Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/email-caswell

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 4KB | 95 lines

Date: 10 Sep 93 15:38 -0600
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "E-Mail" by Caswell


BKEMAIL.RVW   930811

Gage  164 Commander Blvd.  Agincourt, ON  M1S 3C7
or  Carswell/Thomson Professional Publishing
One Corporate Plaza  2075 Kennedy Road  Scarborough, ON  M1T 3V4
416-609-3800   800-387-5164  fax: [phone]
"E-mail", Caswell,0-7715-5108-8, C$39.95


Certain subtle indications, besides the copyright date of 1988, state
that "E-Mail" is a bit behind the times.  One is the title; email is
almost universally now written without the hyphen.  Another is the
inclusion of voice mail and facsimile along with text transmission.
Yet another is the discussion of Telex and "communicating word
processors."

It is too bad that the book has not been updated.  "E-Mail" is aimed
at a much neglected audience: the business executive who may not be
very interested in the technology, per se, but only what it can do for
the business.  The work speaks the language of business, and presents
electronic communication in terms of business advantages and
functions.  Too many of the books on technology aimed at business fail
to understand that just because the author is enthused does not
automatically mean the audience is interested.

There is a definite "corporate" bias in the book which tends to limit
some of the discussions.  Internet, in the guise of ARPANET, rates
only a brief mention; Fidonet, and, indeed, the whole BBS community,
is dismissed very tersely.  The major thrust is toward proprietary,
commercial systems, and, therefore, uses tend to be only "internal"
communication channels.

"E-Mail" is very well planned.  The layout covers the territory in a
comprehensive fashion: it is only the details that are missing.  An
updated version would do well to stick to the same outline, and to
flesh out the dated sections with new material.

The introductory chapter, "The Challenge", states the general benefits
well.  This is followed up, in chapter two, with "Benefits and
Justifications", well presented, in business terms, with charts and
examples.  Chapter three, a "Technology Overview", presents a
historical look at the development of various communications
technologies.

Chapters four through eight begin to look at specifics of the
technologies, and this is where age begins to show.  While the
material covering communications links ("Roadways"), the older
"messaging" systems, computer messaging systems, computer based
communications services, and the systems costs were well researched
and presented, five years has changed much of the picture.
"Communicating Word Processors" and TWX, while still operating, are of
very minor importance now.

Chapter nine, on "Computer Conferencing", seems to be somewhat
misplaced.  The systems primarily emphasized in the rest of the book
have little provision for conferencing systems.  Nowadays, this
chapter would have a very important place in the work, as a resource
for business research and contacts.

"PCs and E-Mail" and "Voice Mail" appear to be oddities of the topic,
presented for completeness' sake and the curious mind.

Chapters twelve and thirteen cover "Corporate Mail Networks" and
"Planning and Implementing E-Mail".  Again, this plays to the emphasis
of the book, and is well presented.  Chapter twelve could use some
newer material on the current situation and less emphasis on X.400.
(The author also has a very strong bias against line editors for the
composition of messages: given his experience with Envoy 100 this is
understandable.)  The final chapter needs almost no upgrading: it
deals with issues that are more political than technical.  The one
area which is missing is that of "online etiquette", dealing with the
training of new users, and the avoidance of "messaging
misunderstandings" and "flames".

For those who are already involved in email, this work has little to
say.  For those companies looking into the possibility for the first
time, there is some valuable background and perspectives here.  Note,
please, that the specifics are limited and now dated.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993   BKEMAIL.RVW   930811
Distribution permitted with this uneditted Telecom Digest and
associated mailing lists/newsgroups.


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