Description
Email stands for electronic mail, and is a messaging service found upon the Internet. Electronic mail has been likened to a regular postal letter: containing an address, routing information and content.
Email uses a range of application layer protocols (IMAP, POP3, SMTP), found within the Internet Protocol Suite, to route messages from mail servers to users. An email address is required to send and receive email messages: the majority of Internet Service Providers provide a free email account to customers, additionally, there is a plethora of companies who provide free webmail accounts, such as: Gmail and Yahoo. Email is based upon the client-server model: where client programs send requests to mail servers to send and receive emails.
There are two categories of email client applications:
1) webmail clients, accessed through a website, such as Mail.com;
2) stand-alone client programs that are installed by a user onto their computer system, such as Outlook Express.
Email has proved to be one of the Internet’s most popular services, while it has been commended for improving global communications, it has been criticised for its security (spam, phishing, viruses and malware).
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Photo: Image taken from Pixabay on March 2016