Over the years the web and related technologies have evolved fairly rapidly. However, one technology seams hopelessly stuck in 1990: email. Email really hasn’t changed much since it’s inception. Sometimes I wish more features existed than the basic recipient, subject, message paradigm has to offer.
Here is my wish list:
1) Multiple Bodies – it would be nice to be able to send a message to a group, but have some text only be visible to specific people. Right now this requires sending two separate messages, even if only a small difference in text is needed.
2) This Email Has Changed – when you call a phone number that has changed a pleasant voice notifies you of the new number. I would like the equivalent for email. This could be very handy when retiring an old address.
3) Enhanced Security – there are a few tools that enhance the security of your messages, but since they are not built into the protocol few users use them. I would like to be able to send messages that can’t be forwarded, viewed after a certain date, or require a password to open. Email could be used for so much more if it was a secure means of communication.
Email is truly the killer app of the Internet, but in the age of advanced software and hardware it sure is showing its age.
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