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06/29/09 11:48 PM
Author: Terry Crawford
September 24, 2006
ARPAnet quickly became a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. The first major application developed for use on the ARPAnet was electronic mail (E-mail or Email or e-mail or email). It was developed by Ray Tomlinson in 1972 and would allow those connected to the Internet to establish one-on-one communication with others at high speed.
Electronic mail, called E-mail, is by far the most widely-used Internet service today, with millions of electronic messages zooming around the world to digital mailboxes.
The term "spam", when referencing E-mail, has its roots go back to 1970, when apparently, according to the SVMN (Silicon Valley Mercury News), a Monty Python skit used the term "spam" in the scene in which conversation got drowned out by rowdy diners who sang about SPAMTM, the canned meat. Thereafter, "spam" became the metaphor for junk E-mail "drowning out" regular messages in in-boxes.
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