What is email?

Email stands for electronic mail. While it originated as an after thought to the beginnings of the Internet (ARPANET - 1960’S), it is currently one of the most popular services of the Internet. Email does not have to be Internet based. It can be an in-house service that reaches only a certain population. Internet email can be sent to anyone in the world who has an Internet email address.

Email has both similarities and differences with more conventional postal services. First, messages are posted electronically to individuals at specific addresses much like conventional mail. The address denotes the computer that the individual employs as a mail server. A mail server is like a local post office: it is a computer that sends and receives electronic mail for a specific network. Like regular mail, when messages are delivered, the user may read them at his or her convenience and like postal letters, email may be saved or discarded.

 

Unlike conventional mail, email is much faster (conventional mail is sometimes called "snail mail" by email users). Bulk postal mailings usually require some effort: email, however, can be broadcast. This means that multiple copies of a given message can be sent to different parties automatically with no more effort than indicating the distribution list of addresses.

Replies to email can be automatic too. Most mail programs allow the user to reply to the sender and include part or the entire original message. A major difference between email and conventional mail is that while postal letters are not entirely secure, email is even less secure. Unless the message has been encoded, it could be intercepted without your knowledge. For this reason, ordinary email should never be used for sensitive communication.

How does email work?