* Readers weigh in on e-mail predictions
I received some great feedback on my recent articles on the future of e-mail. I predicted that a virus will seriously disrupt enterprise messaging systems on a worldwide scale and that different types of messaging will become truly unified, among other things.
Here are some highlights from the responses I received.
* “As far as your comments on the virus are concerned, while a major virus is just an accident waiting to happen, I don’t foresee a time when such an infection becomes as widespread as you suggest. I am aware that virus incidents are rising drastically, and that recently payloads have become far more dangerous, but you need to take into account that most companies are using much more sophisticated methods of detection/prevention than they were a few years ago.”
* “I believe that you are spot-on as far as integrated messaging systems automatically selecting the delivery method based on time is concerned, though I’m not sure whether this will extend to SMS for a while. The problem with this approach, as I see it, is that while it’s very easy for the sender to keep accurate records of their outbound messages, it’s difficult to keep records of messages received on non-standard systems, such as SMS, unless they go through a common gateway.”
* “I like your vision of a ‘seamless’ unified communications capability. Not having to concern yourself with the particular medium a message will use to reach its intended recipient greatly simplifies communication. Seamlessly integrating all these various technologies and somehow making them all presence-aware is certainly a major challenge. Simplifying things can be very complicated.”
* “To get to the world you predict will require the companies (and governments) that currently dabble in a small part of the whole picture to come together to standardize, synchronize and proliferate. Everything you predicted in your article will come to be. I just think some of the entrenched dinosaurs blocking the path to progress are going to take longer to go away.”
* “I hope you’re wrong about the virus/worm, but – I agree.”
Thanks to everyone who provided their feedback on this topic.
