On the softare program that bears her name:
After working on the new email program for a year, Dorner was ready to release it for free to the Internet community at large. The
working name was UIUCMail, which Dorner realized was a tongue twister. Then he remembered a short story written by Eudora
Welty (1909-2001) titled "Why I Live at the P.O." It's a story about a woman who decides to live at the post office where she
works rather than put up with her family at home any longer. Dorner was processing so much email at the time that he felt like he
lived at the post office, and his program used a "post office" protocol to fetch mail, so he saw a metaphorical connection. Since
the programming and naming took place a decade ahead of the phenomenal growth of the Internet, Dorner hadn't anticipated
Eudora would eventually be used by more than 20 million people. Naming the program after a living author could have become
awkward for Dorner and any future licensees. Fortunately, Ms. Welty was flattered and amused by the allusion to her and her
work." You can read the Welty story here.
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You can read the Welty story here.
- jim 7-26-2001 12:15 am