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diff --git a/memos/WM-083.txt b/memos/WM-083.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de5ea7a --- /dev/null +++ b/memos/WM-083.txt @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ + + + + + + + +Document: WM-083 P. Webb +Category: Computing 2026-02-15 + + Neue Email + +Abstract + + Why hasn’t something better come along yet? + +Body + + The future of computing interactions is not a chat interface. Email + is not irrelevant. Desktops aren’t going away. + + It’s reductive to look at current successes in tech and declare the + current way of doing things is gonna disappear in 5 years. Remember + NFTs? I have a lot of them collecting digital dust on an external + drive somewhere. Weren’t they supposed to make everyone rich? Empower + gamers to own in-game cosmetics and pave the way for Ready Player One + IRL? Change the way art ownership is democratized and experienced? + + SIGH. I wish they took off, it was cool tech and I discovered amazing + artists. Anyway. + + That being said, I love and hate email (does this segue make sense?). + + _Love_ thinking about it, **hate** dealing with it. Self-hosting is + fine after you get it working but hoo boy, what a drag. Ideally, the + world should be signing their emails with GPG keys but only serious + nerds do that. Idk about you, but I’ve sent and received + approximately ONE GPG-signed email in my 20+ years of computing and + that was a few months ago (a guy wrote about domains as internet + handles[1] and I have thoughts/solution[2]). + + Email is great because it stuck. Not sure it ever had competition at + its inception. The warts on it have congealed into something you can + touch but you feel gross doing so. Security is tacked on, the various + specs tying SMTP, DKIM, SPF, DMARC, &c are ancient and loosely + followed by the behemoths in the tech industry. + + Gmail is great because people don’t have to think about email! In + fact, one of the coolest email apps is ACTUALLY a Gmail client[3]. + That’s embarrassing. But, Gmail is a sensible API atop something so + archaic and complicated that most people don’t want to touch. I’ve + had at least a half dozen half starts with creating IMAP clients and + it occurred to me recently that the specs gross me out. There’s just + too much unpleasantry to deal with. + + In the years since the inception of email, we’ve witnessed an + explosion of messaging apps/systems; WhatsApp, Signal, Discord, + Matrix/Element, Telegram, Snapchat, the list goes on. What a lot of + these have in common is built-in security and avail-/reachability + controls. Why can’t email? Wait a minute, what if email was invented + today, what would it look like? + + Most importantly, what would it be called and how would it be + referenced? As much as I love Kagi, no one is ever saying, "just Kagi + it." Neeva, the search engine I used prior to Kagi, had the same + issue. "Queree"[4] (query) on the other hand, works (shameless plug). + + I gave Claude a list of grievances and it spat out a spec[5][6] for + other LLMs to process. We’re humans though so I’ll walk y’all through + the Inbox Protocol. Nice name, right? "Just Inbox me" works well. + + High-level, this is a secure and async messaging system boasting E2EE + (end-to-end encryption), reactions, and edits. Table stakes, right? + + Here's what I'm thinking for managing spam: + + 1. sender authentication via Dap[2] + 2. economic resistance in the form of an API[7] for HTTP 402 + + Even though both of these are projects of mine, there’s absolutely no + requirement to use them, you could use standard DNS and roll your own + HTTP 402 API. Actually, a future update to the spec will replace them + with generic terms. + + Coupled with aliases the economic resistance could be powerful. Take + for instance, `paul@webb.page`; I could make it so unsolicitated + senders would need to pay $3 to get their message sent to me, unless + I already had them on my allowlist. `newsletter@webb.page` would have + no such paywall. No more paying for LinkedIn’s InMail when you could + just inbox someone directly. + + So know some of you DNS nerds might wonder, "how the hell are you + gonna make discoverability happen? Clients need to find servers and + whatnot!" `SRV` and `TXT` records. I’ll figure out the rest later. 🕸️ + +References + + [1] <https://xn--gckvb8fzb.com/domains-as-internet-handles> + [2] <https://dap.sh> + [3] <https://mimestream.com> + [4] <https://queree.com> + [5] <https://useinbox.org> + [6] <https://xkcd.com/927> + [7] <https://neue.cash> |