追憶短暫的英國(guó)計(jì)算機(jī)創(chuàng)新

Electronic Dreams: How 1980s Britain Learned toLove the Computer By Tom Lean Bloomsbury/Sigma￡16.99

《電子夢(mèng)：20世紀(jì)80年代英國(guó)人如何迷上計(jì)算機(jī)》(Electronic Dreams: How 1980s Britain Learned toLove the Computer)，湯姆•利恩(Tom Lean)著，Bloomsbury/Sigma出版，售價(jià)16.99英鎊。

In 1983 Britain proudly boasted the highest level ofcomputer ownership in the world, technologyhistorian Tom Lean tells us in his entertaining andaffectionate, if for the most part nostalgic, book on the country’s relationship withcomputers. About one in 10 UK homes, he writes, had a computer, more than in the US orJapan.

1983年英國(guó)自豪地宣稱擁有全球最高的計(jì)算機(jī)普及率，科技史學(xué)家湯姆•利恩在他的書中寫道。這本書有趣、深情，以大篇幅的懷舊，敘寫了英國(guó)和計(jì)算機(jī)之間的淵源。他寫道，大約每10個(gè)英國(guó)家庭就有1家擁有計(jì)算機(jī)，超過(guò)當(dāng)時(shí)的美國(guó)或日本。

At the same time, the UK had several computer manufacturers, one of which was making moreof them than any other company in the world — Sir Clive Sinclair’s Sinclair Research. There waseven a Welsh computer, the Dragon 32. And the UK had an early version of the internet,Prestel, set up by the Post Office. It trialled an early version of Ocado et al, with the wonderfullyterrible name, The Armchair Grocer.

同時(shí)，英國(guó)當(dāng)時(shí)有數(shù)家計(jì)算機(jī)制造商，其中一家的計(jì)算機(jī)產(chǎn)量超過(guò)世界上的任何其他公司，這就是克萊夫•辛克萊爵士(Sir Clive Sinclair)的Sinclair Research公司。當(dāng)時(shí)甚至還有一種名為Dragon 32的威爾士產(chǎn)計(jì)算機(jī)。英國(guó)還出現(xiàn)了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的雛形——英國(guó)郵局(Post Office)建立的視訊系統(tǒng)Prestel。Prestel試驗(yàn)了類似Ocado等在線超市的雛形系統(tǒng)，就是名字蹩腳了點(diǎn)兒，叫“扶手椅雜貨鋪”(The Armchair Grocer)。

Another remarkable fact from Electronic Dreams: which UK company would you imagine was,by 1951, the world’s first to use a computer for business, and started making computers forother companies?

《電子夢(mèng)》還展示了另一個(gè)令人驚訝的事實(shí)：你能想象在1951年是哪家英國(guó)企業(yè)在全世界率先將計(jì)算機(jī)應(yīng)用于商業(yè)、并開始為其他公司制造計(jì)算機(jī)嗎?

It was J. Lyons and Co, the teashop chain. Its computer business, LEO, kept going until 1963.Lyons’ role as a computer manufacturing pioneer is the more astonishing — at least to anyoneold enough to remember the ostensibly low-tech J. Lyons cafés — in that there was stiffcompetition from within the UK; companies such as Ferranti, Elliott Brothers, English Electricand British Tabulating Machinery were all selling British boffin-made computers globally.

那就是連鎖茶商J. Lyons and Co。其計(jì)算機(jī)業(yè)務(wù)LEO一直經(jīng)營(yíng)至1963年。Lyons作為計(jì)算機(jī)制造業(yè)先驅(qū)更為令人震驚的是(至少對(duì)年紀(jì)足夠大的人而言是如此，他們還記得Lyons看起來(lái)科技含量很低的咖啡館)，當(dāng)時(shí)Lyons在英國(guó)面臨激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。Ferranti、Elliott Brothers、英國(guó)電氣(English Electric)以及英國(guó)制表機(jī)械(British Tabulating Machinery)等公司都在向全球出售著英產(chǎn)計(jì)算機(jī)。

Britain’s role in computing, as it emerges in Lean’s book, is similar to England’s place in thehistory of football. At each juncture, from the work of Alan Turing to Sir Clive to Sir TimBerners-Lee, even to Sir Alan Sugar at a stretch, the UK was a prime innovator, only later tobecome a minor player.

在利恩的書中，英國(guó)在計(jì)算機(jī)領(lǐng)域的地位，堪比英格蘭之于足球史。在每一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)上，從艾倫•圖靈(AlanTuring)的研究，至克萊夫爵士，再至蒂姆•伯納斯•李爵士(Sir Tim Berners-Lee)，直至艾倫•休格爵士( SirAlan Sugar)，英國(guó)一度都是計(jì)算機(jī)行業(yè)的創(chuàng)新先鋒，后來(lái)卻變得無(wú)足輕重。

Yet while the average non-Brit would probably regard Britain’s part in computing history to beabout as interesting as, say, Portugal’s, the UK does still punch significantly above its weight.While few in Britain, you would suspect, used a British computer between around 1995 and theemergence of the Raspberry Pi in 2012, UK tech companies such as ARM, which has its roots inAcorn Computers, are still of global importance.

不過(guò)，雖然對(duì)那些并非英國(guó)人的大眾而言，在計(jì)算機(jī)史上英國(guó)就跟葡萄牙一樣名不見(jiàn)經(jīng)傳，英國(guó)卻仍然在這一領(lǐng)域盡力而為。難以想象在1995年左右至2012年卡片式電腦樹莓派(Raspberry Pi)誕生之間，在英國(guó)還有人使用國(guó)產(chǎn)電腦，然而，英國(guó)的科技公司，比如起源于Acorn計(jì)算機(jī)公司(Acorn Computers)的ARM，在全球仍然舉足輕重。

But the British are slightly in love with stories of national failure, and it is hard for a true Britnot to giggle slightly reading that the Post Office picked up only 6,000 Prestel users in its firstyear, peaking at 90,000, with just 12,000 when it died in 1991. The French pre-internetcomputer network equivalent, Minitel, peaked at 9m.

但英國(guó)人對(duì)于講英國(guó)失敗的故事會(huì)有一種微妙的喜愛(ài)，讀到Prestel的興衰史每個(gè)真正的英國(guó)人都會(huì)忍俊不禁。在Prestel建立的頭一年，英國(guó)郵局只網(wǎng)羅到6000名該系統(tǒng)的用戶，Prestel巔峰時(shí)期的用戶量是9萬(wàn)，到1991年倒閉時(shí)是1.2萬(wàn)。而法國(guó)與之對(duì)應(yīng)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)前身Minitel，用戶量的巔峰值是900萬(wàn)。

This book is nevertheless very much for British readers, mostly of a certain age. I enjoyedreminiscences of people starting British computer magazines and shops in the 1970s, but ashistory it is a little niche.

不過(guò)這本書在很大程度上是為英國(guó)人而寫，特別是某特定年齡段的英國(guó)人。我就很喜歡其中追憶上世紀(jì)70年代英國(guó)計(jì)算機(jī)雜志及商店創(chuàng)始者的部分。但作為歷史類書籍，這本書略顯小眾。

When it steers, however, towards the colourful history of Sir Clive — especially reminding us ofthe 1984 fight in a Cambridge pub with his erstwhile right-hand man, Chris Curry, by then atrival Acorn — it is glorious stuff. Lean accuses the British tabloid press of overblowing theincident, but I still feel it was a bit underblown.

書中對(duì)克萊夫爵士的精彩軼事描寫尤為精湛，使我們對(duì)1984年劍橋小酒館發(fā)生的沖突記憶猶新，在那里克萊夫爵士與他曾經(jīng)的得力助手、當(dāng)時(shí)為競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手Acorn效力的克里斯•柯里(Chris Curry)發(fā)生爭(zhēng)執(zhí)。利恩指責(zé)英國(guó)小報(bào)對(duì)這一事件過(guò)分渲染，但我仍覺(jué)意猶未盡。

It prompted a marvellous 2009 BBC drama, Micro Men, but had it happened in Palo Alto, itwould have made a Hollywood movie.

由這段插曲還衍生出一部精彩的BBC電視電影《英國(guó)電腦鼻祖》(Micro Men)，如果它發(fā)生在帕羅奧圖(PaloAlto)，一部好萊塢電影說(shuō)不定會(huì)應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。