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.cb MAIL TERMINALS


	We are looking for financial backing for the manufacture and
sale of %2mail terminals%1.  A mail terminal is a unit selling for
α$500 to α$4000 (depending on accessories and volume of production)
that allows its owner to send and receive electronic mail over the
ordinary telephone network.

	There has been much recent discussion of electronic mail
systems, especially on the part of people advocating that the
Postal Service go into that business.  The idea is to create
a new electronic communication network dedicated to electronic
mail.  This is rightly regarded as a major development requiring
years of preparation.

	Our idea is that electronic mail requires only a product -
the mail terminal - and not a new communication system.  The reason
is that the existing telephone network is adequate to support
the desired communications at a reasonable cost.  Here is the
detailed scheme:

	#. A mail terminal consists of a micro-computer (like those
sold to hobbyists for a few hundred dollars), a cassette tape
unit for storing messages, a TV screen for displaying and editing
messages, a typewriter keyboard for composing messages and giving
commands to the system, an optional typewriter printing mechanism
for getting printed copies of messages,  and a connection to a telephone
jack for communication with the rest of the world.  The telephone
line may be a separate one or may be the same one used in the usual
way for oral communication.

	#. Here is an example of the use of the terminal.

	a. The user types

MAIL CUSTOMERS: We will be clearing out our mail room supplies.  Big
bargains while supplies last.  No reasonable offer refused..

	This causes the message following the colon to be sent
to all people on the list CUSTOMERS that is stored in the terminal's
memory.  The list contains either the telephone number of a mail
terminal or a conventional name and address.  In the former case,
the mail terminal telephones each recipient's mail terminal and
transmits the message.  In the latter case it must print copies
of a letter with the message and suitable address labels.  MAILGRAMs
can also be used if wanted; in that case the terminal calls the
Western Union computer with the messages.

	b. A non-business user might type on her host's terminal.

NIGHTMAIL GEORGE AT (212) 372-1257: Arriving Kennedy Airport tomorrow at
7pm on UA 777.  Please meet me. - Agatha..

	The mail terminal on which she types this will wait until
the late night telephone rates are in effect and transmit the
message to the terminal whose telephone number is given and
addressing it to the user called George of that terminal.  We have
used capital letters to distinguish the command part of what is
typed from the message itself, but the termina wouldn't care.  It
notices the colon as punctuation and the double period as ending
the message.

	#. A person receives mail sitting at his terminal.  If he
is not the only user of this particular terminal he must give his
name, e.g. by typing

MESSAGES FOR GEORGE.

	He then gets a list of his messages with their first lines
(or the whole works if they are short enough) and can read the
messages in any order.

	#. The user can file his messages cross-indexed by date and
category, delete some of them or print copies if he has a printer.
He can also edit their texts, combine them with new information
and retransmit them to other people.

	#. The above examples illustrate short messages which can
be composed on the fly.  More substantial word-processing capabilities
help the user compose and revise texts extracting material
for from other files.
The same word-processing facilities are used for preparing
and changing files of addressees such as the CUSTOMERS file mentioned
in the first example.


.bb ECONOMICS

	The cost of a local telephone call is now less than the cost
of a stamp.  The cost of a one minute late night transcontinental call is 22
cents, and stamps will cost more than that by the early eighties.
One minute suffices to transmit 9000 characters at the 1200 baud
rate of inexpensive modems, and it is possible to transmit
at 4800 baud over dial-up lines.  At present the modems for this
are expensive, but it may be possible to include 4800 bit modems
in the mail terminal at little extra cost by making use of the
computer in the terminal.

	A good quality system can be put together out of presently
available microcomputers, displays, keyboards, printers and cassette
units for α$3500.  About one man year would be required for simple but
workable software.

	The amount of electronics in a mail terminal is less than that
in a color TV, so that mass production should result in similar costs.
Once mass use starts, the industry may expand as rapidly as the TV
industry.


.bb REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

	The present legal situation is just fine for mail terminals.
They can be connected to the telephone system and can be certified
for use without a protective device.  It is probably to the advantage
of  the telephone companies to encourage their use, since they will
add business, and it is very unlikely that the telephone companies
themselves would be allowed to monopolize the mail terminal business.
The alternative from their point of view is that separate networks
will be created in which they will have little participation.

	The largest danger is that Congress will create a Postal
Service monopoly on something called electronic mail.  It seems to
me that prompt widespread private ownership of terminals will
obviate this danger as Congress will have little stomach for forbidding
the use of devices that individuals can buy.