What's after email?

Randall found an interesting post this week on Forbes.com regarding the rise of video everywhere, with the release of smaller, faster, better video cameras - an inevitable development that means we have to brace for yet more 'changing room video scandals' as video technology gets better.

but within that article, randall pinpointed an interesting sidebar - 'Email. That's so 90's.'

He highlights a comment by Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, where he explains how an employee described email as 'old-fashioned'. I have to agree. Email as it currently operates is out-of-date, spam-ridden, inefficient...a general pain of the arse. I find out weekly that a whole bunch of my emails didn't get received - ones which are directly business-related. And the only way i find out is because someone calls to bitch that I didn't send that proposal, that press release etc. I didn't get a bounce message, just upset business partners. Really, it has to be better than this!

But if email is old-fashioned, it begs the question of what could possibly replace it. I envision a future that uses 'email-type' technology but without the spam. Where messages are 'guaranteed' to get through. Where people that can send messages are in an 'approved network'. I don't know what this technology is, but I suspect that professional networks like LinkedIn might be the next step. Maybe you could create a 'personal' space where no one can email without being approved through your personal Linked network. Would i pay money for that? Probably. Depends on how much it costs I guess!

Rach