Interview With Jim King - Adobe Systems Incorporated
- Simon Harper:
- Welcome and thanks for sparing the time to talk with us. Firstly, can I ask if you're a regular participant in the SIGWEB (Hypertext, the Web Conference, etc) Community?
- Jim King:
- Unfortunately I am not.
- Simon:
- What is your primary research interest and what is it about this area that drives your imagination?
- Jim:
- I am not sure I would characterize what I do as "research." I spend most of my time mapping out technology for others. I give public talks that explain Adobe's technology and I also "research" technical topics and try to put them into perspective for Adobe's engineers and management. My imagination is driven by digging into technology and trying to make sense of it to explain to others.
Recently I have been reviewing work I did in the early 1970's on proving the correctness of programs and symbolic execution and I just might get back into that work, at least a little. - Simon:
- How has your earlier work influenced both your research and technological interests? Have these influences affected your view of hypertext and non-linear reading.
- Jim:
- I have been in this computer business for a long time. I wrote my first computer program in 1959. I worked in IBM Research for 19 years and have been at Adobe for over 15 years. During that time I have mostly been interested in doing "advanced technology" and more so since I have been at Adobe. I like to see great ideas put to work.
To be honest I have not done much on hypertext and non-linear reading. Of course everyone has been exposed to a level of this by simply browsing on the web. Personally I get impatient waiting for the linked-to material to finally appear. I think hypertext has to get over a response hurdle that it hasn't quite accomplished on the Web. I can demonstrate this by browsing some linked material online and then converting it to PDF and browsing it locally within the Reader. The difference in speed is significant from my human response view. Given that the communications speeds for fetching remote material are not likely to change dramatically soon, we could put more emphasis on pre-fetching material in anticipation. I am surprised that more of this isn't done. - Simon:
- Is the state of technology, hypertext, and the web in 2004 as you envisioned when you started working on Acrobat?
- Jim:
- Adobe started working on PDF in about 1990. Some time around then I heard a talk by Ted Nelson about Xanadu and his vision of all of this. You know, I really didn't get it. The concept of clicking the mouse and getting some more material is clear and simple, but I haven't gotten much beyond that. The Adobe people that were the first to work on PDF and Acrobat did understand the concepts very well and incorporated quite a few hyperlinking functions in the first release (bookmarks or table of contents, hyperlinks, annotations, etc.).
- Simon:
- What would be the key thing you would change with regard to the state of technology today?
- Jim:
- We are looking very hard at the technology needed to support a portable document format that is not in its final form as PDF is. One might wish that we did not tie PDF to final form so firmly but on the other hand, had we not done that it may not have been a commercial success.
- Simon:
- If you have the choice, would you dis-invent any technological advancement?
- Jim:
- Technology get shaped by the need to make profitable products as well as by strange marketing twists. Some of these things I would change much sooner than I would worry about the underlying technology. For example, we have many cases where the marketers have decided to give away razors in order to have a strong business in selling blades that match. This makes it difficult or even impossible for anyone to *sell* a better razor. The world has learned that everyone is entitled to free razors no matter how much they cost to make. In some cases this really becomes madness.
It isn't the invention of the technology that is really interesting, but in its application. I love all inventions. - Simon:
- What Hypertext / Web related areas are you interested in at the moment and what upcoming areas are you excited about?
- Jim:
- I am becoming much more interested in the applications of standardized meta data and it associations with hypertext and the web. Google has established itself as the simplest way to find things but it can become even better and smarter if it had a little more to work with. Some may view "Google-ing" for information as the antithesis of hypertext but I think they can go together and compliment each other.
I am also very excited about the merging of computer technology with home entertainment technology. The possibilities to exploit wireless and high capacity, high speed hardware opens unlimited opportunities for new and clever ways to let me get at information and to pick entertainment at home. Yes, I was a early purchaser of a TiVo and I now enjoy HiFi wireless within my work and home. This is just the beginning. - Simon:
- What research are you pursuing at present?
- Jim:
- At this time I would not label myself as a "researcher." As I said earlier, my current job mostly entails studying newly breaking technologies, educating Adobe engineers and management about them and trying to figure out how Adobe can best exploit them. I guess one could also say that I am doing research on document formats. I have been working on what formats should we develop that follow from HTML and PDF. I am interested in compound documents and the how and why of packaging their components together to form a single file.
- Simon:
- Are there collaboration opportunities with you and if so how should interested people get in touch with you?
- Jim:
- Sure! Just send me an e-mail at jking @ adobe.com
- Simon:
- How do you think Acrobat, in support of non-linear reading (hypertext etc), will evolve into the future.
- Jim:
- Acrobat is already an orchestrated collection of many products. To most of the world it means the Adobe Reader that is downloaded for free. To many others it means the tools you buy from Adobe and others that are used to make PDF files. And to an increasing number it means the rich Acrobat Professional viewing client that has so many more features for collaboration, document editing, web interactions, high-end printing, slide shows, etc. So I think more and more people will begin to realize that PDF and Acrobat are not just confined to the free Adobe Reader. Many of the advanced functions deal with hyperlinks and non-linear reading.
- Simon:
- Finally, Hypertext 2004 is in Santa Cruz this year. What do you think of the Hypertext Series of Conferences and will you be attending the whole event?
- Jim:
- I definitely plan to be at the conference from Wednesday through Friday. I just might catch a tutorial on Tuesday. I live in Santa Cruz so it is a very easy commute.
- Simon:
- Thanks for talking with us.
Dr. Jim King, is a Principal Scientist at Adobe Systems Incorporated, is one of the people responsible for the vision, architecture, design, prototyping, and ultimate development of new products and new features for existing Adobe products. Jim King joined Adobe in 1988 and until 1996, was the Senior Director of Adobe's Advanced Technology Group (ATG). He is now a member of ATG within the Adobe Office of Technology and is focusing on strategic technical issues. Dr. King received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a member of the ACM, IEEE Computer Society, and President of the IS&T (Society for Imaging Sciences and Technology). He is the inventor of many patents and is well known for his ability to explain Adobe's technology simply and clearly.
M: S Harper on 01 Jul 2004
C: S Harper on 27 Nov 2003
C: S Harper on 27 Nov 2003