Multi-tasking can also be used to print one document while the user is busy working on another one. As computer users gain confidence and experience, they want to share information with other users. These users may be working on different kinds of computers, using different software, in locations that are many miles apart. Playing telephone tag is frustrating, leaving phone messages is limiting, and visiting someone in person can be too expensive and time consuming. Telecommunications capability solves the problem.
Most users begin their telecommunications experience through e-mail, or electronic mail.
This system of communication allows the user to deliver a message of any length instantaneously to another computer user who can then retrieve and respond to the message at any convenient time. Telecommunication requires a modem, a telephone line, and software that allows the user to access the modem. Adding a modem and telecommunications software to a computer system opens the door to a whole new world of information acquisition. Like a telephone, a modem provides access to places all over the world. The difference is that telephones connect people, modems connect computers.