Everybody who has looked into this recognizes that Ayyadurai created an electronic mail system. Although not in 1978 -- his own timeline infographic used to say that the "first version of the system was designed and deployed" in 1980. He since changed his story since to 1978. He has screenshots of source code dated 1982 and a newspaper report (that just calls the program electronic mail, not "email") from 1980. No reason to think those things are faked. So yes, he wrote a program in 1980 when he was 16. He gave a box of stuff to the Smithsonian and says that the source code is in it. I have no reason to doubt that.
The problem is that to be the inventor of email you don't just have to make an electronic mail system. You have to make the first electronic mail system. So he would have to prove that none of the dozens, probably hundreds, of electronic mail systems documented between 1965 and 1980 deserve to be called "email."
I go through this is great detail at http://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai. But that's the bottom line: you can't invent something that is already invented.
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Shiva wants to read my email
Re: Re: Re: Re: Where's the source code?
The problem is that to be the inventor of email you don't just have to make an electronic mail system. You have to make the first electronic mail system. So he would have to prove that none of the dozens, probably hundreds, of electronic mail systems documented between 1965 and 1980 deserve to be called "email."
I go through this is great detail at http://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai. But that's the bottom line: you can't invent something that is already invented.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Thomas Haigh.
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