5. E-Mail: Letters Make a Comeback

Electronic mail--e-mail--was one of the first applications of the Internet. It simply means the ability to send letters ``electronically'', down the phone line, rather than the old fashioned way with pen, ink and pony express.

E-mail does not receive nearly as much media hype as the Web. It generally does not involve fancy graphics, video, or animations. Nor has it accumulated nearly so much mystifying jargon. E-mail is also relatively cheap in that it typically requires much less time online, accumulating telephone charges, compared to Web browsing.

And yet, e-mail is probably still the single most useful facility the Internet has to offer. Even if you never bother with browsing the Web, e-mail on its own may well justify the cost of your Internet subscription and phone bills.