It's *information* overload, not email overload

I am so tired of reading blog posts that point the finger at email and imply that the problem is that we have too much email and that the solution are other technology streams, 1:many communication, etc.

Guess what folks, email has 1:many too, call them groups or mailing lists or distribution lists or whatever you want, but they are a contributor to the information overload, not a solution.

What we have is a human problem, not anything inherent to email. The lower the barrier to entry for a communications channel (+ the ease of reaching others - i.e. is the audience out there listening) the more it will be used. It doesn't matter if it goes over SMTP or SIP or HTTPs or whatever the Next Big Thing will be.

This is the first rational post I've seen about this issue. We need 'goldpan' solutions - and not just for email but for all these newer communication streams.

And to be clear, I don't think Microsoft (or anyone else) has goldpan solutions yet. We have pieces of sieves, but we still ask users to put them together and come up with their own goldpan. I do believe we'll get there eventually, but progress seems like molasses at times.