Youv'e got mail!

Fascinating bit of computer history:

The Inventor of Email - The Facts
In 1978, a 14-year-old named V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai developed a computer program, which replicated the features of the interoffice, inter-organizational paper mail system. He named his program �EMAIL�. Shiva filed an application for copyright in his program and in 1982 the United States Copyright Office issued a Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-111-775, to him on the program. As required by the Regulations of the Copyright Office, he deposited portions of the original source code with the program. Prominent in the code is the name �EMAIL� that he gave to the program. He received a second Certificate of Registration, No. TXu-108-715, for the �EMAIL User�s Manual� he had prepared to accompany the program and that taught unsophisticated user�s how to use EMAIL�s features.

A bit more:

Shiva embraced the project and began by performing a thorough evaluation of UMDNJ's paper-based mail system, the same as that used in offices and organizations around the world. He determined that the essential features of these systems included functions corresponding to �Inbox�, �Outbox�, �Drafts�, �Memo� (�To:�, �From:�, �Date:�, �Subject:�, �Body:�, �Cc:�, �Bcc:�), �Attachments�, �Folders�, �Compose�, �Forward�, �Reply�, �Address Book�, �Groups�, �Return Receipt�, �Sorting�. These capabilities were all to be provided in a software program having a sufficiently simple interface that needed no expertise in computer systems to use efficiently to �Send� and �Receive� mail electronically. It is these features that make his program �email� and that distinguish �email� from prior electronic communications.

That would cover it -- never knew the story.