Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mstan!perry
From: perry@Morgan.COM (Perry Metzger)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Networks considered harmful
Message-ID: <619@colorado.Morgan.COM>
Date: 19 Dec 89 15:51:01 GMT
References: <8912190403.AA05387@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: perry@Morgan.COM (Perry Metzger)
Organization: Morgan Stanley and Co., NY, NY
Lines: 33

In article <8912190403.AA05387@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 702WFG@SCRVMSYS.BITNET (bill gunshannon) writes:
><John Nagle>
>>      Well, in the real world, I understand that electronic mail is
>>on the decline, and is being replaced by fax.
>
><Barry Margolin>
>>That was precisely the point McCarthy was making in his article.  He said
>>that fax has become popular because it works with the current home
>>communications network (the phone system).  For email to become popular it
>>will have to fit in similarly, rather than requiring users to have an
>>account on a computer connected to an email network.
>
>I have seen comments like this before.  And I have attempted to answer
>them before.  It is a shame to see supposed experts on communications
>who are apparently as ignorent of what is really available as the general
>public.  I personnaly intend to write a letter (or maybe just send a
>copy of this message) to the ACM and see what kind of hornets nest it
>stirs up.

Right now, you can't go out to the store and buy an e-mail terminal,
but you can buy a fax machine. Sure, you can buy a PC, set it up, use
the right software, get a link to the proper service and stuff, but
that is costly and, more significantly, requires thought.

A person I know at Bellcore (Dan Nachbar) designed and built an
electronic mail "appliance" on the premise that people will use e-mail
if it is properly packaged. POMS (plain ol' mail system) has been
successfully tested with large groups of naive users (retirement home
residents in florida and Bellcore managers) and seems to have been
highly successfull. Being able to go out to the store and buy an
e-mail terminal will be what makes e-mail popular.

.pm