Inventor Of Email, Ray Tomlinson, Is Out Of Office - Permanently

[AB Editor]

Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email and the man who picked the @ symbol for addresses, has died aged 74.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/ray-tomlinson-email-inventor-and-selector-of-symbol-dies-aged-74

Sad news. Truly someone who had impacted the world in a massive and structural way.

And yet, Email is one of the "problems" tech people are always trying to "solve":

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/02/yes-another-post-about-email/

https://medium.com/i-love-charts/the-problem-with-email-99bb2eeb0bf7#.v12z274q8

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/14/the-email-problem/#gref

How do you feel about email? Is it still something you use a lot? Or a place for important things you'll reply to at some time.... later

Do you still use email in the way you did 5 years ago? 10 years ago?

[Gromit]

Spammed out.

[hc4361]

I still have a problem understanding email etiquette. If it's formal, such as a complaint to the insurance company, should it start 'Dear Mr Insurer' and end 'Yours Sincerely, Mr Insured'?

If it's informal to a mate, does it need a signature at the end?

When has the final email in the conversation been sent? Do I need to acknowledge a 'thank you' email or a reply to my question? Should I expect an acknowledgement to my 'thank you' email?

I hate the idea that the sender knows if and when I've read the email and do all I can to block the automatic 'read' replies. I will read it and reply to it in my own time and that may not be the same day I read it.

I still think email is the best thing since sliced bread :D

[Gromit]

Email and the world wide web have changed the world. As has instant messaging. The revolution in communication is ongoing, and skype and FaceTime are now pushing the boundaries.

I use email more than ever and it is not a problem at all. I also use sms texts and iMessage.

I hadly ever use a landline, and my post bill is probably a tenth of what it was 15 years ago.

[anotheoldgit]

He has a lot to answer for, don't anyone write letters these days, don't people speak to people these days?

[VHG]

I worked for 30 years for a huge IT company (IBM). They have thousands and thousands or departments and hundreds of thousands of employees.

Like most large companies, email was a "pain".

It was too easy to "cc" people on an email.

So for example, I may send an email to a single person inside IBM, but they may reply and "cc" it to a dozen people.

The person I sent it to may reply, but "cc" it to more people and so on.

All of a sudden, what started out as a single email to one person now became a huge group discussion with emails flying all over the place.

Also because there were so many departments (technical departments, admin departments, human resources, security, health and safety etc.) you would get constant "newsletters" or "management information letters" and so on in your inbox.

I used to get dozens and dozens of emails every day, but you had to sort out the important ones from the "dross" and that could take ages.

So I soon created a folder for all the emails that I could not deal with straight away, but it used to fill up until there were hundreds of emails in there.

Sometimes I would go in to work on a Sunday and clear as many emails as a I could, but I never got rid of them all.

The worst thing was going on holiday, as when you came back you would have hundreds of emails and you would spend the first two days just clearing your email back log.

Nowadays I am retired and have about a dozen email addresses. A couple for "important" emails, but the rest are for subscriptions (Amazon, Tesco, The AA and so on) and I just look at those once a week.

This separates out the ones I need to look at every day from the ones that can be put on the "back burner".

[hc4361]

What is the point of writing letters when email is not only free but instant?
I don't need to be at home to receive my mail these days

[Cloverjo]

I still use email every day to keep in touch with family, but we're just as likely to use texts. I delete a huge amount of emails before reading them as they're mostly from online shops
I think the choice of the @ symbol was very clever, previously only used by ironmongers as in 24 bobbits @ 2p.
It's a shame the man has died.

[andy-hughes]

I think e-mail is wonderful. I use it every day, mostly for work, but occasionally socially.

I tend to write as though I am writing a letter - a generation thing I think, but there is no doubt that it has made life so much easier.

[gness]

Hi, Ed...I've only used email for about four years and I absolutely love it!

I hate talking on the phone......so email's been a blessing.....and for arranging get togethers ........it great.
I have three groups of friends.....about eight in each....it took ages phoning around for us to organise a get together....or to say when the wax wings have arrived and where they are....

.....now one quick email and everything's done.....

Friends who have moved away will send long chatty mails......doubt they'd send letters quite so often.....

The only downside is when I hit send and realise it's gone to the wrong person and I think.....Oh sweary word.......☺

[Cloverjo]

I always write formally in emails if it's not to family. Dear Mr whoever and Regards at the end. Definitely no kisses.

[Cloverjo]

I do miss actual letters, though. I still have some from old schoolfriends from when we were at different universities, and from my sister, mum and grandparents.
I used to love writing long letters.

[Bazile]

Email has certainly had a great impact upon the means of communication .

99 % , i would say that it has been positive , however there has been isolated instances of people using it in a negative way

e.g. - people using it to sack workers , instead of communicating face to face with said workers .

Then there has been those that have come a cropper by sending personal and intimate messages to other people , which has become public knowlege .
There was a story not so long ago about this couple that had to resign from their jobs ( i can't remember the details - perhaps someone on here can recall ?)

[trt]

## He has a lot to answer for, don't anyone write letters these days, ##

So would you like to go back to quill pens and parchment AOG?

I cannot remember when I last bought a stamp, or even writing paper and envelopes.

Last Xmas it would have cost me a fortune in phone calls to Australia to a company I was buying a present from for my daughter, as I had a few questions I wanted to ask about it.

He has saved company's thousands of pounds, and made life a lot easier for millions of people.

[mikey4444]

Where would we all be today without Ray ?