The End of Email Cometh?

RebRachman asks: "Has the inevitable finally happened? After years of dismissing as alarmist all the commentary about how spam and security concerns will eventually render email useless, is it actually happening to us? I don't know about you, but for the past three days, all of our staff (we are a virtual company of 20 telecommuters) and clients have been unable to get email to one another reliably. Attachments disappear or become garbled, mail disappears into the great beyond, or arrives hours after it has been sent, even within the same ISP. We've resorted to sending one another an IM every time we send an email to confirm that the messages are arriving alright. In extreme cases we have even reverted to using a telephone handset to ensure that clients have received everything that was sent. Is it only a matter of time before we all resort to file transfer by P2P? (And if so, what are we going to do with these firewall boxes?)"

Comments

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Solution: switch to gmail. Ok, theoretically any webmail system could work, but google appears to be the least evil of the available choices.

p2p is not going to solve your messaging problems. *SPRITZ* bad use of buzzword, no. *SPRITZ* what did I just tell you?! Your post provides close to zero information other than "email suxx0rz omg p2p". It's as bad as the llamas who come here seeking legal advice.

Who is in charge of administrating your email server? (servers?) What email clients are you using? Can you send & receive email normally from your personal accounts? Who is providing your other "virtual" (wtf) services? Which IM client are you using? Have you looked at Jabber for your messaging, including setting up your own private Jabber servers?

haha

[Idealius]

"See any serious problems with this story? Email our on-duty editor."

meh, email is over as we know it anyway..

Re:Gave up a long time ago

[Jerf]

But if you seriously want to get rid of spam, start feeding into the military networks. Let them deal with it in their own simple direct and time-tested manner.

"Kablooie"?

(Sounds like a plan!)

In other news...

[taped2thedesk]

Has the inevitable finally happened? After years of dismissing as alarmist all the commentary about how road salt and poor engineering will eventually render cars useless, is it actually happening to us?

I don't know about you, but for the past three days, I haven't been able to get my car to start. The engine won't turn over, and oil is leaking from somewhere under the hood.

I've resorted to taking the bus to work every morning. In extreme cases I've even had to walk! Is it only a matter of time before we all resort to telecommuting? (And if so, what are we going to do with all of those gas stations?)

Re:Gave up a long time ago

[Mudcathi]

I wonder if the US military network has problems with spam. Generally nothing in America gets taken seriously until it starts messing with the military.

Wow, you're right! I haven't received a single Iraqi spam since the US took out Saddam.

Re:Overhyped?

[AEton]

Righto. Where's that paperless office we were promised? Once we have a paperless office, and flying cars, then I might believe there's a chance of email being obsoleted.

But it's no gopher.