There’s a long post over on MacDev Center that looks with some serious depth into the questions of how email is working right now, and where email may be headed. The question of how and where email works is one that’s important for churches since churches are starting to rely more and more on email to share information between paid staff and volunteers within the congregation. We’re also seeing email come into its own as an effective tool for long-distance communication with in the whole of the Anglican Communion.

“Everyone has an opinion about it. Some of us complain about getting too much of it. Many people find it a drain on their time, productivity, and creativity. For most, spam is such a problem that it effectively renders the whole concept of email broken.

But despite all of the things that are wrong, or can go wrong with email, most of us continue to use it, day after day.

Despite being an old technology, email still has room to evolve. Despite all of its problems, we show no signs of giving it up, so it makes sense to keep an eye on the evolutionary changes and make the best of a bad situation.

What follows is a brief guide to the various flavors of email protocol; it’s not intended as a technical paper for those who already speak fluent POP, but rather as an explanatory review for the rest of us, with pointers to possible evolutionary steps to come.”

Read the rest here: MacDevCenter.com — Email Protocols: Where Do We Go Now?