I was asked today by Nic Fildes at The Times for my comments on the 40th birthday today of the first email. See – email hits 40 and still not written off. Nic started his article “40 years ago today, Ray Tomlinson, a researcher working for the US Department of Defence, sent the world’s first e-mail unaware that the message “QWERTYUIOP” would radically change the way that we communicate.”
As Nic referred to me as ‘the veteran analyst’, I guess he contacted me as I was the only person on his contact list who was old enough to remember 1971. I was reminded of my age by the Chancellor, George Osborne, who told me recently that he was born in 1971 – the same year as the first reported use of the term ‘Silicon Valley”. I cannot tell you how old that made me feel.
I replied to Nic saying “I remember planning our family holiday in France in 1971. It involved a printed guide book, writing to the chosen hotels, waiting for a brochure to arrive in the post and sending off my international money order as a deposit. The whole exercise took months. Forty years later I look at the hotel website, read the reviews, make the booking by e-mail and transfer the funds electronically — all in a matter of minutes. And it will have cost me nothing.”
Anyway, Happy 40th Birthday email. However, how much longer will you reign? Many people have already abandoned email in favour of messages via Facebook, Twitter, BBM, IM, even iMessage etc. I very much doubt email in anything like its current form will be around 40 years hence.