> It's time for a new protocol that is ready for the future. People have been saying that for 30 years (maybe more?) The reason it doesn't happen is that ever

> It's time for a new protocol that is ready for the future. People have been saying that for 30 years (maybe more?) The reason it doesn't happen is that every bright idea to create a new email is built on removing vital functionality from what email is. So you end up with something which solves some of the headaches of email, but is crippled to the point it is either not interesting, or becomes simply yet another walled garden so what's the point. Email is what it is because it is completely open. I don't need to rely on any particular entity or be approved by anyone to allow me to create an account or log in (under threat of being locked out). It is 100% decentralized, nobody owns it. It can be forwarded (try that with most walled gardens), piped to a shell for unlimited possibilities, it supports creating ad-hoc mailing lists, automation in any way you can imagine, archiving, unlimited searching, there are no possible restrictions on which client you use to read or send or process, or different ones for each. It works on everything under the sun. Any replacement is either crippled by removing some of the important characteristics, or simply becomes the same thing but nonstandard. That's why email has been around since the 70s. While imperfect, it's far better than anything else.