Why Electronic Mail?
E-mail is fast (few minutes) snail mail is slow (days or weeks).
E-mail is inexpensive (compare $3-$10 to prepare and send a regular letter).
E-mail substitutes for telephone (The phone tag effect: it takes an average of three telephone calls and messages before people get to talk to each other)
An entire E-mail conversation takes less time than a telephone call
E-mail is particularly effective for multinational organizations
Many products: cc:mail; Microsoft Mail, GroupWise, Work Group (IBM) ==>
Problem: To ensure that a message sent by one e-mail package can be received by another