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E-mail
Thus, when a user wants to send an
electronic mail, or e-mail, he or she uses an e-mail ‘client’software
(such as Outlook Express, Eudora or Pegasus) to compose the message, to
attach an e-mail address to it, and to send it. Then an e-mail server takes
over, splits the message into datagrammes, and sends them on their way. The
datagrammes finally arrive at another e-mail server where the addressee has
a mailbox. After reassembling the datagrammes into the original message,
the receiving server holds the message until it is collected.
Electronic mail is the most basic and most-used Internet application.
Today, e-mail client software supports basic text formatting as well as
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension). This allows us to attach files
to our messages. The files can contain documents, spreadsheets, powerpoint
presentations, sounds and movies –
anything in a digital format. E-mail messages are passed through the
Internet using a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). E-mail servers
receive and store messages using a protocol called Post Office Protocol
(POP) – ‘cyber-technicians’ therefore call them POP-servers or just POP’s. Most people do not have a computer that is
permanently attached to the Internet – instead, they dial in and connect to the e-mail
server of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which keeps their mailbox.
Besides e-mail, Internet users will encounter many other Internet
applications such as mailing lists, online chat, voice- and
video-conferencing and the World Wide Web (WWW), usually shortened to
'Web'. Short for electronic mail this is the transmission of messages over
the Internet. The messages can be formulated by you using your keyboard or
you can transmit electronically files and documents stored on disk. You
will be given an e-mail address from your ISP but you can have any number
of e-mail addresses. All basic e-mail software offers an address book and
will store your messages until you are ready to retrieve them. Most e-mail's take a few seconds to arrive at its destination
but they can sometimes take a few minutes. In recent years the use of
e-mail has exploded and there are now over 25 million e-mail users sending
over 15 billion messages per year. Opportunity. e.g. ..
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