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Electronic mail (e-mail) threatens to pervade every one's life
-- whether you are
living in the western world or in a third-world country. A look at today's
business cards verifies this fact. Virtually every business card nowadays sports
an e-mail address. Businesses prefer to communicate by e-mail, as it is easier,
quicker and cheaper. Furthermore, the message goes direct from the desk of
the sender to the desk of the recipient.
All that is needed to be an e-mail user is a PC, a modem, an Internet
account and of course, a phone line. Ever since the Internet has been commercialized, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have
sprung up in almost all
the countries in the world. Subscribers only need to pay a small yearly
subscription fee to an ISP. What makes e-mail extremely popular is the
negligible cost. Compared to faxes, e-mails are extremely cost effective.
Sending an e-mail to the United States or Germany costs no more than
sending it to your neighbor across the street.
It is also very easy to send an e-mail. When the message has been written,
all one has to do is to click on the 'send' button on the screen. The mail gets
transferred from the PC to the ISP, and is then automatically sent to the
recipient. The sender does not have to worry about a busy line at the other end
(as compared to sending a fax). The e-mail software can also be configured for
the sender to receive a confirmation e-mail when the e-mail has been delivered
and downloaded by the recipient. If the e-mail cannot be delivered, it is
returned to the sender with a reason given.
One of the most important reasons supporting the use of e-mail is that it is
eco-friendly , No papers are used which means no chopping down of trees!
Another advantage of using the e-mail is that it is very fast. For example, an
e-mail from Asia to the United States would normally arrive in less than two
minutes and within the same country, in less than a minute. This means that
e-mails and attached documents, spreadsheets and database files can be routed
to friends, family members or colleagues all over the world several times in a day.
Similar to roaming facilities offered on the mobile phone, ISPs offer global
roaming for Internet access. A person can dial a local access number in the
foreign country (at a small surcharge) and download and upload his e-mails
the same way as he does at home, in school or in the office. All that one has to
do is to get access to a computer. In short, this means that you can send and
receive your mails anywhere and anytime -- e-mails are mobile!
These days, e-mail software provides advanced facilities allowing one to save
incoming and outgoing e-mails onto different diskettes. Along with search
facilities, this acts as a repository for future reference. This feature is very handy,
especially when one is traveling, as a person can now literally carry all his
incoming and outgoing communication with him all over the world.
In conclusion, using the e-mail is very advantageous and it has become a
necessary tool in all businesses. |
