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For better or worse, email has been and always will be an application. When people say email, they almost always mean their email client and not the protocol.

by joedev 14y ago

For better or worse, email has been and always will be an application. When people say email, they almost always mean their email client and not the protocol. Sorry, that's just the fact. You can use energy trying to change that, but it seems like as much a waste of time as attempts to get the US to change to metric.

ForrestN 14y ago
Well, as one piece of data, I certainly mean the system, rather than any one client, when I say "email." When I say "email me," I don't mean "make something show up in gmail," I mean, send me a message over the email protocol. I don't use email as a to-do list. I use it for correspondence, often with people who use other clients. My conception of email is client-agnostic, and I think almost everyone I deal with (admittedly outside of the tech/valley/startup inside) thinks of it the same way. I hear things like "I'll shoot you an email," or "I need to check my email," or "what program do you use for email?", none of which imply that the speaker intends to be talking about an app. Texting isn't an app, the telephone isn't an app, email isn't an app, at least for many people.
chimeracoder 14y ago
> When people say email, they almost always mean their email client and not the protocol. Yes, but which client? I use mutt, my office manager at work uses Outlook, our accountant uses Gmail, and our advertising manager uses Yahoo. The fact that we can all email each other seamlessly is inherently because of the common protocol, even though we don't think of it consciously when talking about email.
chimeracoder 14y ago
> When people say email, they almost always mean their email client and not the protocol. Yes, but which client? I use mutt, my office manager at work uses Outlook, our accountant uses Gmail, and our advertising manager uses Yahoo. The fact that we can all email each other seamlessly is inherently because of the common protocol, even though we don't think of it consciously when talking about email.

by joedev 14y ago

ForrestN 14y ago

Well, as one piece of data, I certainly mean the system, rather than any one client, when I say "email." When I say "email me," I don't mean "make something show up in gmail," I mean, send me a message over the email protocol. I don't use email as a to-do list. I use it for correspondence, often with people who use other clients. My conception of email is client-agnostic, and I think almost everyone I deal with (admittedly outside of the tech/valley/startup inside) thinks of it the same way. I hear things like "I'll shoot you an email," or "I need to check my email," or "what program do you use for email?", none of which imply that the speaker intends to be talking about an app. Texting isn't an app, the telephone isn't an app, email isn't an app, at least for many people.

chimeracoder 14y ago

> When people say email, they almost always mean their email client and not the protocol. Yes, but which client? I use mutt, my office manager at work uses Outlook, our accountant uses Gmail, and our advertising manager uses Yahoo. The fact that we can all email each other seamlessly is inherently because of the common protocol, even though we don't think of it consciously when talking about email.

chimeracoder 14y ago