And I don’t agree with reading mails only in web browsers. I don’t trust broadband connections and Google Gears enough. On the other side, Outlook sucks, and people who use it is not because they want, but I use Mail in OS X and it really works like a charm. Smart mailboxes make a single inbox for my 3 mail accounts. It’s also nice to track people, clients, projects and so on, even when I am on the go. Well, I am on the go most of the time, actually… For Windows and Linux people, I recommend Thunderbrid.

But you are right about using IMs and the phone properly – or SMS, if what you have to say is really important. If we had to use stamps in emails as in standard papermail, people would use it smarter. Just because it’s ubiquous, quick and free doesn’t mean we have to be overwhelmed with crap.

P.S.: that’s the first time I visit your weblog, congrats for your work. I’m now subscribed :)

There are definitely various things which can be done to make an even better experience out of it, but for me using one main eMail account set up with Mail.app and IMAP works exceptionally well. All eMails I received and sent are usually synced across the web, my Mac and iPhone so I usually receive important information right in time.

Besides that, apps like 1Password for example can create and manage strong and secure passwords easily so even this shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

One thing I have to agree to though and that is that many people still struggle with setting up a desktop mail application so they can send and receive eMails – but once they understood it this usually doesn’t cause any further problems anymore as well.

For example, last week I started forwarding all of my email to my mobile’s email address. Essentially making every email come to me as SMS. I then stated in an autoreply that the email address would be deactivated and that the person should use IM or SMS to contact me.

This does two things: it stops the bad behavior of email, and encourages the person contacting me to think about what I can take via SMS or IM.

After that, its a matter of trimming the fat. If you get newsletters that you don’t read. Then unsubscribe. If people are sending you 3 page emails to ask you a 2 sentence question, call or IM them and reiterate that they need to compress their message if they would like a response from you.

Its not rude or wrong to ask people to learn the tools that would be better; but you cannot say that they should use them without giving incentive and making it relevant for both you and them.