Comments on: Do We Still Need E-Mail?

By: Omar Ha-Redeye

Omar Ha-Redeye — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:02:09 +0000

Nice gig? I'd say. It's how I make side cash. Dan York points out some confidentiality issues though that could make Google Wave a no-go for law firms, for now. How's that for prognostication?

By: David Cheifetz

David Cheifetz — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:11:47 +0000

We deal with others in real time – whether face to face or by some electronic method which may or may not include visual contact – or by exchanging messages in a process which may almost be contemporaneous, or the messages may be separated by varying lengths of time.

Sometimes we don't want to deal in real time.

Email is nothing more than a description of one method of exchanging messages which doesn't require the parties to be in contact with each other, contemporaneously, though they may be.

In this case, a rose by another name may smell differently, may even be sweeter, but it'll still serve the same purpose.

In the meantime, prognosticators get to write columns and give lectures (and I suppose some of them get to charge for them, too. Nice gig.)

By: Omar Ha-Redeye

Omar Ha-Redeye — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:51:22 +0000

Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, said at a RealTime CrunchUp event in San Francisco,

Email is not going to disappear. Possibly ever. Until the robots kill us all.

Buchheit shared that he has yet to even try Google Wave, and denies it's a replacement for e-mail. It's more of a collaboration tool, one that still needs considerable refinement.

By: Stefan

Stefan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:21:26 +0000

The WSJ asked a similar question recently. I wrote about it onthe emailtide blog. I think that many of the newer technologies complement email rather than displace it. For businesses bound by strict compliance regulation all these new communication channels present some serious challenges.

By: Simon Chester

Simon Chester — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:50:18 +0000

As someone whose first email account was back in 1987, I'm overdue for a phase-out. Not that I can access more than a few percent of the 500,000 or so emails I've sent and received.

By: Wendy Reynolds

Wendy Reynolds — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:39:33 +0000

I suspect that the clients will drive the adoption, whatever the legal profession settles on. If a client is willing to use Wave, then the firm can help the client use the technology and understand it. If the client requests the firm use it, you know they'll be there. But if a client resists, ain't no firm going to push the question.

I suspect it won't be long before we're looking back on posts like this and chuckling indulgently. After all, e-mail became the "dinosaur" way to communicate inside of twenty years!

By: John N. Davis

John N. Davis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:39:38 +0000

I don't think we can attribute it to a rapid evolution of the species. It's more of a time-of-life thing: most folks of my generation aren't spending as much time anymore trying to stay connected with the gang so we can all hang out together. And for that purpose, I think it's about the hardware–you don't need anything more than a basic cell phone to text.

In terms of the software, texting is where email was in the early 1990s. Too may different proprietary systems in use, and the bridges just starting to be built.

By: Simon Chester

Simon Chester — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:09:43 +0000

In the Socialonomics video that we blogged about a few weeks back it refers to Boston College discontinuing emails to student applicants since they were using a shared Facebook space to the same end. [Actually the Chronicle of Higher Education less alarmingly pointed out that the reason the new students didn't need BC email addresses was that they all had others.] For what it's worth my daughter reports on the complete pervasive adoption of text messaging in various forms with her peers. It is likely a generational thing.

By: Julie A. Fleming

Julie A. Fleming — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:48:31 +0000

While there are many new useful communication methods that provide alternatives to email, I don't think we've yet created one that can replace email entirely. Email is global (almost everyone you'll need to deal with has an email address), it's private (allowing you to talk to clients without fear of others overhearing), and it can be any length necessary.

I do think that there are ways that we can better utilize email, and that starts with considering when other methods of communication would be better than email. For example, if you're writing more than a few paragraphs, or the question you're asking is going to require an in depth response, it might be best to pick up the phone and have a five minute conversation. Or, if you're sending a mass email to all of your clients, consider whether it might be better to make this announcement via social media.

I doubt that email will entirely lose it's value soon, though.