For most of us, e-mail has been the killer application of the internet age. Forget mobile computing, plasma screens, writable DVDs, and Bluetooth gizmos – the one thing that has significantly changed the world is e-mail.

Modern business would find it very hard, if not impossible, to function without it. The ease with which documents can be sent from one side of the world to the other in a clear format that can be saved, edited and retransmitted has changed the way we communicate.