What is email? Email is an easily accessible and efficient method of sending electronic messages between computer users. Email first entered restricted use in the early 1960s, when it could only be sent to other computer users on the same system, and some email early networks required that the recipient and the sender are both online at the same time, like chat. Since then, different methods of email have been developed, some simple, some more complex, some with personalization features and others still just plain text messages sent straight from the computer.
Email consists of a message, which may have one to many sections. The message includes the title, which are the name of the message; the body, which contains the message; and the form, which identifies who sent the message. There are usually two kinds of headers: the Subject line and the From field. The From field can be used to list any header types a user wants to use. The Subject line can be used to send a default subject for all messages.
Email is now a widely used commercial service. Many companies offer email services such as sending and receiving emails, creating folders, and storing documents. Email is also a popular protocol for transmitting information across the internet. Most email messages include some form of metadata, which describes the content of the message. This type of metadata is very useful for searching electronic mail. Metadata is also used to send advertisements, track web browsing activities, and store records in computer databases.
An email message is usually sent from one computer to another, using an address provided by the sender. There are a number of ways to connect a sender’s computer to a destination’s computer. Some email servers provide a “rendezvous” function, where the computer at the destination can view the email before it is received on the sender’s computer. Other email servers use a “broadcast” function, where the recipient’s computer is displayed in the email before it is opened.
Email is commonly used for personal communication. Business users use email to communicate with customers, colleagues, and other employees. Email enables users to send short text messages, or “blips”, that they send out with the intention of keeping in touch. The term “blip” is an informal term that refers to one short-outgoing message. Some emails use an application program interface, or a GUI, that enables the user to interact with the message before it is transmitted. The most popular applications for computers used to send and receive emails are Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.
Emails are commonly used as a communication protocol between two or more people. For instance, an individual may establish a connection with another individual by emailing each other a series of short communications. In some cases, emails are used to communicate between government agencies. Emails have become so common that most people now check their electronic mail each day. Some email services include a feature that allows the user to determine the inbox that contain their emails, as well as being able to select “sent” or “draft” status of messages in order to receive them later.
There are many ways that email can be sent and received. The majority of email messages are transmitted by servers over the Internet. However, some messages are transmitted directly to the recipients’ postal mailboxes. Some mails are sent by fax to the intended recipients; and some are delivered manually to the intended recipient through a physical mailing box, such as a snail-mail box or a post office box. Email also can be delivered to a particular computer or network of computers. The delivery modes are determined by the nature of the message and are often subject to negotiation between the sender and recipient.
Some important types of servers used to deliver messages include: ICQ, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, POP3, AIM, and TCP/IP. SMTP (types of) servers include: email, mail servers, ftp, and pbx. All of these email servers and their capabilities can be examined online.