Do you recognize the name Elwood Edwards? Many of you hear his voice every day, and yet you don't know his name. Actually, Elwood's voice is heard more than 27 million times a day. This equals more than 18,000 times each minute of the day. Elwood Edwards is the man behind those three special words (No, not "I love you") but three words that are dear to the hearts of computer users, "You've got mail!"

In 1989, Edwards' wife Karen was working in customer service for a little-known outfit in Vienna, Virginia called Quantum Computer Services. Quantum had an online service called Q-Link. She overheard the company's CEO, a young guy by the name of Steve Case, describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface. She said, "Hey, you should try Elwood.'"

Her husband's entire career had be…