On the other flank, many people who use e-mail decided a long time ago to go with nothing at all, or with "Hi" (followed by the recipient's name), as a reflection of the new informality and ease of note-writing.
Without a fix, it could get worse, with Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek writing in a note to investors this week that more PC makers could start to evaluate alternatives to Windows, such as Apple's OS X and Linux.