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History of email

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The history of email extends over more than 50 years, entailing an evolving set of technologies and standards that culminated in the email systems in use today.

Computer-based mail and messaging became possible with the advent of time-sharing computers in the early 1960s, and informal methods of using shared files to pass messages were soon expanded into the first mail systems. Most developers of early mainframes and minicomputers developed similar, but generally incompatible, mail applications. Over time, a complex web of gateways and routing systems linked many of them. Many US universities were part of the ARPANET, which aimed at software portability between its systems. That portability helped make the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) increasingly influential.

For a time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it seemed likely that either a proprietary commercial system or the X.400 email system, part of the Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile (GOSIP), would predominate. However, once the final restrictions on carrying commercial traffic over the Internet ended in 1995,[1][2] a combination of factors made the current Internet suite of SMTP, POP3 and IMAP email protocols the standard.

Precursors

The first electrical transmission of messages began in the 19th century in the form of the electrical telegraph, which started to replace earlier forms of telegraphy from the 1840s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Telex became an operational teleprinter service in 1933, beginning in Germany and Europe, and after 1945 spread around the world.[3]

The AUTODIN military network in the United States, first operational in 1962, provided a message service between 1,350 terminals, handling 30 million messages per month, with an average message length of approximately 3,000 characters.[4] By 1968, AUTODIN linked more than 300 sites in several countries.

Host-based mail systems

With the introduction of MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) in 1961,[5] for the first time multiple users could log into a central system[nb 1] from remote terminals, and store and share files on the central disk.[6] Informal methods of using this to pass messages were soon developed and expanded:

  • 1965 – MIT's CTSS "MAIL" command was proposed by Pat Crisman, Glenda Schroeder, & Louis Pouzin, then implemented by Tom Van Vleck and Noel Morris.[7] Each user's messages would be added to a local file called "MAIL BOX", which would have a "private" mode so that only the owner could read or delete messages. The proposed uses of the proto-email system were for communication from CTSS to notify users that files had been backed up, discussion between authors of CTSS commands, and communication from command authors to the CTSS manual editor.

Developers of other early systems developed similar email applications:

  • 1962
  • 1968
  • 1971
    • SNDMSG, a local inter-user mail program incorporating the experimental file transfer program, CPYNET, allowed the first networked electronic mail.[11][12] The addresses already contained the '@' character as a separator between local part and host.
  • 1972
    • The Unix mail program enabled users to write mails and send them to mailboxes of other Unix users.[13][14] Furthermore it helped managing the mailbox of the current user.
    • APL Mailbox by Larry Breed of STSC aimed at being a more robust mail software than a predecessor written in 1971.[15][16][17]
  • 1973
  • 1974
  • 1978
    • Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) was a public dial-up BBS
    • Mail client written by Kurt Shoens for Unix and distributed with the Second Berkeley Software Distribution included support for aliases and distribution lists, forwarding, formatting messages, and accessing different mailboxes.[20] It used the Unix mail client to send messages between system users. The concept was extended to communicate remotely over the Berkeley Network.[21]
    • CompuServe offer Electronic mail as part of their corporate Infoplex service.[22]
  • 1979
    • MH Message Handling System developed at RAND provided several tools for managing electronic mail on Unix.[23]
    • September 24 - CompuServe launch a dialup service labelled MicroNET, offering "Email"[24]
    • ARPANET delivermail, the predecessor of sendmail was shipped with 4.0 and 4.1 BSD.
  • 1981
    • PROFS by IBM[25][26] was the predecessor or OfficeVision/VM and had a centralised virtual machine to manage mail transfer between individuals.
    • Xerox Star goes on sale, offering a commercial variant of the 1973[27] Xerox Alto’s multi user, WYSIWYG based virtual office, with Email.
  • 1982
  • 1984
    • FidoNet is released, creating a network of connected Email accepting, and forwarding Bulletin boards.

LAN email systems

In the early 1980s, networked personal computers on LANs became increasingly important. Server-based systems similar to the earlier mainframe systems were developed. Examples include:

Eventually these systems could link different organizations as long as each organization ran the same email system and proprietary protocol.[nb 2]

Email networks

The first ARPANET email was sent between these two adjacent PDP-10 computers at BBN Technologies (connected only through the ARPANET)

To facilitate electronic mail exchange between remote sites and with other organizations, telecommunication links, such as dialup modems or leased lines, provided means to transport email globally, creating local and global networks. This was challenging for a number of reasons, including the widely different email address formats in use.

  • In 1971 the first ARPANET email was sent,[34] and through RFC 561, RFC 680, RFC 724, and finally 1977's RFC 733, became a standardized working system.
  • PLATO IV was networked to individual terminals over leased data lines prior to the implementation of personal notes in 1974.[19]
  • IBM VNET was deployed by 1975, using BSC to communicate among CP-67 and VM hosts running RSCS.
  • Unix mail was networked by 1978's uucp,[35] which was also used for USENET newsgroup postings, with similar headers.
  • BerkNet, the Berkeley Network, was written by Eric Schmidt in 1978 and included first in the Second Berkeley Software Distribution. It provided support for sending and receiving messages over serial communication links. The Unix mail tool was extended to send messages using BerkNet.[21]
  • The delivermail tool, written by Eric Allman in 1979 and 1980 (and shipped in 4BSD), provided support for routing mail over dissimilar networks, including Arpanet, UUCP, and BerkNet. (It also provided support for mail user aliases.)[36]
  • The mail client included in 4BSD (1980) was extended to provide interoperability between a variety of mail systems.[37]
  • BITNET (1981) provided electronic mail services for educational institutions. It was based on the IBM VNET email system.[38]
  • 1983 – MCI Mail Operated by MCI Communications Corporation. This was the first commercial public email service to use the internet. MCI Mail also allowed subscribers to send regular postal mail (overnight) to non-subscribers.[39]
  • In 1984, IBM PCs running DOS could link with FidoNet for email and shared bulletin board posting.
  • Four companies provided electronic mail services in the United Kingdom in 1985, enabling subscribers to send email over telephone connections or data networks such as Packet Switch Stream.[40]

Attempts at interoperability

Early interoperability among independent systems included:

  • ARPANET, a forerunner of the Internet, defined protocols for dissimilar computers to exchange email.
  • uucp implementations for Unix systems, and later for other operating systems, that only had dial-up communications available.
  • CSNET, which initially used a purpose-built dial-up protocol, called Phonenet, to provide mail-relay services for non-ARPANET hosts.
  • Message Handling System (MHS) protocol. Developed by Action Technologies, this was later bought and promoted by Novell.[41][42][43] However they abandoned it after purchasing the non-MHS WordPerfect Office—which they renamed Groupwise.
  • HP OpenMail was known for its ability to interconnect several other APIs and protocols, including MAPI, cc:Mail, SMTP/MIME, and X.400.
  • Soft-Switch released its eponymous email gateway product in 1984, acquired by Lotus Software ten years later.[44]
  • The Coloured Book protocols ran on UK academic networks from 1975 until 1992.
  • X.400 in the 1980s and early 1990s was promoted by major vendors, and mandated for government use under GOSIP, but abandoned by all but a few in favor of Internet SMTP by the mid-1990s.[nb 3]

From SNDMSG to MSG

In the early 1970s, Ray Tomlinson updated an existing utility called SNDMSG so that it could copy messages (as files) over the network. Lawrence Roberts, the project manager for the ARPANET development, took the idea of READMAIL, which dumped all "recent" messages onto the user's terminal, and wrote a programme for TENEX in TECO macros called RD, which permitted access to individual messages.[45] Barry Wessler then updated RD and called it NRD.[46]

Marty Yonke rewrote NRD to include reading, access to SNDMSG for sending, and a help system, and called the utility WRD, which was later known as BANANARD. John Vittal then updated this version to include three important commands: Move (combined save/delete command), Answer (determined to whom a reply should be sent) and Forward (sent an email to a person who was not already a recipient). The system was called MSG. With inclusion of these features, MSG is considered to be the first integrated modern email programme, from which many other applications have descended.[45]

ARPANET mail

Experimental email transfers between separate computer systems began shortly after the creation of the ARPANET in 1969.[7] Ray Tomlinson is generally credited as having sent the first email across a network, initiating the use of the "@" sign to separate the names of the user and the user's machine in 1971, when he sent a message from one Digital Equipment Corporation DEC-10 computer to another DEC-10. The two machines were placed next to each other.[12][47] Tomlinson's work was quickly adopted across the ARPANET, which significantly increased the popularity of email. Tomlinson is internationally known as the inventor of modern email.[48]

Initially addresses were of the form, username@hostname[49] but were extended to "username@host.domain" with the development of the Domain Name System (DNS).

As the influence of the ARPANET spread across academic communities, gateways were developed to pass mail to and from other networks such as CSNET, JANET, BITNET, X.400, and FidoNet. This often involved addresses such as:

hubhost!middlehost!edgehost!user@uucpgateway.somedomain.example.com

which routes mail to a user with a "bang path" address at a UUCP host.

Queen Elizabeth II sent the first email from a head of state over the ARPANET from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in England on March 26, 1976.[50][51] Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign became the first to use email in the autumn of 1976.[52] The first U.S. President to use email was Bill Clinton in the 1990s, including a reply to an email from the prime minister of Sweden in 1994.[53][54][55][56]

Notes

  1. ^ an IBM 7094
  2. ^ with various vendors supplying gateway software to link these incompatible systems
  3. ^ See Protocol Wars.

References

  1. ^ "Retiring the NSFNET Backbone Service: Chronicling the End of an Era" Archived 2016-01-01 at the Wayback Machine, Susan R. Harris, Ph.D., and Elise Gerich, ConneXions, Vol. 10, No. 4, April 1996
  2. ^ "A Brief History of the Internet".
  3. ^ Roemisch, Rudolf (1978). "Siemens EDS System in Service in Europe and Overseas". Siemens Review. 45 (4). Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG: 176. Retrieved 2016-02-04. The inauguration of the first telex service in the world in Germany in 1933 was soon followed by the development of similar networks in several more European countries. However, telex did not enjoy significant and worldwide growth until after 1945. Thanks to the great advantages of the new telex service, above all in overcoming time differences and language problems, telex networks were introduced in quick succession in all parts of the world.
  4. ^ a b USPS Support Panel, Louis T Rader, Chair, Chapter IV: Systems, Electronic Message Systems for the U.S. Postal Service, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1976; pages 27–35.
  5. ^ "CTSS, Compatible Time-Sharing System" (September 4, 2006), University of South Alabama, USA-CTSS.
  6. ^ Tom Van Vleck, "The IBM 7094 and CTSS" (September 10, 2004), Multicians.org (Multics), web: Multicians-7094.
  7. ^ a b Tom Van Vleck. "The History of Electronic Mail".
  8. ^ IBM, 1440/1460 Administrative Terminal System (1440-CX-07X and 1460-CX-08X) Application Description (PDF), Second Edition, IBM, p. 10, H20-0129-1, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-29 {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |sectionurl= (help)
  9. ^ IBM, System/36O Administrative Terminal System DOS (ATS/DOS) Program Description Manual, IBM, H20-0508 {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |sectionurl= (help)
  10. ^ IBM, System/360 Administrative Terminal System-OS (ATS/OS) Application Description Manual, IBM, H20-0297 {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |sectionurl= (help)
  11. ^ Elliott, Geoffrey (2004). Global business information technology : an integrated systems approach. Financial Times Prentice Hall. p. 425. ISBN 9780321270122.
  12. ^ a b Ray Tomlinson. "The First Network Email". Openmap.bbn.com. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  13. ^ "Version 3 Unix mail(1) manual page from 10/25/1972". Minnie.tuhs.org. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  14. ^ "Version 6 Unix mail(1) manual page from 2/21/1975". Minnie.tuhs.org. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  15. ^ APL Quotations and Anecdotes, including Leslie Goldsmith's story of the Mailbox
  16. ^ "Home > Communications > The Internet > History of the internet > Internet in its infancy". actewagl.com.au. Archived from the original on 2011-02-27. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  17. ^ Catherine Lathwell, ed. (c. 1979). "The STSC Story: It's About Time". Scientific Time Sharing Corporation. 7:08. Retrieved 2017-01-06. {{cite web}}: External link in |editor= (help) Promotional video for Scientific Time Sharing Corporation, which features President Jimmy Carter's press secretary Jody Powell explaining how the company's "APL Mailbox" enabled the 1976 Carter presidential campaign to easily move information around the country to coordinate the campaign.
  18. ^ "APL Quotations and Anecdotes".
  19. ^ a b David Wooley, PLATO: The Emergence of an Online Community, 1994.
  20. ^ The Mail Reference Manual, Kurt Shoens, University of California, Berkeley, 1979.
  21. ^ a b An Introduction to the Berkeley Network, Eric Schmidt, University of California, Berkeley, 1979.
  22. ^ CompuServe pins hopes on MicroNET, InfoPlex - Connie Winkler, Computerworld, Oct 1979
  23. ^ A Mail Handling System, Bruce Borden, The Rand Corporation, 1979.
  24. ^ Wired - SEPT. 24, 1979: FIRST ONLINE SERVICE FOR CONSUMERS DEBUTS - Dylan Tweney
  25. ^ "...PROFS changed the way organizations communicated, collaborated and approached work when it was introduced by IBM's Data Processing Division in 1981...", IBM.com
  26. ^ "1982 – The National Security Council (NSC) staff at the White House acquires a prototype electronic mail system, from IBM, called the Professional Office System (PROFs)....", fas.org
  27. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  28. ^ a b Harris, David L. (May 10, 2016). "Cambridge man who claims he invented email sues Gawker for $35M - Boston Business Journal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  29. ^ "Statement from the National Museum of American History: Collection of Materials from V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai" (Press release). National Museum of American History. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  30. ^ Shiva Ayyadurai v. Gawker Media, et. al., Complaint (D. Mass, filed May 10, 2016)
  31. ^ Crocker, David (20 March 2012). "A history of e-mail: Collaboration, innovation and the birth of a system". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  32. ^ "Gordon Bell's timeline of Digital Equipment Corporation". Research.microsoft.com. 1998-01-30. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  33. ^ "HP Computer Museum".
  34. ^ Ray Tomlinson. "The First Network Email".
  35. ^ "Version 7 Unix manual: "UUCP Implementation Description" by D. A. Nowitz, and "A Dial-Up Network of UNIX Systems" by D. A. Nowitz and M. E. Lesk". Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  36. ^ Setting up the Fourth Berkeley Software Tape, William N. Joy, Ozalp Babaoglu, Keith Sklower, University of California, Berkeley, 1980.
  37. ^ Mail(1), UNIX Programmer's Manual, 4BSD, University of California, Berkeley, 1980.
  38. ^ "BITNET History", livinginternet.com
  39. ^ "MCI Mail", MCI Mail
  40. ^ Information, Reed Business (1985-10-17). New Scientist. Reed Business Information. pp. 61–4. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  41. ^ Daniel Blum (1994-09-19). "Delivering the Enterprise Message". Network World.
  42. ^ Mark Gibbs (1994-03-07). "Hot on the LAN". Network World. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30.
  43. ^ "MHS: Correct Addressing format to DaVinci Email via MHS". Microsoft Support Knowledge Base. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  44. ^ Glenn Rifkin (1994-06-17). "Lotus Agrees to Acquire Softswitch". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  45. ^ a b "Email History". Livinginternet.com. 1996-05-13. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  46. ^ * Partridge, Craig (April–June 2008). "The Technical Development of Internet Email" (PDF). IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 30 (2). Berlin: IEEE Computer Society: 3–29. doi:10.1109/mahc.2008.32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-12.
  47. ^ Wave New World,Time Magazine, October 19, 2009, p.48
  48. ^ "Ray Tomlinson, Inventor Of Modern Email, Dies". NPR.org. 6 March 2016.
  49. ^ RFC 805, 8 February 1982, Computer Mail Meeting Notes
  50. ^ Metz, Cade (2012-12-25). "How the Queen of England Beat Everyone to the Internet". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  51. ^ Left, Sarah (2002-03-13). "Email timeline". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  52. ^ Franke-Ruta, Garance (2013-12-09). "When Jimmy Carter Was the Computer-Driven Candidate". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  53. ^ LaFrance, Adrienne (2015-03-12). "The Truth About Bill Clinton's Emails". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  54. ^ "First president with regular email access". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  55. ^ Sandre, Andreas (2017-11-07). "What's the first ever presidential email?". Medium. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  56. ^ Bildt, Carl. "I sent the first email between heads of state—but the real revolution of connectivity is still to come". Quartz. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
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