Are e-mail viruses really alive?

Evolution requires:

• A genetic code, such as DNA
• Replication
• Mutation
• Natural Selection

These elements can be found in e-mail viruses. The ones with the best fake letters, e.g., the ones that persuade the most people to open the attachment, will survive and reproduce. The ones that aren't very convincing die out. The next stage, which may have already happened, would be for the virus to modify a couple of words at random in the text of the message before sending it out. Instead of blasting a million people the same message, blast groups of 100 people the same message with a different random change. Eventually random mutation will improve the ability of these messages to survive and reproduce by fooling people into opening the attachment.