BlueMail - Mark Nuyens

Back in 2006, when Flash was still a popular tool for building websites and projects, I found myself completely captivated by its capabilities. As a designer, Flash was the perfect fit for someone like me, with dreams of building something but lacking the extensive experience and skills to do so in other ways. Around the same time, I discovered the power of PHP. This newfound knowledge opened up a world of possibilities for me, and I realized I could build an email service using both Flash and PHP. And thus, "Bluemail" was born.

Equipped with my Flash experience and design skills, I embarked on creating an interface and a logo for Bluemail, a name inspired by the sky's color and the freedom it represented. The final app was a giant SWF-file positioned in the center of the browser window (which worked great, to be honest). Users simply entered their own email address, the recipient, the subject, and the content, and after pressing "Send," a PHP script would take over and send the email using PHP's native email service.

I was incredibly proud of my creation, but it wasn't long before I realized the potential for misuse. My classmates mentioned the possibility of impersonating others using Bluemail, and as a naive 16-year-old, I became paranoid about the potential legal consequences. Back then, phishing emails and other online threats were not yet major concerns, but I couldn't shake the feeling of responsibility I had for my creation.

Fearing the misuse of Bluemail, I decided to pull the plug on my project to avoid any potential issues. Shortly afterward, someone contacted me expressing interest in buying the domain name bluemail.nl, and we agreed on a price of €200—a significant sum for me at the time. This experience taught me about the implications of releasing applications to the public and the responsibilities that come with it. Great power and all that. 😉

Looking back on my Bluemail adventure, I'm proud to have used Flash as the primary language for building the app, especially considering it's now considered ancient history. This small application marked the beginning of an exciting journey of other startups and exploring ideas in the years that followed. I'm grateful for being able to use these tools to bring my idea to life, regardless of its eventual popularity.