Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: lotus!bobf@uunet.uu.net (BFrankston) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Networks Considered Harmful - For Electronic Mail Message-ID: Date: 19 Aug 89 18:11:59 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 41 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 310, message 9 of 10 Though I too am frustrated by the slow adoption of electronic mail, the reason that FAX is winning at the moment is that it is simply much much easier to use. You plunk down $1k or less, plug it into the wall, and stick a piece of paper in. That is about the same as pressing play on a VCR. (I know that the VCR has all those other buttons, but I'm pleased that people have learned they can ignore them instead of having to learn them). The situation is the same for voice mail -- you just leave a message. Never mind that it is a pain for the listener; most people don't know how much better it should be in terms of message management. Electronic mail needs similar ease of use. That is why I implemented Lotus Express so that email would be part of my PC in the background always available. A second requirement is ubiquity. Creating a transport and the subsequent development of SMTP, primitive though it is, was a necessary step in this direction. It used existing equipment -- requiring new equipment in 1970 just wasn't feasible. Even now, the current phone network is barely up to the task of supporting FAX. Many machines do not have their own addresses (nee phone number). The good news is that the telcos are becoming more aware of this. X.400 provides an email transport and ISDN is a step towards a next generation phone network that treats voice as one form of data with X.400 providing a multimedia store and forward capability and X.500 automating directory assistance. The process will be instantaneous by telco standards (less than 40 years). Fax can be coopted by treating the FAX machine as an X.400 user agent and treating a FAX phone number as someone's email address. The FAX message would arrive as an X.400 body part. There is already a service that will take faxes sent to you, OCR them and deliver them as MCI mail. In summary, it is taking a lot longer than I'd like but there is an inevitability of email. Remember CB? It still exists but cellular phones are much more effective for messaging. Bob Frankston