Thoughts on the Future Email
We all use email, but rarely think about how it works. What are the disadvantages of mail? Why do we still use mail in spite of its shortcomings and the availability of alternative communication systems, for example, instant messaging systems such as ICQ? To say that e-mail is one thing, and ICQ is completely different, means to say nothing. You need to try to understand what exactly the difference is. Here is my list of mail flaws:
The main reason for spam is the lack of a reliable system for identifying the sender of the message. If we imagine a system in which it will be unambiguously known which user of the system is receiving spam, then this user can simply be blocked. In today's e-mail system, spammers can easily put anything in the "Sender" field. This is one of the main reasons for low security.
What inconveniences do I see with active correspondence? Each time we press the "Reply" button, the message is quoted. This leads to the fact that many users are tempted to respond to a message not at the top, above the quote, but right inside the quote, under the text to which the user responds. As a result, after several posts the message becomes unreadable. Every time we have to look for the answers given by the last who wrote among the piles of quotes. In order to somehow solve this problem, users begin to delete old quotes, which leads to the fact that the last message does not have the entire history of correspondence, and in order to return to the roots of the discussion, you need to look for old messages. There is an option to force everyone to write answers only over (or under) the cited message, but then, in order to respond to a specific phrase, you have to quote it manually, copying, pasting in the right place and adding citation marks. In addition, there is not always the opportunity and desire to “force”. You can still write a lot on the topic of such inconveniences, but I do not want to fan this article.
Message delivery is slow when compared to instant messaging systems. A delay of 1-10 seconds, and sometimes even more, of course does not seem so big, but chatting in chat mode is already uncomfortable.
Despite this, we use it. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that email:
I think it’s already clear what I’m leading to. It would be nice to have a system that combines the advantages of mail and systems such as ICQ, Skype and Jabber. Google is clearly moving in that direction; they simply integrated their instant messaging system with mail. Plus, they are developing such a direction as collaboration on documents, the most recent example is Google Wave. Is this the right direction, will such integration be sufficient? Or will a new generation of non-web based communication systems replace email?
It seems to me that developing such a system is quite realistic. The main problem in the business idea for such an undertaking. After all, if this is not profitable, then it certainly will not be done. With all due respect to the community of third-party open source software, and to its developers, in most cases, open source software only repeats the ideas first implemented in commercial software, and the reasons for this are understandable.
I would be very grateful if someone would comment on my "thoughts out loud."
- Spamming
- Low security
- Discomfort with active correspondence
- Relatively Slow Message Delivery
- Lack of information about the status of subscribers
The main reason for spam is the lack of a reliable system for identifying the sender of the message. If we imagine a system in which it will be unambiguously known which user of the system is receiving spam, then this user can simply be blocked. In today's e-mail system, spammers can easily put anything in the "Sender" field. This is one of the main reasons for low security.
What inconveniences do I see with active correspondence? Each time we press the "Reply" button, the message is quoted. This leads to the fact that many users are tempted to respond to a message not at the top, above the quote, but right inside the quote, under the text to which the user responds. As a result, after several posts the message becomes unreadable. Every time we have to look for the answers given by the last who wrote among the piles of quotes. In order to somehow solve this problem, users begin to delete old quotes, which leads to the fact that the last message does not have the entire history of correspondence, and in order to return to the roots of the discussion, you need to look for old messages. There is an option to force everyone to write answers only over (or under) the cited message, but then, in order to respond to a specific phrase, you have to quote it manually, copying, pasting in the right place and adding citation marks. In addition, there is not always the opportunity and desire to “force”. You can still write a lot on the topic of such inconveniences, but I do not want to fan this article.
Message delivery is slow when compared to instant messaging systems. A delay of 1-10 seconds, and sometimes even more, of course does not seem so big, but chatting in chat mode is already uncomfortable.
Despite this, we use it. In my opinion, this is due to the fact that email:
- Provides good guarantees for successful message delivery.
- Provides a flexible and convenient messaging system
- Allows you to create messages with complex formatting and pictures. Allows you to attach any files to the message
- Allows you to store the communication history either in the mailbox on the server or on the client, to choose
- It can integrate and provide interoperability with various services
I think it’s already clear what I’m leading to. It would be nice to have a system that combines the advantages of mail and systems such as ICQ, Skype and Jabber. Google is clearly moving in that direction; they simply integrated their instant messaging system with mail. Plus, they are developing such a direction as collaboration on documents, the most recent example is Google Wave. Is this the right direction, will such integration be sufficient? Or will a new generation of non-web based communication systems replace email?
It seems to me that developing such a system is quite realistic. The main problem in the business idea for such an undertaking. After all, if this is not profitable, then it certainly will not be done. With all due respect to the community of third-party open source software, and to its developers, in most cases, open source software only repeats the ideas first implemented in commercial software, and the reasons for this are understandable.
I would be very grateful if someone would comment on my "thoughts out loud."