Last week the email had its 50th anniversary. Yes, 50 years have passed since the first email was sent.
1971 seems far away for many, while many were not even born. For the latter, there were always emails.
The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson in March 1971. Tomlinson sent the first email because he thought it was cool (cool does not come from cool, irrelevant). Many people, including himself, did not really see the meaning of emails. With phones as the main means of communication, the idea of emails seemed unnecessary.
Because e-mail was not considered a viable method of communication that could survive, the original purpose of e-mail was to transfer files.
Email has been and is a way to easily send files to others users computers on a network, without having to create copies in one floppy disk (τότε) ή ένα USB. Ακόμα και μέχρι σήμερα, όπως προαναφέραμε πολλοί άνθρωποι εξακολουθούν να χρησιμοποιούν μηνύματα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου για να στέλνουν αρχεία ο ένας στον άλλο - πολύ μεγαλύτερα αρχεία, ωστόσο.
Στο πρώτο του email, ο Tomlinson έστειλε τα γράμματα "QWERTYUIOP" μια σειρά φαινομενικά τυχαίων χαρακτήρων που είναι στην πραγματικότητα η πρώτη line of a standard keyboard.
Για το email του, ο Tomlinson ανέπτυξε τη χρήση του συμβόλου "@". Ο λόγος πίσω από αυτό το σύμβολο, το οποίο χρησιμοποιείται πλέον καθημερινά χωρίς δεύτερη σκέψη, είναι να δείξει κυριολεκτικά πού είναι ο αποστολέας. Ο Tomlinson δημιούργησε επίσης τα πεδία ενός email, όπως ο αποστολέας, το θέμα, η ημερομηνία, το σώμα του email, καθώς και το πεδίο "από".
Email has come a long way since 1971. Now they can use many features like Auto-Advance. Email has adapted and changed over the years, but maybe Tomlinson was right. Email is not a great method of communication.
While e-mail was widely used from the 90s to the mid-2000s, we are now moving away.
Email is instant, but not instant for the modern age. Chat, videocalls and social networks have taken over the email space. Emails are usually only used for formal workplace communications or really annoying email marketing.
Email was undoubtedly useful, and an important step in the development of modern communication. Everything else came from the humble email.
