fwd >MIT Professor Michael L. Dertouzos dies at 64; >Inormation Technology pioneer who made technology accessible >http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/dertouzos.html > >Dertouzos was the director of the Laboratory for Computer Science at the >Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he has had since 1974. >Since its inception in 1963, the LCS has been a hothouse of technology >innovation. Members and alumni have been instrumental in the development >of the ARPANet, the Internet, the first commercial spreadsheet program >(VisiCalc), the file-sharing program FTP, and the RSA encryption >algorithm. More recently, the LCS has served as the home for the World >Wide Web consortium and has spawned many innovative tech companies, such >as Lotus Development Corp. and Akamai Technologies Inc. Dertouzos >recently shared some of his deep technical and historical knowledge with >BusinessWeek's Spencer Ante. Here are edited excerpts of their >converstaion: > >Q: Is the Internet worn out? >A: This is precisely the reason I wrote the book The Unfinished >Revolution. I consider our present state on the Internet as being 5% along >the way toward the ultimate destination of the Information Revolution. > >Q: What's wrong with the Web? >A: The Information Revolution is not yet serving human beings. We are >serving technology. The Web is a collection of exhibitionists and voyeurs, >and I'm not just talking about porn. Consider that 5% of people are >connected, and that 1% >of the economy is online. We need to be able to do a lot more, and the Web >can't quite do that for us. > >Q: How will the Web evolve? >A: The Web will evolve over 5 to 10 years. I see at least three major >changes happening. The first is in the area of natural interaction, as in >speech. There are over 300 startups in this area. A lot of this stuff is >also going on in computer science labs across the country. And it's very >good stuff. One good thing is that these applications open up computing to >the Chinese and to the illiterate population. >The next area is in automation. I foresee a 300% improvement in >productivity over the next 100 years. And another area is in collaboration >across space and time. > >Q: What would you say to the people who say the Internet is dead? >A: Simmer down. They're the same people that were overenthusiastic on the >way up, and now they are overreacting on the way down. >
