In message , at
03:05:36 on Wed, 19 Dec 2012, Mathew Newton
remarked:
But even if you send someone a telex for FAX, with delivery confirmed,
you can't guarantee it'll ever be taken off the machine and given to
anyone.

I don't recall anyone saying you could. The comparison being made was
that the (un)reliability of SMS was similar to e-mail.

I'm trying to explore what people think "reliable" means.

Is it knowing I've got the email onto a server three feet away from the
recipient (with onward delivery to their PC the default), or are we
looking for a receipt which says they've also opened it?

There is of course the whole MDN thing, but it's almost never used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_receipt
--
Roland Perry