It was 28 years ago today, Aug 30th 1978, when a 16 18 year old guy named Shiva Ayyadurai copyrighted “EMAIL” along with terms like “To: From: Cc: Bcc: Subject: Reply, Reply All, Forward”.
The two words, “Electronic” and “EMAIL” – says Shiva – juxtaposed together for me originally brought images of vaporizing paper and somehow transporting it across electrical wires, like the transporter in Star Trek.
Here’s the Certificate of Copyright Registration that Shiva submitted to the US Copyright Office :
Today, 28 years later, Shiva is teaching a class at MIT called “Systems Visualization,” and he believes future is still looking good for email: “I think email has a very particular purpose and I think it’s going to grow in that…Web mail might decline but devices will still access people’s email communications. Facebook may do some integrated email but fundamentally it will be email”.
On the occasion of the 28th Anniversary of EMAIL, Shiva designed an awesome infographic depicting the History of Email and Growth of Email Accounts. A must see for everyone!
(Click the image to enlarge)
