Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 272
At this time, Franklin Mieuli, a well-known radio and television producer in the San Francisco Bay Area, came over to say hello, and then directly turned to the topic: "Don, are you interested in following the Oakland Athletics team? mode, investing in the Golden State Warriors?"

"Are you willing to give up control?" Tang Huan asked back.

"No way, it's time for the team to make changes. Besides, I can continue to be the representative of the Golden State Warriors like Walter Haas was in the Oakland Athletics." Franklin Mew Li smiled wryly, "I feel that only with you can there be such help."

Tang Huan smiled and nodded slightly, thinking that of course, he had been working hard in the San Francisco area for so long, and he had earned a reputation for generosity, enthusiasm, and helpfulness. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is "timely rain".

In fact, Tang Huan's interest in NBA teams is far greater than that of professional football and baseball teams, but the Golden State Warriors are not the goal he wants. After all, the already-fedged Los Angeles Lakers will sweep the entire 1980s. Don't want to spoil the mood of a cosmetic team.

However, Tang Huan thought about it again. According to the plan, he will take his team to Baodao for business exchange and investigation, including professional baseball, the most popular local sport; and in the second half of the year, the real mainland tour will also start , Naturally, it is necessary to bring back multiple communication embellishments for an NBA team.

Since the Golden State Warriors are easy to acquire, let’s make do with it. Anyway, Franklin Miyuri is different from the previous owners of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics. It is to build a team that belongs to the Bay Area sincerely, but some of them can't use their fists.

Franklin Millie is a sports fan. In addition to being the owner of the Golden State Warriors, he is also one of the shareholders of the San Francisco 49ers in Major League Football and the San Francisco Giants in Major League Baseball.

As early as 1962, Franklin Millie invested US$85, and together with 32 other local investors, bought the Philadelphia Warriors—Philadelphia Warriors, which was renamed San Francisco Warriors—San Francisco Warriors. After several home changes , eventually settled in the Oakland Stadium, and the team name became the current Golden State Warriors.

During this period, the team's performance was not good, and the number of spectators was not satisfactory. Other shareholders made a fuss about moving, so Franklin Millie invested in buying the shares of these people.

In 1964 and 1967, after reaching the finals twice, in 1975, this persistence finally paid off.

Relying on the main player Rick Barry——Rick Barry, as well as two rising stars Jamal Weeks and Phil Smith, the Golden State Warriors had a record of 48 wins and 34 losses in the Western Conference. Defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 4-2, and then defeated the Chicago Bulls 4-3 to break into the sixth championship game in franchise history.

At that time, the NBA generally showed a situation where the east was strong and the west was weak. The Washington Bullets, led by the strongest twin towers in the league at the time, Alvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, had a record of 60 wins and 22 losses. The limelight is in full swing, and the Golden State Warriors are not favored at all.

As a result, Rick Barry repeatedly exploded at critical moments, and the Golden State Warriors miraculously swept the Washington Bullets 4-0 in the championship game, becoming a super dark horse.

Unfortunately, after the peak, there is loneliness.Without large investments, the team's results will ultimately be short-lived. The Golden State Warriors have been on a decline in recent years, forcing Franklin Miuri to seek help from Tang Huan.

"How many spectators are there on average for each game now?" Tang Huan asked casually.

Franklin Miuli waved a hand embarrassingly, "In my impression, there were only five times, and the audience exceeded 10000."

"So depressed?" Tang Huan couldn't help but feel a little numb after hearing this.

"Although it's a bit miserable, don't forget that the Golden State Warriors are the only professional basketball team in the Bay Area. As long as they manage well and enter the playoffs, their influence will be greatly improved." Franklin Millie Instead, he insisted on his own thoughts as always, "Look at how hot the Oakland Raiders market is now, it's not enough investment yet."

"Okay, let's aim to enter the playoffs first." Tang Huan nodded, and joked with the other party, "Is there any chance this year?".

"It's been out for a long time, and it hasn't been in the playoffs for three or four years in a row." Franklin Miyuri blushed and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Go and talk to Mikhail Kogan in detail." Tang Huan pointed out with a smile. It seemed that his reputation as a timely rain in San Francisco was about to be confirmed.

Everyone was talking and laughing when Kirk Kerkorian walked over confidently, "Don, let's sit down and have a detailed discussion some other day, so I'll take my leave first."

……

In the presidential suite, Tang Huan and Prince Sabah sat opposite each other.

After listening to Tang Huan analyze the dark history of MGM over the years, Prince Sabah smiled nonchalantly, "Tang, I just want to ask, can MGM be brought back to life in your hands?"

Tang Huan's heart shuddered when he heard the words, and he muttered to himself, is the other party testing his ability?

It seems that if anyone really thinks that the Kaizi people in the Middle East are stupid and rich, they will lose more important opportunities.

After thinking for a while, Tang Huan nodded confidently, "Of course, but it will take time. With this expense, we can definitely earn more, such as the new project I mentioned."

"What about influence?" Prince Sabah asked back.

"It depends on the field of influence. It needs specific situations and specific analysis." Tang Huan replied ponderously.

"Tang, I can see that you, a Chinese, are already extremely influential in San Francisco. Our goals are similar, and investment may not necessarily require getting back real money every time." Prince Sabah said heartily: "I I have entrusted you with all the affairs of MGM, and I will give you [-]% of the shares at the same time, I hope you can try my best to accomplish the goals I need."

Having said that, Tang Huan could only nod his head.

He suddenly felt a little bit emotional, this is the tragedy of a small country, so prepared to export capital and influence to the outside world, but when the Gulf War starts, they will spit out all these things and exchange them for military expenses.

After talking for a while, Tang Huan stood up and said, "Your Highness, rest, I will accompany you tomorrow to see what the computer exhibition looks like here?"

……

On April 1981, 4, the sixth West Coast Computer Festival opened. The first session began in 3. The founder was Jim Warren—Jim Warren, a senior computer expert and businessman.

Except for the second and third sessions held in the first and second half of the year in 1978, the West Coast Computer Festival has been held every year since then.

Many iconic personal computer products met the world for the first time at the West Coast Computer Festival, such as Chuck Peddle's Commodore PET, Woz and Jobs' Apple II, etc., and accordingly, they have also become At that time the attention of the star.

At this West Coast Computer Festival, three heavyweight new personal computer products suddenly emerged: the 16-bit personal computer IBM-PC of Big Blue; the first commercially available portable personal computer Osborne generation machine; An improved model of the Apple II, the Apple II e.

The second-generation Fangyuan computer is no longer a new product, but it still makes many people curious, and a new version of the software has been released.

From the perspective of cultural origin, personal computers, which represent freedom and equality, were born with the mission of fighting against large-scale computers that represent monopoly and privilege, and the West Coast Computer Festival provides a platform for displaying personal computers. The founder Jim Warren is also I thought so.

Therefore, IBM, which is almost synonymous with the mainframe, appeared at the West Coast Computer Festival with great fanfare. The scene is a bit funny.

In Tang Huan's view, the preparation of the West Coast Computer Festival still lacks professionalism. Compared with COMDEX, there is a clear gap. It has gone into decline, which is also the main reason why he didn't care about this exhibition at all before.

I don’t know if it was deliberately arranged by the organizers of the exhibition. The IBM-PC is not far from Osborne’s first-generation machine, Apple IIe, and second-generation Fangyuan computer.

But this is also good, Tang Huan accompanied Prince Sabah to visit, and it will save a lot of trouble.

Because I have seen the second-generation Fangyuan computer in detail before, the Apple IIe did not attract the attention of Prince Sabah, but the Osborne I machine, which focuses on portability, really surprised him.

In fact, Osborne's first-generation machine has become a star at the exhibition. People are scrambling to consult and even place orders directly. After all, the selling point of "portability" is so eye-catching, which makes Adam O Siben was overjoyed.

In contrast, IBM-PC, which has been talking about a new generation of cheap personal computers, is slightly less popular, but the people who pay attention are relatively professional. Even the well-dressed Jobs has Many people came running from their booth to observe carefully, and Tang Huan was no exception.

The CPU used by IBM-PC is 4.77 MHz Intel 8088, which is a reduced version microprocessor based on Intel 8086, that is, it also has 16-bit registers, but the external data bus is only 8 bits.

In this way, the cost of the whole system can be effectively reduced.

At the same time, IBM already has the authorization to manufacture 8086 family CPUs, so it can beat prices more calmly.

This is to rely on strength to crush other competitors, and there is no reason at all.

IBM controls 20.00% of Intel's shares, which is very dangerous. Fortunately, the second-generation Fangyuan computer prevented the possibility of being kidnapped by a CPU from the very beginning.

In terms of memory, IBM-PC supports a range of 16 kB to 256 kB, which is quite satisfactory.

As for storage, the IBM PC included a 5.25-inch, 160kB single-sided double-density floppy drive.

Kildare, the boss of the Digital Research Company, found that the operating system DOS developed by Microsoft for IBM seriously copied the CP/M developed by himself, so he immediately issued a warning.

To deal with this kind of dispute, IBM is too experienced. It provides users with three operating systems to choose from: CP/M-86, UCSD p-System and IBM BASIC / PC DOS 1.0, which is Microsoft's BASIC and DOS. It's just that the name and packaging have been changed in the form of OEM.

Because the choice of the operating system was put in the hands of users, IBM completely disregarded the relationship, and Kildall had nothing to do about it.

In fact, IBM played tricks. UCSD p-System is an impractical decoration. CP/M-86 is several times more expensive than DOS. It is self-evident how users choose.

After all, Kildare has a big problem with coping. It is said that the boat is small and easy to turn around, but he seems very clumsy.

IBM-PC carries a relatively small software in its 40kB ROM - 8kB power-on self-test program and BIOS, and the other 32kB is BASIC program.

If there is no DOS boot disk, the BASIC interpreter in the ROM is the user interface, and at the same time, the BASIC program in the PC-DOS can be used to call the BASIC in the ROM.

In addition, IBM-PC will naturally not leave behind typical applications such as spreadsheet software, word processing software, and financial software.

The high-spirited Don Estridge laughed at everyone, even Jobs, "Dude, how is my computer?"

"There is no bright spot, rubbish." Jobs, who had finished his observation and knew it well, snorted disdainfully.

Don Estridge sneered, "Your Apple IIe is still using an 8-bit CPU."

Speaking of which, Don Estridge picked up the IBM-PC keyboard and showed it, "See, this is a high-end product, specially designed for a $[-] computer system in North Carolina. Each key can withstand a hundred million hits, your computer keyboard, that's garbage."

Hearing this, Tang Huan frowned. Not to mention, the keyboard of the IBM-PC is indeed slightly better, and it can be seen almost directly with the eyes. The first impression it brings to customers is a lot of points.

"Boy, you are not my opponent. Apple Computer is outdated." Although Don Estridge is not as cool as Jobs, he is more concise in momentum, and he can also choke people to death with a single sentence.

"We'll see." Jobs, who was rare, didn't talk to each other, and turned to leave.

Perhaps, in Jobs's mind, a MAC equipped with a quasi-32-bit microprocessor MC68000 will be released next year as planned. By then, with the graphical user interface, it can crush all opponents, and there is no need to waste saliva here.

In other words, my aloofness and arrogance cannot be understood by you idiots.

Don Esterich, who didn't know that he was strongly despised by Jobs and thought he had run out of his opponent, laughed and looked at Tang Huan, "How about my IBM-PC 5150?"

"Jobs is right. It's quite satisfactory. There's nothing special about it." Tang Huan smiled slightly. He glanced at the visitors who were playing a small game on the IBM-PC. It is said that you stand on the shoulders of companies such as Apple, Tangdi, and Commodore, and you are only a late strike."

"Why didn't you stand on the shoulders of Fangyuan Computer? Don't you think you are the most special one?" Don Estridge asked with a little satisfaction.

"Because my Fangyuan computer came out late, you have no time to copy it." Looking at Don Estridge's darkened face, Tang Huan laughed happily.

"I have to say that Jobs' arrogance is on the surface, while you are hidden in the bones, but it is even more annoying." Don Estridge snorted.

"At present, it seems that the lowest price of the cheap personal computer you claim is between 1500 and 2000 US dollars, and it is still a model with only 16KB of memory, but the Apple IIe can be made below 1500 US dollars." Tang. Huanhui calculated the cost with sharp eyes, and further hit the opponent, "Don't you know that 16KB of memory is really rubbish for today's commercial software."

Facing Don Estridge's annoyed eyes, Tang Huan continued to say leisurely: "When you develop memory boards for users to choose to install in expansion slots, the cost will naturally increase accordingly. Dude, Your cheap computer gimmick may seem like a deception."

"Don, you must not have seen IBM's powerful manufacturing capabilities. In two months, when the market is full of IBM-PC 5150s, you will not be so confident." Don Esteli Qi smiled coldly, "It seems that you are still with the guests, so I won't send you off soon."

"Okay, I'll wait and see. By the way, I will hold the annual developer conference, welcome to come then." Tang Huan smiled lightly, and Shi Shiran walked away.

After leaving IBM's booth, Tang Huan's face slowly turned cold.

He knows that there is a cruel reality that cannot be ignored. IBM, which has been working in the industry for decades, is jealous and disgusted by its power and wealth, but customers respect and like its quality and strength. In the concept of ordinary people , IBM and computers are almost equivalent.

Therefore, as soon as the IBM computer comes out, there will be a large number of responders, which is the strong appeal of the brand.

The personal computer department led by Don Estridge is not bound by IBM's existing operating rules at all, that is to say, he can put down his body and do various things.

(End of this chapter)