I have always used e-mail to the greatest extent possible. by Ray Tomlinson

I have always used e-mail to the greatest extent possible.

Ray Tomlinson

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Categorized in : Always Possible Greatest Used

Everyone latched onto the idea that you could leave messages on the computer, as the network grew and the growth of all that accelerated, it became a really useful tool: there were millions of people you could potentially reach.

I see email being used, by and large, exactly the way I envisioned. In particular, it's not strictly a work tool or strictly a personal thing, everybody uses it in different ways, but they use it in a way they find works for them.

Computers were very expensive -- I think one we had here, for example, was something on the order of two or three hundred thousand dollars. That's 1970 dollars. They were a scarce resource.

The story I get the biggest kick out of is when my name and e-mail appeared on 'Jeopardy' a couple of years ago. My mother was a faithful viewer, and she said she was happy that they finally had an answer she knew the question to.

name story mother happy

I still like complete sentences that are grammatically correct without spelling errors. I don't always achieve this, and it is irksome to read a message I have sent and discover errors. I know I often leave out words in e-mail, not by choice, but because of the way my brain works.

words know brain way

I suspect many people have the problem that they type much more slowly than they think. Consequently, they keep resynchronizing their thought processes with what they have typed so far, and they match a later part of the thought with an earlier part that they have typed.

thought think problem people

I think when I first realized that something interesting had happened was probably in 1994. There was a 25th anniversary of the ARPANET celebration and... somebody asked the question, 'Where did email come from?' I remembered that I had done this little program back in 1971. People looked back and nobody could find anything that predated it.

nobody think anniversary people

I am amused when somebody tries to illustrate the first email using a modern keyboard and a finger reaching for the '2' key. Wrong key! The @ was on the 'P' key.

keyboard key wrong i-am

If you're looking for ways of getting quick communication, maybe texting is the way to go. People can't walk these days without having one hand balancing a smart phone. If that's the way people are going to live, it is the case that something that vibrates in their hand is going to get their attention more quickly than an email.

walk you communication people