Jack of all trades, master of none.

E-mail is the jack of all trades, but the master of none. There are better ways to transfer files, hold discussions, deliver notifications, broadcast newsletters, schedule meetings, work collaboratively, and manage personal information. But even though e-mail isn’t the best tool for any of these tasks, it provides a single interface to all of them. Here’s a challenge: Let’s improve the various functions performed by e-mail without multiplying the interfaces people must learn in order to use those functions. [Full story at InfoWorld.com]

A favorite example of mine is RSS. It’s an inherently opt-in, spam-free channel of communication that can replace certain of email’s most broken functions: broadcast newsletters, notifications. But, as NewsGator shows us, RSS can still look and feel like email to the user. … [Jon’s Radio]