Email less and less reliable

Remember when you get hit the "send" button and not have to worry about your email reaching its destination? Remember when someone sent you an email you always received it unless they entered the wrong address?

Those days are long gone I'm afraid to say - killed by spammers. Not a day goes by when I hear that someone has been sending me email that I have not received and likewise for emails that I send. These missing emails are seldom found in a spam filter - at least not one that you or I can access. Rather they disappear into the ether - most likely stopped by an ISP or hosting company's software.

That certainly devalues email and since email is such a big part of the internet - the incentive to use the internet as well. I understand Bill Gates is working on a solution to replace email - it can't come soon enough.

From my own observations it seems that web mail has a better chance of getting thru than mail from an email program residing on your own computer - not because it is on your computer but because the email is not going thru your ISP and/or web host. Maybe it is a good thing that Gmail, Hotmail, and others are now offering better services for free. I may have to abandon using Outlook and Thunderbird and try using web mail full time.