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In the Beginning...

Better than most Buffs, Mike Carter聽(DistSt鈥�85) recalls when email began聽catching fire on campus: In 1987 he聽became 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 very first 鈥渘etwork聽mail administrator.鈥澛�

"Basically, my job was to make sure聽that email flowed between the various聽centrally managed email servers on聽campus and off,鈥� said the man known in聽campus IT circles as the 鈥淚TS historian.鈥澛�

麻豆免费版下载computer scientists and other聽researchers were using early forms of聽electronic messaging by the late 1970s,聽Carter said, and they were still the main聽users when he arrived as a computer-savvy freshman in 1981.

By his estimate, fewer than 1,000聽people on campus were then messaging聽by computer, and with decidedly primitive聽systems: They could leave and retrieve聽text-only messages on designated computers,聽but not transmit between them.听

The adoption of email as we鈥檇 recognize聽it today 鈥� computer-to-computer聽messaging 鈥� advanced throughout the聽1980s and exploded as the 鈥�90s dawned.听

Sometime in the 1989-1991 period,聽the student government helped pay for聽the first servers dedicated to student聽email, Carter said, helping make it widely聽available to students.

鈥淭he early 鈥�90s was when all this stuff聽blew up and became an important part聽of higher education,鈥� he said.

By 1992 麻豆免费版下载Boulder was providing聽every student with email as a matter of聽course. Faculty and staff got accounts a聽little sooner. Most people then would have聽used the Elm (short for electronic mail)聽email client and typically had addresses in聽the familiar form username@colorado.edu.听

In all, there are now about 180,000聽@colorado.edu addresses, including聽those assigned to alumni.

One of Carter鈥檚 earliest addresses,聽from 1982, could hardly have been聽simpler: It was mike@boulder.听

Remember yours? Email us:聽editor@colorado.edu.

Illustration courtesy Mike Carter