Hypothetical Death Match - E-mail vs. the Web

netbuzz writes "If you had no choice but to choose, which would you give up: access to e-mail or the Web? Both still exist, just not for you. Read how others are defending their decisions — and how a few just refuse to choose." From the article: "From Stewart Deck: 'The Web has become intertwined into so much that I do and so much that I want to know and learn about that without it I might as well move to a grass hut in Irkutsk. The Web brings me closer to words, thoughts and ideas far beyond my geographical boundaries. I use it for information, education, insight, entertainment, EVERYTHING. ... I certainly enjoy the convenience of e-mail but I think I could put together work-arounds that would hold up reasonably well in its absence.'"

The web

[free space]

I'd rather have the world's largest public library than the world's largest postal service.

Also, people can communicate by leaving post-it notes on books :)

Email just has to go

[Deltaspectre]

I could live without email as it hasn't been hopelessly intertwined into my life.... yet. I could always set up a discussion board/similar on my website for people to post whatever they wanted to email me with. Oh! And then I could have a program automatically parse that. And to post my replies!

Wait, what are we defining email as?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

So what are we choosing again?

[Omega Blue]

So we don't have e-mail? Like SMTP and MAP/POP got zapped overnight? No sweat, we still have Web-based services such as gmail.

So what's that we need to decide again?

Random ruminations...

[kebes]

As you, my first thought was "what about webmail?"... however the article says:

This is an academic exercise (obviously) so there will be no cheating allowed. No IM, text messaging or Web mail to substitute for e-mail.

I'm not sure why IM is considered cheating if you give up on email. (You can't IM someone you don't know out of the blue; most companies don't have IM addresses listed, etc.) If IM is 'cheating' then isn't the telephone cheating, too? What about IRC? Is that cheating?

As the author says it's purely academic. My problem with these 'what-ifs' is that because they are unusual, the only way to give a sensible answer is to know all the extraneous details that are left to the imagination. What are the repercussions of breaking the rule? What are the limitations? What are the rules? Is it cheating to put up messages on forum, then phone your friends and tell them to go reply? On the flip side, it's probably cheating to email people and ask "can you do a google search and tell me..." but is it cheating if you just email them the question? In this day and age, if you ask someone a question, they'll start with a web-search anyways.

If I had to decide, I'd also select the web. Email is one of many communication modes available today (and its functionality is easily emulated elsehow), but when it comes to information collection/dissemination, the web is really unique.

Re:Juvenile what if questions

[Anonymous Coward]

Juvenile what if questions qualify as news here now?

They qualify as news to precisely the same extent that whining comments such as yours qualify as "a useful addition to the discussion."

Pitch email! then re-invent it and reap the profit

[plasmacutter]

yep.. since email is implemented via IP packets, you pitch it and straight away code the protocols for the exact same thing.

patent it..

give it away free to pro-gpl and anti-drm groups, and charge proprietary houses and DRM vendors through the nose for your fortune! : )

Re:Random ruminations...

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole thing reeks of someone not thinking this through clearly.

Seriously, the latest news, Ecommerce, games, pron, mp3s, forums, FAQs, How-Tos, Wikipedias etc.

How could email, with its esoteric newsletters and "sluggish spam-filled" inbox possibly compete?