Evolution of Email
1965 : Email is introduced at MIT.
1971 : Ray Tomlinson sends the first network email on ARPANET.
1977 : A standard format (RFC 733) is proposed to enable sending email acros the internet.
1977 : U.S. Postal Service begins to see email as potential threat to mail volumes.
1982 : First known use of the word, "email".
1972 : Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is introduced.
1988 : The first commecial email product, Microsoft Mail is released for the Mac.
1989 : CompuServe offers Internet connectivity and email service to its subscribers.
1989 : IBM releases Lotus Notes 1.0.
1990 early : Email spam begins.
1990 late : HTML email is introduced, allowing for rich formatting within messages.
1992 : Microsoft Outlook for MS-DOS is released.
1993 : AOL and Delphi connect their proprietary email systems to the Internet.
1993 : BellSouth and IBM unveil Simon Personal Communicator, the world's first mobile phone with PDA features, including email capability.
1996 : Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launch "HoTMaiL," one of the first free Web-Based email services.
1997 : Microsoft Outlook 97 is released, offering a central hub that includes email, scheduling, contact management, task management and a journal module.
1997 : Yahoo! introduces Yahoo! Mail.
1998 : "Youve Got Mail" premieres at the box office.
1998 : Microsoft Outlook 2000 includes hte ability to customize and incorporate personal, corporate nad Web-based information in one place.
2000 : Microsoft introduces entourage mail for Mac.
2003 : Microsoft Outlook 2003 includes junk mail and anti-phishing filters and the ability to receive mail from multiple accounts.
2004 : The Federal Trade Commission codifies email spam laws.
2006 : Outlook 2007 is released, with native support for RSS feeds and the ability to received text messages.
2006 : Social networking site Facebook opens to the general public.
2007 : Google makes Gmail available to the public worldwide.
2010 : Microsoft Outlook 2010 is released and includes Outlook Social Connector, Ignore Conversation and Conversation Clean Up.
2010 : Outlook Mobile on Windows Phone 7 and Outlook for Mac 2011 are released.
2010 : Facebook announces plans to incorporate Microsoft Office Web Apps into its messaging system.
2011 : Associated Press Stylebook changes "e-mail to "email".