Webmail (orweb-based email) is anemail service that can be accessed using a standardweb browser. It contrasts with email service accessible through a specialisedemail client software. Additionally, manyinternet service providers (ISP) provide webmail as part of their internet service package. Similarly, someweb hosting providers also provide webmail as a part of their hosting package.
As with anyweb application, webmail's main advantage over the use of adesktopemail client is the ability to send and receive email anywhere from a web browser.
The first Web Mail implementation was developed atCERN in 1993 byPhillip Hallam-Baker[1] as a test of the HTTP protocol stack, but was not developed further. In the next two years, however, several people produced working webmail applications.
In Europe, there were three implementations, Søren Vejrum's "WWW Mail",[2] Luca Manunza's "WebMail",[3][4] and Remy Wetzels' "WebMail".[5] Søren Vejrum's "WWW Mail" was written when he was studying and working at theCopenhagen Business School in Denmark, and was released on February 28, 1995.[6] Luca Manunza's "WebMail" was written while he was working atCRS4 in Sardinia, from an idea of Gianluigi Zanetti, with the first source release on March 30, 1995.[7] Remy Wetzels' "WebMail" was written while he was studying at theEindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands for the DSE[8][9] and was released early January 1995.
In theUnited States, Matt Mankins wrote "Webex",[10][Note 1] and Bill Fitler, while atLotus cc:Mail, began working on an implementation which he demonstrated publicly atLotusphere on January 24, 1995.[11][12] Customers who saw the cc:Mail demonstration were very enthusiastic, one recalling that they were "like an angry mob. People were yelling, 'We want this now!'".[13] Matt Mankins, under the supervision of Dr. Burt Rosenberg at theUniversity of Miami,[14] released his "Webex" application source code in a post to comp.mail.misc on August 8, 1995,[10] although it had been in use as the primary email application at the School of Architecture where Mankins worked for some months prior.
Bill Fitler's webmail implementation was further developed as a commercial product, which Lotus announced and released in the fall of 1995 ascc:Mail for the World Wide Web 1.0; thereby providing an alternative means of accessing a cc:Mail message store (the usual means being a cc:Mail desktop application that operated either via dialup or within the confines of a local area network).[15][16][17]
Early commercialization of webmail was also achieved when "Webex" began to be sold by Mankins' company, DotShop, Inc., at the end of 1995. Within DotShop, "Webex" changed its name to "EMUmail"; which would be sold to companies like UPS and Rackspace until its sale to Accurev in 2001.[18] EMUmail was one of the first applications to feature a free version that included embedded advertising, as well as a licensed version that did not.
Hotmail andFour11's RocketMail both launched in 1996 as free services and immediately became very popular.[19]
As the 1990s progressed, and into the 2000s, it became more common for the general public to have access to webmail because:
In some cases, webmail application software is developed in-house by the organizations running and managing the application, and in some cases it is obtained from software companies that develop and sell such applications, usually as part of an integrated mail server package (an early example beingNetscape Messaging Server[20][21]). The market for webmail application software hascontinued into the 2010s.
Email users may find the use of both a webmail client and a desktop client using thePOP3 protocol presents some difficulties. For example, email messages that are downloaded by the desktop client and are removed from the server will no longer be available on the webmail client. The user is limited to previewing messages using the web client before they are downloaded by the desktop email client. However, one may choose to leave the emails on the server, in which case this problem does not occur. The use of both a webmail client and a desktop client using theIMAP4 protocol allows the contents of the mailbox to be consistently displayed in both the webmail and desktop clients and any action the user performs on messages in one interface will be reflected when the email is accessed via the other interface. There are significant differences in rendering capabilities for many popular webmail services such asGmail,Outlook.com andYahoo! Mail. Due to the varying treatment ofHTML tags, such as <style> and <head>, as well asCSS rendering inconsistencies,email marketing companies rely on olderweb development techniques to sendcross-platform mail. This usually means a greater reliance on tables and inline stylesheets.
Microsoft Windows applications by default create email messages viaMAPI. Several vendors produce tools to provide a MAPI interface to webmail.[22][23]
Although emails storedunencrypted on any service provider's servers can be read by that service provider, specific concerns have been raised regarding webmail services that automatically analyze the contents of users' emails for the purpose oftargeted advertising.[24][25][26] At least two such services, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, give users the option to opt out of targeted advertising.[27]
Webmail that is accessed over unsecured HTTP may be readable by a third party who has access to the data transmission, such as over an unsecuredWi-Fi connection. This may be avoided by connecting to the webmail service viaHTTPS, which encrypts the connection.[28] Gmail has supported HTTPS since launch[28] and in 2014 began requiring it for all webmail connections.[29] Yahoo! Mail added the option to connect over HTTPS in 2013[30] and made HTTPS required in 2014.[31][32]
Media related toWebmail at Wikimedia Commons
