Michael John Aldrich (22 August 1941 – 19 May 2014) was an English inventor, innovator and entrepreneur.2010 A. Hartley '20 Great British Inventors. Michael Aldrich 1941-' Msn News UK London 24 August 2010 In 1979, he invented online shopping2009 Tkacz, Ewaryst, Kapczynski, Adrian 'Internet Technical Development and Application ' Springer p255 'The first pilot system was installing in Tesco in the UK [first demonstrated in 1979 by Michael Aldrich]. to enable online transaction processing between consumers and businesses,2013 BBC News Magazine:'British inventor of online shopping on his inspiration'. BBC videoclip of Michael Aldrich. 16 September 2013 or between one business and another, a technique known later as e-commerce.2011 I.Wallis ed '50 Best Business Ideas [of the last 50 years]' Crimson Publishing, p35 'Entrepreneur Michael Aldrich conceived the idea of e-commerce' In 1980 he invented the Teleputer, a multi-purpose home infotainment centre that was a fusion of PC, TV and Telecom networking technologies. In 1981, he developed the concept of interactive broadband local loop cable TV for mass market consumer telecommunications.
Aldrich had a 38-year career in the IT industry, 20 years of which were spent as CEO of an international computer company, Redifon/Rediffusion/ROCC Computers. He retired as CEO in 2000 and became non-executive chairman (2000–2014). He also worked for Honeywell (now Groupe Bull) and Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys).
Aside from his inventions and innovations, he is known for his pro bono public service. He was an IT adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 1981–86, IT adviser to the Confederation of British Industry January 1982-December 1983, president of the Institute of Information Scientists 1984–85, and chairman of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 1989–99. He has had a long, formal association with the University of Brighton in various capacities since 1982.
Personal life Aldrich was born on 22 August 1941 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. He went to school at Clapham College in London and, in 1959, he won a scholarship to the University of Hull to study history. He became engaged to Sandy Kay Hutchings, a student at Hull Art College, originally named Hull School of Art, in 1960, and they married in 1962, just prior to his graduation. They had four children and were grandparents to eight grandchildren.Biography, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton
Career Aldrich spent 15 years with Honeywell and Burroughs in the UK in various sales and marketing roles, where he became known as an innovator, before joining the Board of Redifon in 1977.
In 1979, Aldrich invented online shopping by connecting a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line. The intellectual basis for his system was his view that videotex, the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven human–computer interface, was a 'new, universally applicable, participative communication medium-the first since the invention of the telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to be opened to 'outside' correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for messaging (e-mail) and information retrieval and dissemination (later known as e-business.)1982 Videotex Communications, Collected Papers Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton December 1982 His language of 'impacts competitive trading position', 'using IT for competitive advantage', 'externalises labour costs', etc. became commonplace in the management consultancy industry later in the 1980s.1982 Management Guide to IT, Collected Papers Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton January 1982 These ideas fed into the Business Process Reengineering strategies of the 1990s. His concept of information technology as a mass communications medium is a driver for the contemporary IT industry. His definition of the new mass communications medium as 'participative' (interactive, many-to-many) was fundamentally different to the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later.
In March 1980 he launched Redifon's Office Revolution. The 'revolution' was that corporate computer information systems had hitherto been in-house. From hereon, consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers and service companies would be connected on-line to the corporate systems and business would be transacted electronically in real-time.1980 TV paves the way for Information Brokerage, Minicomputer News p. 12 London May 1980, the most comprehensive report of the March 1980 Press Conference launching the Redifon R 1800/50 computer system. Is 'Information Brokerage' aka 'browser industry'?
During the 1980s,2011 M. Aldrich 'Online Shopping in the 1980s' IEEE 'Annals of the History of Computing' Vol 33 No4 pp57-61 October–December 2011 ISSN 1058-6180 he designed, manufactured, sold, installed, maintained and supported multiple online shopping systems, using videotex technology.1980 Checking on the check-outs, Financial Times London 12 July 1980 These systems which also provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World Wide Web, the IBM PC, and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in the UK by large corporations.
In 1980 he invented a system he called the 'Teleputer' by connecting a modified 14-inch colour television to a plinth containing a Zilog Z80 microprocessor running a modified version of the CP/M operating system and a chip set containing a modem, character generator and auto-dialler. The Teleputer of 1980's operate as a stand-alone colour PC (at a time when computer screens were mainly mono-chromatic), with a full complement of application software and network with other computers via dial-up or leased lines.1981 Large. The Thing has arrived, and guess what- it's British teleputer, The Guardian London 30 September 1981 The system included two 360 KB floppy disks (later a 20 MB Hard disk), a keyboard and a printer. The name 'Teleputer' later became synonymous with the fusion of computers, telecommunications and television in a single device. There were plans to add video-disks which at the time, in prototype form, were 12 inches. In a number of ways the Teleputer was the first home media centre concept.1981 Price.P Living by Numbers, The Sunday Times Colour Supplement, London 27 September 1981
Although the Teleputer had been conceived for mass market home use, it was put into production for business use with the TV tuner removed. There was no consumer electronics market for it (at the time the consumer electronics market was just waking up to the VCR) but it was relatively easy to cost-justify the Teleputer for business networking.1981 Charlish.G Enter the Teleputer, all purpose information tool, Financial Times London 2 October 1981 It was widely used in the UK and, because a Cyrillic version was made, in the then USSR.
The Teleputer was often used with the online shopping systems. Most computer systems by their nature are transient but a number of Aldrich's systems were transformative. A number were recorded for posterity and case studies have survived.Pioneer Case Studies, Innovative Information Systems, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton, England and The world's first recorded Business-to-Business (B2B) Online Shopping system was Thomson Holidays (1981).1988 Palmer.C Using IT for competitive advantage at Thomson Holidays, Long range Planning Vol 21 No.6 p26-29, Institute of Strategic Studies Journal, London- Pergamon Press [now Elsevier.B.V.] December 1988. Original story at [] The world's first recorded Business-to-Consumer (B2C) online shopping system was Gateshead SIS/Tesco (1984).1984Videotex takes Gateshead Teleshopping into the home, The Incorporated Engineer, Journal of the IEE September 1984 p.6 The original story can be found at The world's first recorded online home shopper was Mrs Jane Snowball, 72,2013 BBC News Magazine: 'Online Shopping: The pensioner who pioneered a home shopping revolution' Denise Winterman and Jon Kelly. 16 September 2013 of Gateshead, England in May 1984.Gateshead celebrates world's first online shopper and the Mrs Snowball interview can be found at The Gateshead system had an Online Shopping Basket (later renamed Online Shopping Trolley) invented by Aldrich's colleague John Phelan.2011 'John Phelan Application Developer and Project Manager' Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton
Some of the most interesting B2B applications in the surviving case studies were in the auto industry. Peugeot-Talbot (1981), then trading as Talbot Motors, installed a system for dealers to locate and adopt both a new car from the manufacturer or a used car from other dealers. Ford (1982) installed systems with ISPs in Brentwood England and Valencia Spain that permitted dealers in multiple European countries to buy new cars from Ford or transfer existing new cars from other dealers' lots. General Motors (1985) used systems for selling truck spares. The Nissan (1984) systems were truly revolutionary. They combined car purchase by the dealer from the manufacturer (known in the industry as 'adoption') with car sale and financing to the consumer.1988 Behind the driving wheel at NISSAN, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton, The Nissan systems networked credit ratings from outside agencies (mainly UAPT Infolink 1985)1985 Uapt/Infolink, Innovative Information Systems Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton Summer 1985 and finance provision from either Nissan or other suppliers in real-time as part of the complete consumer purchasing transaction. This is the world's first recorded B2C online shopping for high-value durable consumer goods and a model for the complex internet-based online shopping transactions for durable consumer goods that followed 20 years later. The Nissan system was copied by other credit rating and finance companies at the time but these systems appear to have been supplied by Aldrich's company under confidentiality agreements and no record is extant.Introduction, Innovative Information Systems, Aldrich Archive Para 9, University of Brighton
Aldrich's systems directly changed the holiday, retail, auto, finance and credit ratings industries. Online shopping was an important development for electronic commerce. E-commerce changed the way the world does business. Both of his B2C systems in Gateshead and Bradford were shopping and information services. Bradford Centrepoint (1987) even ran a news service at one point. These systems were pioneering pre-internet systems.1993 Cahill. M Computer Technology and Human Services in the 1990s: Advancing Theory and Practice: Teleshopping and Social Services in the UK, 'Computers in Human Services' Vol. 9 [3/4] London 1993
Aldrich's original intention had been to develop a consumer electronics market for IT systems linked to a concept for broadband interactive information processing and cable TV distribution. He had a particular schema for a wired community.1982 Aldrich. M 'Videotex Key to the Wired City' Quiller Press London He campaigned successfully to change the law in the UK to permit new cable TV technology.1982 Aldrich. M co-author 'Cable Systems' HMSO London