<story><title>Email will last forever</title><url>http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>liotier</author><text>No one mentions portability, but I believe it is a wonderful property of email - I have more than 15 years of email, moved across various servers and clients on various operating systems and it is still available and functional. What other personal communication channel is that resilient to technological change ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drfritznunkie</author><text>Whitfield Diffie (yes, of Diffie-Hellman), just posted to the IP list an email he pulled up from 1976(!) in response to a crappy article about VA Shiva Ayyadura &amp;quot;inventing&amp;quot; email. I&amp;#x27;m sure he&amp;#x27;s got even older emails, but the fact that he had it, was able to easily find it, and then resend it with a descendant of itself 38 years later is pretty amazing to me!&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;
  A quick look at my files finds messages from from 1976 that use that format:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  29-SEP-76  1935 FTP:CERF at USC-ISI Data Communication Conference&amp;#x2F; Sept 1977
  Date: 29 SEP 1976 1802-PDT
  From: CERF at USC-ISI
  Subject: Data Communication Conference&amp;#x2F; Sept 1977
  To:   walker
  cc:   cerf, wd at SU-AI

  22-AUG-76  0857 FTP:LEFAIVRE at RUTGERS-10 MORE ON THE LISP COMPILER
  Date: 22 Aug 1976 (Sunday) 1155-Est
  From: LEFAIVRE at RUTGERS-10
  Subject: MORE ON THE LISP COMPILER
  To:   DIFFIE at SU-AI

&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
so I don&amp;#x27;t see how this can be novel in 1978.&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;                   Whit&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Email will last forever</title><url>http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>liotier</author><text>No one mentions portability, but I believe it is a wonderful property of email - I have more than 15 years of email, moved across various servers and clients on various operating systems and it is still available and functional. What other personal communication channel is that resilient to technological change ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>johnchristopher</author><text>Tongue in cheeck: paper is.</text></comment>