ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ian Ritchie - Software entrepreneur
Ian Ritchie

Why you should listen

Ian Ritchie is chair of iomart plc. and several other computer and learning businesses, including Computer Application Services Ltd., the Interactive Design Institute and Caspian Learning Ltd. He is co-chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, a board member of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and the chair of Our Dynamic Earth, the Edinburgh Science Centre.

Ritchie founded and managed Office Workstations Limited (OWL) in Edinburgh in 1984 and its subsidiary OWL International Inc. in Seattle from 1985. OWL became the first and largest supplier of Hypertext/Hypermedia authoring tools (a forerunner to the World Wide Web) for personal computers based on its Guide product. OWL's customers used its systems to implement large interactive multimedia documentation systems in industry sectors such as automobile, defence, publishing, finance, and education. OWL was sold to Matsushita Electrical Industrial (Panasonic) of Japan in December 1989. He is the author of New Media Publishing: Opportunities from the digital revolution (1996).

He was awarded a CBE in the 2003 New Years Honours list for services to enterprise and education; he is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and a Fellow and a past-President of the British Computer Society (1998-99). 

More profile about the speaker
Ian Ritchie | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Ian Ritchie: The day I turned down Tim Berners-Lee

Ian Ritchie: 我推掉了Tim Berners-Lee的一天

Filmed:
644,332 views

試想這是1990年底,你剛遇到了一位名叫 Tim Berners-Lee 的年輕小伙子,他剛跟你談到了他稱之為全球資訊網的系統提案。Ian Ritchie就在那裡。而...他卻不買帳。這是一個有關資訊,連接和從錯誤中學習的故事。
- Software entrepreneur
Ian Ritchie Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
Well we all know the World世界 Wide Web捲筒紙
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我們都知道全球資訊網
00:17
has absolutely絕對 transformed改造 publishing出版, broadcasting廣播,
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徹底改變了初版、廣播、
00:21
commerce商業 and social社會 connectivity連接,
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商業和社會連接,
00:23
but where did it all come from?
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但它究竟從何而來?
00:25
And I'll quote引用 three people:
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我將舉出三個人:
00:27
Vannevar萬尼瓦爾 Bush襯套, Doug道格 Engelbart恩格爾巴特 and Tim蒂姆 Berners-Lee伯納斯 - 李.
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Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart 和 Tim Berners-Lee。
00:30
So let's just run through通過 these guys.
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因此,讓我們迅速談談這三個人。
00:32
This is Vannevar萬尼瓦爾 Bush襯套.
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這是Vannevar Bush。
00:34
Vannevar萬尼瓦爾 Bush襯套 was the U.S. government's政府的 chief首席 scientific科學 adviser顧問 during the war戰爭.
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Vannevar Bush是大戰期間,美國政府的首席科學顧問。
00:37
And in 1945,
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在1945年,
00:39
he published發表 an article文章 in a magazine雜誌 called Atlantic大西洋 Monthly每月一次.
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他曾經在大西洋月刊上發表過一篇文章。
00:42
And the article文章 was called "As We May可能 Think."
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文章的題目是〈恰如吾輩所思〉。
00:45
And what Vannevar萬尼瓦爾 Bush襯套 was saying
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Vannevar Bush在文章中談到,
00:47
was the way we use information信息 is broken破碎.
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我們使用資訊的方式是殘破的。
00:50
We don't work in terms條款 of libraries圖書館
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我們並沒有運用術語庫
00:53
and catalog目錄 systems系統 and so forth向前.
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和目錄系統級諸如此類的工具。
00:55
The brain works作品 by association協會.
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大腦是以聯想的原理運行。
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With one item項目 in its thought, it snaps按扣 instantly即刻 to the next下一個 item項目.
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當思維在想着一個念頭,它一瞬間便聯想着下一個念頭。
01:00
And the way information信息 is structured結構化的
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而資訊結構化的方式
01:02
is totally完全 incapable無法 of keeping保持 up with this process處理.
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是完全無法跟上這一個運作程序的。
01:05
And so he suggested建議 a machine,
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因此,他發表了一台機器,
01:07
and he called it the memex記憶擴展.
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他所謂的memex。
01:09
And the memex記憶擴展 would link鏈接 information信息,
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memex會將
01:11
one piece of information信息 to a related有關 piece of information信息 and so forth向前.
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一個訊息和另一個相關的訊息不斷加以鏈結。
01:14
Now this was in 1945.
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這是在1945年的時候。
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A computer電腦 in those days
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在那個年代
01:18
was something the secret秘密 services服務 used to use for code breaking破壞.
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電腦是特務機關用來破解密碼的工具。
01:21
And nobody沒有人 knew知道 anything about it.
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沒有人曉得電腦事幹嘛用的。
01:23
So this was before the computer電腦 was invented發明.
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這是在電腦發明之前。
01:25
And he proposed建議 this machine called the memex記憶擴展.
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他發表了這台叫做memex的機器。
01:27
And he had a platform平台 where you linked關聯 information信息 to other information信息,
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他有一個將資訊加以鏈結的平台,
01:30
and then you could call it up at will.
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你可以隨意調用它。
01:32
So spinning紡織 forward前鋒,
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故事繼續前進,
01:34
one of the guys who read this article文章 was a guy called Doug道格 Engelbart恩格爾巴特,
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有個叫做Doug Engelbart的傢伙也讀了這篇文章,
01:36
and he was a U.S. Air空氣 Force officer.
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他是美國的空軍軍官。
01:38
And he was reading it in their library圖書館 in the Far East.
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他是在遠東的空軍圖書館讀到它。
01:41
And he was so inspired啟發 by this article文章,
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這篇文章對他產生重大的啟發,
01:43
it kind of directed針對 the rest休息 of his life.
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甚至影響了他的餘生。
01:45
And by the mid-中-60s, he was able能夠 to put this into action行動
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到60年代中期,當他在加州史丹佛大學的研究實驗室工作時
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when he worked工作 at the Stanford斯坦福 Research研究 Lab實驗室 in California加州.
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他終於有機會將想法付諸行動。
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He built內置 a system系統.
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他建立了一個系統。
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The system系統 was designed設計 to augment增加 human人的 intelligence情報, it was called.
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據稱該系統的設計目的是用於提升人類的智能。
01:57
And in a premonition徵兆 of today's今天的 world世界
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相對於今日的
02:00
of cloud computing計算 and softwares軟件 of service服務,
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雲端運算和軟體服務而言,
02:02
his system系統 was called NLSNLS
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他所以設計的系統稱之為 NLS
02:04
for oN-Line線上 System系統.
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意即線上系統。
02:06
And this is Doug道格 Engelbart恩格爾巴特.
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這就是Doug Engelbart。
02:08
He was giving a presentation介紹 at the Fall秋季 Joint聯合 Computer電腦 Conference會議
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他當時正在1968年秋季聯合電腦大會上
02:11
in 1968.
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發表簡報。
02:14
What he showed顯示 --
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他所演示的--
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he satSAT on a stage階段 like this, and he demonstrated證明 this system系統.
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他坐在這樣的舞台上,他示範了這一個系統。
02:19
He had his head micMIC like I've got.
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他戴著像我一樣麥克風。
02:21
And he works作品 this system系統.
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來操作這一個系統。
02:23
And you can see, he's working加工 between之間 documents文件
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各位可以看到,他在各種文件
02:25
and graphics圖像 and so forth向前.
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和圖表之間切換作業。
02:27
And he's driving主動 it all
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而他完全是
02:29
with this platform平台 here,
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以這個平台來操作,
02:31
with a five-finger五指 keyboard鍵盤
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透過五指操作鍵盤
02:33
and the world's世界 first computer電腦 mouse老鼠,
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和世界上第一個電腦滑鼠,
02:35
which哪一個 he specially特別 designed設計 in order訂購 to do this system系統.
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這是他為了操作這個系統而特別設計出來的。
02:37
So this is where the mouse老鼠 came來了 from as well.
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而這也是滑鼠的由來。
02:39
So this is Doug道格 Engelbart恩格爾巴特.
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這就是 Doug Engelbart。
02:41
The trouble麻煩 with Doug道格 Engelbart'sEngelbart的 system系統
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Doug Engelbart的系統遇到的麻煩是
02:43
was that the computers電腦 in those days cost成本 several一些 million百萬 pounds英鎊.
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在那個年代,電腦動輒耗資數百萬英鎊。
02:46
So for a personal個人 computer電腦,
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因此,想擁有一台個人電腦,
02:48
a few少數 million百萬 pounds英鎊 was like having a personal個人 jet噴射 plane平面;
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就像買架私人飛機一樣得花上幾百萬英鎊;
02:50
it wasn't really very practical實際的.
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是相當不實際的。
02:52
But spin on to the 80s
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時間來到80年代,
02:54
when personal個人 computers電腦 did arrive到達,
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當個人電腦終於出現,
02:56
then there was room房間 for this kind of system系統 on personal個人 computers電腦.
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接著就出現這種建立於個人電腦上的空間。
02:58
And my company公司, OWL貓頭鷹
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而我的公司,OWL
03:00
built內置 a system系統 called Guide指南 for the Apple蘋果 Macintosh蘋果.
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成立了一個名為蘋果麥金塔指南的系統。
03:03
And we delivered交付 the world's世界 first hypertext超文本 system系統.
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我們發表了世界上第一個超文本系統。
03:07
And this began開始 to get a head of steam蒸汽.
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這也刺激了後續的發展。
03:09
Apple蘋果 introduced介紹 a thing called HyperCardHyperCard的,
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蘋果公司推出所謂的HyperCard,
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and they made製作 a bit of a fuss小題大作 about it.
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他們亦就此大做文章。
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They had a 12-page-頁 supplement補充 in the Wall Street Journal日誌 the day it launched推出.
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在推出的當天,蘋果在〈華爾街日報〉刊登了長達12頁的增刊。
03:16
The magazines雜誌 started開始 to cover it.
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各大雜誌也開始來報導介紹這項產品。
03:18
Byte字節 magazine雜誌 and Communications通訊 at the ACMACM
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Byte雜誌和國際資訊學術協會(ACM)的通信情報刊物
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had special特別 issues問題 covering覆蓋 hypertext超文本.
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也針對超文本進行了特別專題報導。
03:22
We developed發達 a PC個人計算機 version of this product產品
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本公司開發了這個產品的PC版本
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as well as the Macintosh蘋果 version.
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以及麥金塔(Macintosh)版本。
03:26
And our PC個人計算機 version became成為 quite相當 mature成熟.
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而我們的PC版本發展得相當成熟。
03:29
These are some examples例子 of this system系統 in action行動 in the late晚了 80s.
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這是80年代中後期這個系統在運算中的一些例子。
03:33
You were able能夠 to deliver交付 documents文件, were able能夠 to do it over networks網絡.
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你可以透過電腦網路來傳送文件檔案。
03:36
We developed發達 a system系統 such這樣
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我們開發了一個系統,
03:38
that it had a markup標記 language語言 based基於 on htmlHTML.
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它有以 HTML 爲基礎的標記語言。
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We called it hmlHML: hypertext超文本 markup標記 language語言.
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我們把它稱之為 HML:超文本標記語言。
03:43
And the system系統 was capable of doing
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透過電腦網路串聯,這個系統有能力
03:45
very, very large documentation文件 systems系統 over computer電腦 networks網絡.
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去處理非常,非常大的文件編製系統。
03:49
So I took this system系統 to a trade貿易 show顯示 in Versailles凡爾賽 near Paris巴黎
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所以我在1990年11月下旬把這個系統
03:52
in late晚了 November十一月 1990.
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帶到巴黎附近的凡爾賽貿易展。
03:55
And I was approached接近 by a nice不錯 young年輕 man called Tim蒂姆 Berners-Lee伯納斯 - 李
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一個名為 Tim Beneres-Lee 的年輕男子向我走來,
03:57
who said, "Are you Ian伊恩 Ritchie里奇?" and I said, "Yeah."
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說:「你是Ian Ritchie?」我說:「是啊。」
03:59
And he said, "I need to talk to you."
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他說:「我需要和你談談。」
04:01
And he told me about his proposed建議 system系統 called the World世界 Wide Web捲筒紙.
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他告訴我那個他稱為全球資訊網的系統提案。
04:04
And I thought, well, that's got a pretentious自命不凡 name名稱,
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我當時想, 這名稱還真是自命不凡,
04:07
especially特別 since以來 the whole整個 system系統 ran on his computer電腦 in his office辦公室.
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特別是這整個系統不過是在他辦公室的電腦上運行罷了。
04:10
But he was completely全然 convinced相信 that his World世界 Wide Web捲筒紙
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但他是完全相信他的全球資訊網
04:13
would take over the world世界 one day.
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終有一天會獨霸世界。
04:15
And he tried試著 to persuade說服 me to write the browser瀏覽器 for it,
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他試著說服我為它編寫瀏覽器,
04:17
because his system系統 didn't have any graphics圖像 or fonts字體 or layout佈局 or anything;
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因為他的系統沒有任何像是製圖、字型或版面的東西;
04:20
it was just plain text文本.
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它只是純文本。
04:22
I thought, well, you know, interesting有趣,
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我認為,各位曉得,還蠻有趣的,
04:25
but a guy from CERNCERN, he's not going to do this.
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不過某個從歐洲核子研究組織(CERN)來的傢伙,他對這檔事沒興趣。
04:27
So we didn't do it.
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因此,我們並沒有這樣做。
04:29
In the next下一個 couple一對 of years年份,
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在後續幾年中,
04:31
the hypertext超文本 community社區 didn't recognize認識 him either.
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超文本社區也沒有認同他。
04:33
In 1992, his paper was rejected拒絕 for the Hypertext超文本 Conference會議.
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在1992年,他的論文被超文本會議拒絕。
04:36
In 1993,
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在1993年,
04:39
there was a table at the conference會議 in Seattle西雅圖,
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在一場於西雅圖舉行的會議上,
04:41
and a guy called Marc渣子 Andreessen安德里森
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一個叫做Marc Andreessen的小伙子
04:43
was demonstrating示範 his little browser瀏覽器 for the World世界 Wide Web捲筒紙.
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展示了他的小全球資訊網瀏覽器。
04:46
And I saw it, and I thought, yep是的, that's it.
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我看到它,我想,沒錯,就是這樣。
04:48
And the very next下一個 year, in 1994, we had the conference會議 here in Edinburgh愛丁堡,
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來年,在1994年,我們在愛丁堡會議,
04:51
and I had no opposition反對 in having Tim蒂姆 Berners-Lee伯納斯 - 李 as the keynote基調 speaker揚聲器.
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我對邀請 Tim Berners-Lee 作為演說主講人一事完全沒有異議。
04:55
So that puts看跌期權 me in pretty漂亮 illustrious傑出 company公司.
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因此,這讓我躋身一群名人之列。
04:57
There was a guy called Dick迪克 Rowe羅維
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以前在迪卡唱片
04:59
who was at Decca德卡 Records記錄 and turned轉身 down The Beatles披頭士樂隊.
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有個叫做Dick Rowe的傢伙,他拒絕了披頭四。
05:01
There was a guy called Gary加里 KildallKildall
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有個叫Gary Kidall的傢伙,
05:03
who went flying飛行 his plane平面
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在 IBM 要找人
05:05
when IBMIBM came來了 looking for an operating操作 system系統
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為 IBM PC 進行系統操作時,
05:07
for the IBMIBM PC個人計算機,
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跑去駕駛他的私人飛機,
05:09
and he wasn't there, so they went back to see Bill法案 Gates蓋茨.
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因為他當時不在,所以 IBM 回頭找上了比爾蓋茲。
05:11
And the 12 publishers出版商
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還有我猜,大概 12 間
05:13
who turned轉身 down J.K. Rowling's羅琳的 Harry掠奪 Potter製陶工人, I guess猜測.
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拒絕了 J.K. 羅琳的哈利波特原稿的出版社。
05:16
On the other hand, there's Marc渣子 Andreessen安德里森
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另一方面,有Marc Andreessen,
05:18
who wrote the world's世界 first browser瀏覽器 for the World世界 Wide Web捲筒紙.
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他寫出了全世界第一個全球資訊網瀏覽器。
05:20
And according根據 to Fortune幸運 magazine雜誌,
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另外根據「財富」雜誌報導,
05:22
he's worth價值 700 million百萬 dollars美元.
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他擁有 700 萬美元的身價。
05:24
But is he happy快樂?
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但他快樂嗎?
05:26
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
05:28
(Applause掌聲)
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(掌聲)
Translated by Ana Choi
Reviewed by Josie Chen

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ian Ritchie - Software entrepreneur
Ian Ritchie

Why you should listen

Ian Ritchie is chair of iomart plc. and several other computer and learning businesses, including Computer Application Services Ltd., the Interactive Design Institute and Caspian Learning Ltd. He is co-chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, a board member of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and the chair of Our Dynamic Earth, the Edinburgh Science Centre.

Ritchie founded and managed Office Workstations Limited (OWL) in Edinburgh in 1984 and its subsidiary OWL International Inc. in Seattle from 1985. OWL became the first and largest supplier of Hypertext/Hypermedia authoring tools (a forerunner to the World Wide Web) for personal computers based on its Guide product. OWL's customers used its systems to implement large interactive multimedia documentation systems in industry sectors such as automobile, defence, publishing, finance, and education. OWL was sold to Matsushita Electrical Industrial (Panasonic) of Japan in December 1989. He is the author of New Media Publishing: Opportunities from the digital revolution (1996).

He was awarded a CBE in the 2003 New Years Honours list for services to enterprise and education; he is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and a Fellow and a past-President of the British Computer Society (1998-99). 

More profile about the speaker
Ian Ritchie | Speaker | TED.com