Michael Aldrich

Michael John Aldrich (22 August 1941 to 19 May 2014) was an English inventor, innovator and entrepreneur. In 1979 he invented online shopping to enable online transaction processing between consumers and businesses, or between one business and another, a technique later known as e-commerce, and in 1980 he invented the Teleputer, a multi-purpose home infotainment center fusing personal computer, television and telecommunications networking technology. He had a 38-year career in the information technology industry, 20 of them as chief executive officer of the international computer company Redifon/Rediffusion/ROCC Computers, and served as an information technology adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1981 to 1986.