IP: Dertouzos

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>From: "Linda Stone" <lindas@microsoft.com>
>To: <dave@farber.net>
>
>Dave,
>This ran today in the Boston Globe.  Thought IP'ers might be interested.
>Dertouzos was a remarkable man. [ Indeed he was djf]
>Linda
>
>
> > Remembering a computer visionary
> > By Bill Gates
> > Boston Globe
> > 9/6/2001
> > <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/249/oped/Remembering_a_computer_vis> 
> ionary+.shtml>
> >
> > MICHAEL DERTOUZOS, who died late last month at the early age of 64,
> > wasn't a well-known name to most people outside the high-technology
> > business. Yet his work touched anyone with a computer, and his legacy
> > will be with every one of us for decades to come.
> >
> > More than anyone else in his field, Michael understood that technology
> > - particularly computer technology - must serve people's needs, not
> > the other way round.
> >
> > He was the first real technology humanist who believed that technology
> > was largely worthless unless it truly enhanced human life, human
> > communication, human work and play. He would often talk about his
> > childhood in Greece, and I remember how passionate he was about what
> > technology could do for countries such as his own.
> >
> > To Michael, technology was a means to a very nontechnological end:
> > enabling everyone on Earth, rich and poor alike, to achieve their
> > potential.
> >
> > In our many discussions, he was especially concerned that the
> > computing and communications revolution was passing by the poor. He
> > passionately - and rightly - believed that the companies and
> > governments of the rich industrial world had a responsibility to help
> > right that wrong.
> >
> > Michael's work always reflected his view that people should come first
> > and that technology should be inclusive.
> >
> > In the early 1990s, he was instrumental in creating the World Wide Web
> > Consortium, the body that now oversees development of the Web, fired
> > by his determination that the Web should be accessible to all and that
> > it should be driven forward by constantly innovating standards.
> >
> > In recent years, one of his main interests was the $50 million Oxygen
> > Project, which was focused on making computers as natural a part of
> > our environment as the air we breathe.
> >
> > The project was led by the Laboratory for Computer Science at the
> > Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Michael had been director
> > for more than a quarter century.
> >
> > Despite his concern that computer technologists were still some way
> > from achieving the high goals he set for all of us, Michael remained
> > unfailingly optimistic about the future. He was convinced that the
> > information revolution offered a real chance to heal a split between
> > technology and humanism that he believed started 300 years ago with
> > the Enlightenment and continued through the Industrial Revolution.
> >
> > But he also feared that, unless technology became much more
> > human-centered, the opportunity would be lost.
> >
> > Michael was an icon in the technology world, but he was also a close
> > friend, one of those rare people whose warmth and wisdom always left
> > me inspired and hopeful for the future.
> >
> > For one thing, he was a true visionary. Back in the mid '70s, when
> > Microsoft was still a start-up and the personal computer as we know it
> > didn't exist, he predicted that within 20 years many homes would have
> > PCs. And in 1980 he envisioned that a global network of computers
> > would one day revolutionize the world's economies.
> >
> > But all his predictions had one thing in common: the need to bring
> > humanity and technology together.
> >
> > The last time I saw Michael, we talked about his latest book, ''The
> > Unfinished Revolution,'' and about the progress we were making toward
> > his human-centered ideal. As ever, he seemed optimistic, confident
> > that we were getting closer than ever to achieving harmony with
> > technology. At the same time, he knew just how much remained for us to
> > do.
> >
> > It's hard for me to believe that we'll no longer have his compass to
> > guide us. Michael's revolution truly was unfinished, and it is up to
> > all of us to continue his great work.
> >
> >
> > Bill Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corp.
> >
> > This story ran on page A15 of the Boston Globe on 9/6/2001.
> > © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
> >



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