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The origins of webmail: Why a 1993 CERN experiment sparked an email revolution
Webmail, an email service accessible through a standard web browser, has become an essential part of modern communications. Looking back at this development, it is thought-provoking how the initial technical framework provided by the CERN experiment in 1993 evolved into an indispensable tool in the lives of ordinary people in just a few years.
Early Implementations
The initial implementation of webmail dates back to 1993, when it was developed by Phillip Hallam-Baker at CERN as a testbed for the HTTP protocol stack. Although the technology was not further developed at the time, several developers launched their own webmail applications in the following years.
In Europe, there are three main implementations, including Søren Vejrum's "WWW Mail", Luca Manunza's "WebMail", and Remy Wetzels' "WebMail".
Søren Vejrum released his "WWW Mail" on February 28, 1995, while Luca Manunza's version, based on the work of CRS4 and Gianluigi Zanetti's ideas, was released on March 30, 1995. First published on . Matt Mankins and Bill Fitler from the United States also demonstrated their webmail implementations in the same year, and the layout gradually took shape.
Wide Deployment and Commercialization
As the 1990s progressed, Internet email became more widely accepted by the general public. Many Internet service providers (such as EarthLink) and web hosting providers (such as Verio) have begun to include webmail in their service packages. In response to demand, large companies and universities have also begun to provide online email to facilitate their users' email access.
Hotmail and RocketMail, which appeared in 1996 as free Internet email services, quickly became popular around the world and became the new favorites of users.
Commercialization was particularly evident during this period, for example, Mankins' "Webex" was renamed EMUmail at the end of 1995 and sold to corporate customers. In addition, Lotus also released the cc:Mail web version to further promote the development of this market.
Compatibility and Rendering Issues
With the use of POP3 protocol between different email clients, users may face compatibility issues. For example, when emails are downloaded by a desktop client and deleted from the server, they are no longer accessible in the webmail client. However, if you choose to keep your emails on the server, this problem will not occur.
The IMAP4 protocol provides a more integrated solution, allowing email content to be displayed consistently between desktop clients and web clients.
However, many users still face inconsistencies in HTML tags and CSS rendering among different webmail services such as Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo! Mail, which also poses a challenge to digital marketing.
Privacy and Security Issues
While webmail brings convenience, it also raises concerns about privacy and security. Many people have expressed concerns about services automatically analyzing email content for advertising, especially service providers such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, which offer users the option to opt out of targeted ads.
In any case, using HTTPS to encrypt connections to online email services has become a practice that everyone should strictly follow to ensure information security.
Gmail has supported HTTPS since its launch, and Yahoo! Mail began mandating the use of this secure connection in 2014.
