Harry Potter needs a Gmail account

Last night I finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ve read all seven Harry Potter books so I always look forward to seeing how each new movie plays out.

I especially love watching all of the whimsical things Harry Potter and the other wizards can do. Like mixing up love potions and casting curses and spells on others.

But last night I realized something I hadn’t realized up until this movie.

Harry Potter could really use a Gmail account.

Send me an owl

You see, wizards communicate through owls. Yes, that’s right, owls. They write down a message on a scroll, give it to their own personal owl (Harry Potter’s owl is named Hedwig), and then tell the owl where to deliver the message. Days (sometimes weeks) later they receive a response.

This is known in the wizarding world as “sending someone an owl.”

But how inefficient is this? Let’s break it down.

First, you have to actually get out pen and ink and hand-write a letter. Yikes! Then you have to give the letter to your owl and tell him whom to deliver it to. No specific address. No city, state or zip code. Just the person you want it delivered to. The owl’s only choice is to seek out where it thinks the recipient may be and if wrong, follow some kind of trail until it eventually finds the recipient.

And do I even need to get into the fact that you can’t send another owl until your owl returns from delivering your previous message?

A superior alternative

Now let’s compare this to Gmail. I type my message on a computer (faster, less mistakes) and click a send button. The message is delivered in seconds to a recipient’s mailbox that can be accessed nearly anywhere in the world.

Sounds a tad more efficient to me.

So Harry, even though you may be able to speak Parsletongue or summon a Patronus at will, you’ll still never have what I’ve already had for years–a Gmail account.