took a beating from the captcha's, and after 10 or 15 tries I got it right.

I hope I'm not the only old dude who have problems with the distorted images in a 24" screen.
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- Rekrul, 17 Oct 2011 @ 8:37pm
  
  Re:
  I tried to create an email the other day, holly mother of God, what the hell did I get myself into.
  
  I took a beating from the captcha's, and after 10 or 15 tries I got it right.
  
  I hope I'm not the only old dude who have problems with the distorted images in a 24" screen.
  
  Captchas for email?
  
  Web sites like Hotmail and Gmail are just web interfaces to the email system. There are many stand-alone email programs that run on your computer and connect to the mail servers directly, such as Mozilla Thunderbird. They can even be configured to work with Gmail and probably Hotmail.
  
  When sending email with these programs, there's no captcha to deal with. Sometimes when I send a message through Gmail, it asks me to re-type my password, but that's all. My ISP email address never asks since I told it to save the password.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2011 @ 9:15pm
    
    Re: Re:
    You are right of course, after it is created there is none, but they do ask for it for the creation of it.
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    - Rekrul, 20 Oct 2011 @ 5:25pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      You are right of course, after it is created there is none, but they do ask for it for the creation of it.
      
      Not even for the creation of it, if you use a local email client instead of webmail.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yakko Warner (profile), 17 Oct 2011 @ 7:56pm

I still find it odd...
I still find it odd when someone refers to email as "old-fashioned".
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Ninja (profile), 18 Oct 2011 @ 5:50am

Old doesn't mean outdated ;)

And kids nowadays don't know the fun of adding a bunch of your friends in the To: field and doing a mail chat ;)

The kids also don't have issues with their workplaces blocking everything but their mails lmao

E-mail ftw ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ibaconi (profile), 18 Oct 2011 @ 8:03am

Snail mail would still be the vogue if you could write one letter, send it to all your friends and their friends and so on, automatically. Come on, it evolution of another art form!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
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[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2016 @ 6:56am

my penis and brain both hurt today
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