Definition for: Email :::: BlueGoose Systems Glossary

T - D - P - S - R - M - I - C - B - A - E - F - G - H - J - K - L - N - O - Q - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - Main Page

Welcome to BlueGoose Systems' Glossary. Please use the search module below or browse through the alphabetical listings of computer and networking terminology. Please note this is a work in progress and is by no means exhaustive.

Currently viewing the definition of: Email


	(or E-mail), short for "Electronic Mail". The term may be used as a noun or verb. The transfer of electronic messages - normally in ASCII text format - between users of a network. Also refers to the message sent or received itself. Email existed prior to the internet we know today among distinct groups of users of incompatible systems and was in fact instrumental in it's creation. As early as the 1960s experimental emails were sent over APRANET (the Advanced Research Projects Agency at the US Department of Defence), one of the precursors of the internet today. In the 1990s major online service providers started to allow global communication between computer users with internet connections and a subscription to one of these services. Email still accounts for a high percentage of internet usage, with trillions of messages being sent every year and increasing - a large amount of which is Spam (emails received that are either unwanted, unsolicited or both), a concept the early pioneers of email could probably not have foreseen. The system consists of a network of users - for example the internet or users within the network of a commercial organisation - a messaging system (typically SMTP - "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol" (for sending messages), POP - "Post Office Protocol" (for receiving messages) or IMAP "Internet Message Access Protocol") and an email client (the program that acts as a user interface such as Microsoft's "Outlook" or Mozilla's "Thunderbird"). Mesaages may consist of text only or can also contain attachments - multimedia files for example. They may also be encrypted or un-encrypted.