Update on Microsoft’s Spam Solution Promise

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running a story following up on Bill Gates' 2004 pledge to eliminate spam in two years' time. How's your inbox doing?

In 2004’s World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted “Two years from now, spam will be solved.” Has Microsoft and the rest of the industry lived up to that pledge?

An article by Todd Bishop in today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer examines several sides of the spam issue and finds the answer isn’t straightforward. While spam continues to consume tremendous amounts of bandwidth and storage around the world, one could argue computer users taking advantage of modern email filtering technology have greatly reduced the impact of spam on their everyday lives.

That answer all depends on how one defines “solving” the spam problem. For many Internet users, the spam problem won’t be over until unsolicited messages are eliminated from the Internet entirely and completely cease appearing in their inboxes or on their mail servers. Others