Re: One user, many addresses

>> The next-generation protocol might allow
>> multiple names to all refer to a single mailbox.
>
> The *existing* protocol allows that ("aliases"), and its converse, 
> where one
> mail address maps to many mailboxes ("mailing list").

But it doesn't understand the concept of "here is my identity, choose 
the contact point that is easiest/fastest/most-appropriate/etc" -- a 
modern MUA, for instance, might look for "Brett Watson" and if you are 
logged onto AIM, send it to you there, fall back to your yahoo 
messenger account, and if you're not there, e-mail it to you at 
nutters.org. And if I flag it at a certain priority or higher, also 
poke your SMS address with a notice that the message was sent and you 
need to look at it.

Which can be done via minor extensions to .vcf formats, if you think 
about it. Or when you send a message, you can embed something similar 
in the meta information for my MUA to use in choosing a reply 
mechanism. (if you want, you can make this kind of "dispersed identity" 
as complex as you want, with work and personal addresses, hours for 
when to use which at what priority, etc -- and then mail magically 
routes where it ought to be, when it ought to be. If you jump outside 
the box of "how we do it now" and start thinking about "what can we 
make possible", it really creates opportunities to consider, even if we 
decide not to....)