E-learning is often perceived as a contemporary theme with a great potential for the future. Studying this issue from the pedagogical point of view we simply can not ignore the history and tradition in education, which can be a source of interesting insights and inspiration to think about. Therefore in the first part of the paper the author pays attention to the history – this part shows that the history of implementation of computer technologies into education contains both origins and principles valid till the present day. The next section focuses on the present describing the key stakeholders of e-learning – the teacher and the student. On the basis of Czech and foreign researches the author shows e-learning issues from a somewhat different perspective than usual. In the conclusion the author points out an important trend within the context of the discussion of the future of e-learning – he refers to it as “the disappearance of the e”.