Email has been around longer than the internet has. In 1968, a company called Bolt Berenak and Newman was hired by the Department of Defense to create a way for military and education facilities to communicate with each other. They developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, which allowed users to leave messages for each other that they would see when they logged into the network. At first, they were only able to leave messages using the same machine - it was like leaving a note on a desk only requiring machinery!

An engineer named Ray Tomlinson is credited with sending the first email between two different units. Tomlinson's assignment was to make the original ARPAN application do more. He had been working on a project that would allow ARPAN users to send files to other users. He realized that this would be perfect for sending messages as well. He then created the traditional form of email address we still use, which has the user name, then @, and then the host. Within two years of this innovation, nearly three-quarters of all traffic on the ARPAN network was email.

The public didn't enjoy widespread use of email until the 1990's, but it wasn't even commercially available until 1988. Eudora was one of the first email readers and was extremely popular until about 1994, when Internet Explorer and Netscape began to offer email programs that came free with their browsers.

Today, hundreds of millions of people use email, and it is constantly evolving. It is a great way to communicate with coworkers, friends, family, and much more. Its applications are endless. Now, there are even free reverse email lookup sites which allow you to look up the owner of any address. This is one of the best tools for business, communication, and entertainment that we have today.

Lindsay has been writing about web applications for 4 years and is tracking the latest trends in web development. You can check out her latest project at http://www.reverseemaildetective.com