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Email Inventor Ray Tomlinson Dies At 74 (techrepublic.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the rest-in-peace dept.

vikingpower writes: ARPAnet pioneer and networking legend Ray Tomlinson, who is best known for his contributions in developing email standards, has died at 74. Tomlinson was best known for choosing the @ symbol to indicate a message should be sent to a different computer on a network. He also led development of standards for the from, subject, and date fields found in every email message sent today. When Tomlinson first showed his invention to his colleague Jerry Burchfiel, Tomlinson said, "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on." May Ray rest in peace in /dev/null.

58 comments

  1. @ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would have been so much better to choose one that didn't require hitting the Caps key, or having it's placement on the keyboard changed for the same reason.

    1. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would have put the apostrophe key on a 35 foot extension, since most people seem unable to grasp that it's means it is.

    2. Re:@ symbol... by unixisc · · Score: 0

      There were no tablet based software keyboards then, so the @ symbol was as accessible as 2 - just use the shift key.

      Only thing I wish he had done - make the thing case SENSITIVE. Like Foo@Bar.com would have been different from foo@bar.com or FOO@BAR.COM.

      About his colleague telling him that that was not something they were supposed to be working on, reminds me of the original UNIX creators who were trying to build a platform where they could play 'Space Travel'.

      RIP, Mr Tomlinson

    3. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or you could just learn to type?

    4. Re:@ symbol... by _merlin · · Score: 1

      Doesn't require me to hit shift on my Japanese keyboard, and I like it that way (it's on the key to the right of P)!

    5. Re:@ symbol... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Then we are lucky that you where not on the board ;D you InSeNsItiV ClOD ... shit, did I typo somewhere?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Only thing I wish he had done - make the thing case SENSITIVE. Like Foo@Bar.com would have been different from foo@bar.com or FOO@BAR.COM.

      Which would have lead to endless confusion, leaks due to case bugs, and phishing attacks. Thank goodness he took the smart option.

    7. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The part after the @ is a domain name. According to RFC 1035, domain names are case insensitive. Technically however, the local part of the address (the part before the @) is case sensitive, or rather can be case sensitive. It would be wrong to send mail to user@domain.example when you were given the address User@domain.example. In practice the local part is almost always case-insensitive too.

    8. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Thank goodness he took the smart option.

      If you mean he decided to make email addresses case insensitive, then you're wrong. The interpretation of the local part is up to the receiving end. "User@example.com" and "user@example.com" are different email addresses and mails to these addresses may end up in different mailboxes. In practice this is rarely the case, but the standard does not allow the sending MUA or intermediate MTAs to make any assumptions about the interpretation of the local part by the destination MTA.

    9. Re:@ symbol... by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Context > grammar. You have the most powerful context analyzer in the known universe sitting between your ears, use it. Complain about ambiguities, or untruths, not grammar. You are noise in the signal.

      --
      Good-bye
    10. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You'd think if it were that powerful, people would never mistake it's for its.

    11. Re:@ symbol... by westlake · · Score: 1

      I would have put the apostrophe key on a 35 foot extension, since most people seem unable to grasp that it's means it is.

      Slashdot is a forum without integrated spelling or grammar checking. Cut and Paste doesn't work reliably: "it's" becomes "itâ(TM)s." For even more fun, try posting a timely response to a Slashdot story from a tablet or smartphone.

    12. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft Exchange being a bunch of dickheads that promote case sensitive usernames on email. Fucking retards.

    13. Re:@ symbol... by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Had that been the solution, you could have had JohnSmith@acme.net, johnsmith@acme.net, JOHNSMITH@acme.net and any number of other combinations to support the various John Smiths out there in the world and using the same service, such as gmail or icloud or outlook.com

    14. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only that, he invented email in a time when terminals were still being built and sold that could only display characters of a single case (i.e. either upper or lower case), and only some of those could be upgraded with more memory to handle both upper and lower case at the same time.

    15. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank goodness he took the smart option.

      If you mean he decided to make email addresses case insensitive, then you're wrong. The interpretation of the local part is up to the receiving end. "User@example.com" and "user@example.com" are different email addresses and mails to these addresses may end up in different mailboxes.

      Seriously? in what fscking universe?
      (looked after MTAs for 20 years, never, ever saw a case where user@somewhere, User@somewhere, USER@somewhere, uSer@somewhere, USer@somewhere went to anything other than the same delivery address.)

      In practice this is rarely the case, but the standard does not allow the sending MUA or intermediate MTAs to make any assumptions about the interpretation of the local part by the destination MTA.

      Here's the thing, grok it if you will...
      In your weird little world of case sensitive local parts, if I intended to sent a confidential message to JohnSmith@mycompany, the md, about johnsmith@mycompany, the asswipe, and I forgot the frigging capitalisation and johnsmith@mycompany gets it,
      you somehow think this is ok?.

      Case insensitivity of the delivery address gets rid of ambifuckingguities like this.

    16. Re:@ symbol... by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 1

      Microsoft Exchange being a bunch of dickheads that promote case sensitive usernames on email. Fucking retards.

      This is a fine example of "making shit up". Good job Anonymous Coward.

      To be clear, with Exchange you can set SMTP addresses to use mixed case for readability purposes (JohnSmith@mydomain.com) but it has zero impact on accepting mail; that mailbox will accept jOHNsMITH@mydomain.com as well.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    17. Re:@ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is not my "weird little world" and I never said anything about case sensitive local parts being ok or not. It's just fact that mail addresses are not case-insensitive by design. That choice is up to the destination MTA. Try not to get offended by people telling you facts.

    18. Re: @ symbol... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Had that been the solution, you could have had JohnSmith@acme.net, johnsmith@acme.net, JOHNSMITH@acme.net and any number of other combinations to support the various John Smiths out there in the world and using the same service, such as gmail or icloud or outlook.com

      Yep, thank God you weren't in charge.

    19. Re:@ symbol... by Daniel+Klugh · · Score: 1

      You mean SHIFT-8? SHIFT-2 was double quotes. Something about just needing to flip a bit to turn the "8" into a "@". This was long before the IBM PC keyboard.

      --
      Daniel Klugh
    20. Re:@ symbol... by AlterEager · · Score: 1

      There were no tablet based software keyboards then, so the @ symbol was as accessible as 2 - just use the shift key.

      Whoops, on an ASR33 shift/2 was ", not @.

      ('cos ASCII 1, 2, 3, 4... maps to !, ", #, $... when you flip the bits).

      Only thing I wish he had done - make the thing case SENSITIVE. Like Foo@Bar.com would have been different from foo@bar.com or FOO@BAR.COM.

      Jesus fucking Christ am I glad that they didn't do that.

    21. Re:@ symbol... by AlterEager · · Score: 1

      You mean SHIFT-8?

      Shift-P on an ASR33.

      "1" is 061. shift 1 is "!", 041, shift is done by XOR with 020.

      "P" is 0120, 0120 XOR 020 == 0100, "@".

      Also, "O" is 0117, 0117 XOR 020 == 0137, backarrow (or, later, underscore).

    22. Re:@ symbol... by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      And they think that an apostrophe ess added to any word makes it plural.

  2. If not for skunk works... by DrTJ · · Score: 1

    ... we'd still be living in a pre-wheel society.

  3. RIP by Harold+Halloway · · Score: 1

    Requiesc@ in pace.

    1. Re:RIP by TeknoHog · · Score: 0

      requiescat@pace

      Fixed that for you.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    2. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      requiescat@pace

      Fixed that for you.

      requiesc@in.pace

      fixed that for both of you..(oh, these wacky new TLDs...)

    3. Re:RIP by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      *sigh* you obviously missed my point: while "@" is pronounced "at", its meaning is roughly the same as that of "in". Why would you use "@" for a superficial wordplay when you have this wonderful chance to use its meaning to replace an entire element of the list ["requiescat", "in", "pace"], while keeping the other elements intact.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  4. Forbes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'll notice that the second link is Wikipedia... if you want to get the original source it is... Forbes! (However, no ad-block detector, since it is an older version.)

  5. Thankfully by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thankfully the real inventor of modern email is getting due credit, rather than charlatans like VA Shiva Ayyadurai.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    1. Re:Thankfully by nintendoeats · · Score: 1

      I have never heard of Mr. Ayyadurai, so you can feel good about that.

    2. Re:Thankfully by PishiGorbeh · · Score: 0

      Shiva Ayyadurai is a douche bag. Wow! Where do that guy get off? If patent "The pencil is round" does that make me the inventor?

  6. dev and null? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So if a towlie blows hizelf up and 100 others he gets to go to paradise and this guy, this guy gets a send off to dev and null? that's where my spam goes.

    1. Re:dev and null? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if a towlie blows hizelf up and 100 others he gets to go to paradise and this guy, this guy gets a send off to dev and null? that's where my spam goes.

      There's a lot of awaiting virgins in /dev/null.

  7. Bounceback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give it 3 days, hell be returned to us.

    1. Re:Bounceback by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      You know, last time that shit happened they immediately started to make a religion out of it...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Bounceback by digitig · · Score: 1

      Is there any computing standard or practice that hasn't already become a matter for religious wars?

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
  8. Very sad by kheldan · · Score: 1

    The man did so much to change the world.

    Now, will someone please tell us when the guy that invented SPAM dies, so we can celebrate there being one less evil bastard in the world?

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:Very sad by Mryll · · Score: 1

      Well Siegel died

    2. Re:Very sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Gary Thuerk sent the first spam email in 1978. It was an ad promoting DEC computers in ALL CAPS. In 2004, when he was asked if he feels guilty for sending the first spam, he said: "I never feel guilty. Someone would have done it..." He is on LinkedIn and offers this: "You can have the Father of E-spam be a speaker at your company function. You can watch people line up at your technology conference booth to meet the Father of eMarketing."

      Other people who worked hard on killing the usefulness of the internet include Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel, the first (and relentless) commercial Usenet spammers, as well as Sanford "Spamford" Wallace, prolific spammer in many ways, including email, who is known for going to great lengths to circumvent anti-spam measures.

      Of these fine individuals, so far only Martha Siegel is deceased. She died of cancer in 2000.

  9. telnet Ray Tomlinson 25 by fhage · · Score: 4, Funny

    HELO

    MAIL FROM: 80sgeek@early.inter.net

    RCPT TO: raytomlinson@cloud.hev

    DATA

    Subject: Thanks.

    Ray,

    Thanks for all your work on this new tech. I've found it especially useful and it has given me great joy at times.

    One of the best times is when I emailed the school staff list "from the District Superintendent", clarifying the dress code for staff on "Casual Fridays".

    I started with a few stolen lines from a real memo. I included some choice text from the district's student dress code for maximum troll effect and ended with a school colors clown nose requirement.

    I actually got to hear one of the office staff say: "I didn't know the district had a casual Friday!". Everyone laughed, and I did not go to jail. The district IT staff got the message and updated their SMTP server to use authentication.

    -A grateful user.

  10. But you won't be going to the funeral by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Because the invitation went into your junk folder.

  11. And Nancy Reagan invented snail mail. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Plus she did it first, without needing to make people use @

  12. user@machine.domain by slew · · Score: 1

    All I can say is that being a pre-internet email sysadmin in the era that transitioned between <machine1!machine2!user> with some atrocities of decnet mail addressing thrown in and sent over modems with uucp/uumail, the appearance of <user@machine2.domain> email addresses really helped to make sendmail.config parsing files totally insane with both left to right and right to left name resolution and routing rules that persisted until we could afford to get directly attached directly to the internet and talk to other mail servers directly...

    I think I still have nightmares about those days ;^)

  13. Now add = by Peter+(Professor)+Fo · · Score: 1

    Split by =

    The 'mailbox' bit of the address can be split using the = character to add on

    • Role : me=inventor@...
    • Formal qualification : me=-BSc@...
    • Honour : me=!OBE@...

    Also membership, semi-formal titles and indication that the recipient in the first instance is a machine.

    This means you can send an email to =salesdept@... or Mary=salesmanager@... or Mary@...

    Details at http://vulpeculox.net/ob/Email...

    Benefits

      • Being able to differentiate the role from the person.
        • Being able to identify a person's role Being able to indicate status Being able to clearly identify a process as recipient rather than a person. This might be a server that distributes mail to a committee.
  14. Viagra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope his death certificate includes an ad for Viagra. Darn spam.

  15. Email is great and all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't what we're supposed to be working on.

    Maybe that's why it wasn't designed as well as it could have been. Imagine if whitelisting was a requirement for email from the get-go:

    No subscription culture.
    No spam / spam culture.
    Social networking and online communities would have developed organically from email as oposed to the mess we have with farcebook.

    Email like any other technology we have doesn't leave me in awe. All I see is missed opportunities for somehing better.

    Technology like bitcoin might have really taken off properly and earlier if the internet itself had been developed better.

    In the old words of Bob Dylan, "the loser now will be alter to win." comes to mind. These guys wanted to be first past the post with their innovations. They wanted the notariety. But it's the care and attention of something that takes longer and is done properly that will eventuallly take root. i.e. a stronger root, that lasts.

  16. I did that too! by jshipp · · Score: 1

    I pulled a VERY similar stunt except the content was highly sexual, and was "from" the principal and to a female teacher, and I got kicked out of the National Honor Society and 2 weeks suspension.

  17. CORRECTION: The Inventor of Email is Alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ray Tomlinson created the @ symbol and text messaging. Email was invented by Shiva Ayyadurai @va_shiva
    http://vashiva.com/correction-the-inventor-of-email-is-still-alive/

  18. The Inventor of Email is Alive by davidsmithkenny · · Score: 1

    Ray Tomlinson created the @ symbol and text messaging. Email was invented by Shiva Ayyadurai @va_shiva http://vashiva.com/correction-...

    1. Re:The Inventor of Email is Alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ayyadurai started working on his "EMAIL" program in 1979, one year after the first spam email had been sent to several hundred recipients on the ARPANET. Congratulations to him on being alive, but he is not the inventor of email.

    2. Re:The Inventor of Email is Alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tomlinson invented email. The @ symbol was already in existence, just as email had long been when charlatan Ayyadurai named his program EMAIL and got a copyright on his expression of the already invented and already long in use electronic mail.

      What VA Shiva Ayyadurai invented was shameless fraud on a scale no one's had the gall to express before.

    3. Re:The Inventor of Email is Alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just ruined my plan to write and copyright a book about airplanes, named AIRPLANE, so that I could run around claiming to be the inventor of the airplane.

  19. I can truly say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that e-mail changed my professional life. Thanks Ray Tomlinson!

  20. This is a significant death anniversary by PishiGorbeh · · Score: 0

    I think Ray Tomlinson’s contribution is more culturally significant than Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all wrapped up together!

  21. #raytomilson@restinpeace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    everytime i type an email addy
    ill think of you
    thank you