Stowe Boyd is dead set that e-mail will see its end sooner than later, vowing that he "hates it" for many reasons, beyond the SPAM issue. I've argued (see "Will RSS Replace E-mail?") that RSS is not entirely ready to provide what e-mail is providing us now.

Chris Pirillo provides an intriguing Top 10 reasons why e-mail will meet its maker. Here they are, abridged:

Chris Pirillo

[from Lockergnome, "Why RSS Will Kill E-mail Publishing" via Radiant Marketing]

1. RSS is an unspammable medium.
2. As of yet, you can’t spread a virus (or worm) through an RSS channel.
3. The user is FINALLY in full control of his or her subscription (entirely).
4. Instant organization.
5. RSS was crafted with repurposing in mind.
6. High-Impact, Cost-effective, Immediate, Measurable, and Targeted.
7. Entries can be changed, removed, or expired.
8. Users will continue to think twice about sharing their e-mail address with anybody, even after any sort of “legislation” is passed.
9. News aggregators will continue to evolve, but are “good enough” to start using today.
10. The idea of RSS, much like e-mail, is not going to disappear.

I think two one of the more interesting questions to ask ourselves are:

1. How will we simplify the creation of RSS channels between individuals?
2. How will we secure RSS channels?

There are many solutions that now provide e-mail to RSS gateways. Unfortunately, the abdication of this throne will require more than generating RSS from e-mail as that's really a different beast.

On the security front, we're right now forced to use SSL and HTTP-AUTH. Unfortunately, the support for these is somewhat limited while also obtrusive by design. I can imagine the world where I have to authenticate all 300 of my active channels and how annoying that would be for me.