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Oops! I Forgot the Attachment, and Other E-Mail Faux Pas: Microsoft Entourage Survey Spotlights Electronic Communication Trends

Time: 09:09 EST/14:09 GMT | News Source: Microsoft Press Release | Posted By: Jonathan Tigner

Ever hit "send" too soon? Or embarrassed yourself by clicking on "reply all" when that snide remark was only intended for a few people to see? You're not alone.

According to a recent survey commissioned by Microsoft Corp.'s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU), makers of award-winning Microsoft� Office v. X for Mac featuring personal information manager (PIM) Entourage (TM) X, people have many habits and styles when it comes to what goes in and out of their inbox.

Among the findings, released today and highlighted on MacBU's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/, are a universal inability to get attached (at least where attachments are concerned); an electronically advanced baby boomer generation; and a passionate love of self (particularly in pictures).

Oops! When it comes to attachments, the most common reason people say "oops" after sending e-mail is because they forgot to include one. Almost half of survey respondents said that forgetting to include their document attachment was their most common e-mail faux pas. Other frequent goofs included misspelling words and replying to all instead of to the sender only; each of these gained almost a third of the votes. And while the younger set may be quicker on their feet, Generation Y respondents forgot to include attachments almost three times as often as their older e-mailing counterparts.
Baby boomers lead the paperless revolution. Mom and Dad might be hipper to technology than you think: More than 40 percent of those who keep track of their addresses in an electronic address book are of the boomer generation. Survey results also revealed that nearly one-third of total respondents who use e-mail consult electronic address books, such as the one found in Entourage X, when connecting with family and friends.
Say cheese! What kinds of digital photos do most people pass along via e-mail? Results show the majority of those surveyed like to stroke their electronic egos by sharing pictures of themselves or their families. Also popular was passing on giggle-worthy shots. And when it comes to platform differences, users of Mac are more likely than PC users to distribute random shots that they feel are interesting.
Mars could actually be composed of multimedia attachments. If men truly are from Mars, the Red Planet could conceivably be composed of e-mail attachments. Survey results show that men send multimedia attachments, such as video and digital photos, almost twice as often as women do.