Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 290 The Spring and Autumn Era of Personal Computers

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a database project programmed in the FORTRAN language, called JPLDIS, and Wayne Ratliff developed DBase in 1978 based on JPLDIS, but the name of this program was Vulcan at that time - Vulcan.

Wayne Ratliff participated in NASA's Viking program to explore Mars, writing the database management system for the lander's software support.

He developed the Vulcan to manage betting on football games and make some extra money selling it through the mail order, but it's been on sale for more than a year with ups and downs.

Vulcan was developed on Altair's copycat model IMSAI 8080 using Intel 8080 assembly language, so its operating environment is CP/N.

As a result, Vulcan attracted the attention of two personal computer software sellers—George Tate and Hal Lashlee. They reached a licensing agreement with Wayne Ratliff and established a company called Ashton-Tate——Ashton-Tate company to operate the software.

Because the name Vulcan has been used by other companies, Hal Lashlee renamed it - DBase, and directly upgraded the version to 2, namely DBase II, priced at $695.

In fact, no code changes were made to this program, but it gave people the impression of maturity and stability, which is the genius of professional marketers.

The irony is that everyone patronizes the agency to make money, but no one notices that DBase II has been wrongly sourced in terms of creativity since its inception, which will inevitably bury a huge hidden danger.

Of course, Tang Huan is sure that the mirror is the same in his heart, but is it possible that he is shouting all over the world now?Don Estridge is imitating his own business routine, and DBase II is the pawn who charged ahead.

You should know that authoritative and professional personal computer media such as "Byte" and "InfoWorld" have worshiped Zheru's spreadsheet software CGrid, word processing software WordEasy, and database software EBase as gods, honorificing them as driving the development of the personal computer industry. Troika.

Recently, the emerging field of the desktop publishing market has also been pointed out for the personal computer industry, but because the technical threshold is too high, other companies are temporarily unable to enter it.

Such an evaluation, whether it is an ally or an opponent in the industry, has recognized it, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is convinced.

First of all, under Tang Huan's guidance, Zheru software is powerful enough, as long as he wants to, he can crush any competitor technically.

Secondly, with this strong position, Zheru has made some technical authorizations that have been more and more positively evaluated, such as public coding schemes, interface specifications, and so on.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is Zheru trying to establish industry standards by taking advantage of his own dominant position.

But even if you can see it, what can you do? Most personal computers have the shadow of Zheru software. Your peers have taken advantage of the bait thrown by Zheru to support interaction with CGrid, WordEasy, and EBase. How can you fall behind? what?
Moreover, as the market situation changes, everyone begins to find that the capacity of the personal computer market is too large, and the types of hardware platforms supported by Zheru Software are also limited.

Therefore, following Zheru software, you can still drink soup.

In particular, the price of Zheru software is increasing step by step, which in fact leaves room for other products to survive.

This has made many small workshop-style companies burst into tears of gratitude. He is indeed a leader in the professional world. He is so kind and does not push his colleagues to death.

In fact, after the software matures, it is natural to increase the price. VisiCalc has increased from US$100 per copy to US$250 per copy. How could Zheru fall behind?

In addition, with the increasing number of software functions, the development environment of Zheru software has all been migrated to C language, which itself has threshold requirements for hardware platforms, and assembly language is only used in rare cases with special requirements for execution efficiency.

Due to the objective limitation of software complexity, Zheru software can only choose to support valuable hardware platforms, and there are also great differences in function realization.

The home-made Fangyuan computer has full functions, followed by Apple's Apple II, and other types of personal computer hardware platforms are decreasing.

Therefore, the generosity of philosophers and scholars is required by Tang Huan's layout and limited by realistic conditions.

But in any case, Zheru Software's use of its dominant position to exert influence on the software market is generally considered to be a leadership, forward-looking move,

In the final analysis, other small fish have also followed the trend, and they have a good life in the personal computer industry. Naturally, they are bored with making money, and they have no time or courage to play games that challenge their dominance.

For example, Seymour Rubinstein of MicroPro International, who had been thinking about grabbing market share from Tang Huan, also tried to form an anti-Tang alliance to kill the aggressive Zheru Software.

But in reality, WordStar has been imitating WordEasy, copying Zheru's published standards one by one, and its sales have grown from US$1979 in 50 to over ten million US dollars now.

Fighting back and forth is just for profit. No matter how ambitious Seymour Rubinstein is, he still has to recognize the situation and admit that keeping a distance is the best way to survive at the moment.

When Adam Osborne used his shares to fight for free software for the Osborne first-generation machine, knowing that Adam Osborne had received a lot of support from Tang Huan, Seymour Rubinstein still got involved and even became The chairman of the board of directors of Osborne Computer Company, this phenomenon explains his attitude.

With such a net worth, Seymour Rubinstein refused confidently when IBM recruited him.It is already an open secret in the industry that Big Blue is dictating Microsoft. He is living a good life, and he doesn't want to be so controlled by others.

If the IBM-PC market prospect is promising, I will naturally support this platform, and you don't need to worry about it.

Seymour Rubinstein's ignorance brought trouble to IBM's word processing software layout.

The software that comes with the IBM-PC includes Microsoft's BASIIC and operating system DOS, spreadsheet software VisiCalc, Peachtree's financial software, and a text processing software EasyWriter.

Among them, Peachtree, which will be acquired by Management Science America - MSA, even if its financial software business strategy changes, but the DBase II successfully brought in by IBM is enough to fill all the gaps in this field.

It stands to reason that the troika of Big Blue PC applications created by Don Estridge is already in place.

Unfortunately, after being rejected by Seymour Rubinstein, another software, EasyWriter, used to replace WordStar in the word processing software, lost the chain.

In terms of technical development difficulty, among the troikas, the database is the most difficult. Zheru's EBase has been struggling alone in the microcomputer database market since its inception. At present, DBase II, which does not even involve the concept of a relational model, can only Said to belong to a make up.

The middle level of difficulty is spreadsheet software, which can be inferred from the products such as CGrid, VisiCalc, and SuperCalc that have appeared on the market, as well as the MultiPlan announced by Microsoft that it is developing.

Also based on the analysis of the number of products on the market, the development of word processing software is the least difficult. In addition to WordEasy, WordStar, and WordPerfect, there are at least ten types of unknowns like EasyWriter.

Although the development of word processing software is not difficult, it is still very difficult to really do this product well.

For example, various typesetting functions must be powerful and easy to use for users. There are many ways to do it. Simply relying on simple and crude manpower to achieve quick success is often twice the result with half the effort.

When Seymour Rubinstein faced IBM, he was so tough and would rather be a chicken head than an ox tail. This came from the foundation of WordStar.

The text processing software EasyWriter that comes with IBM-PC to make up numbers is weak in function. The key is that its bugs make users unbearable. In addition, there are benchmark references such as WordEasy and WordStar, which immediately attract bad reviews. It was directly criticized as damaging to the image of IBM-PC.

Don Estridge, who was sprayed a little embarrassed, had no choice but to urge the improvement of EasyWriter, while turning his attention to another word processing software that performed well, WordPerfect.

In Utah, there is the largest religious university in the United States and the third largest private university in the United States, namely Brigham Young University - Brigham Young University.

The school's graduate student Bruce Bastian and professor Alan Ashton developed word processing software for the minicomputer system Data General in 1979, and thus WordPerfect was born.

Bruce Bastian and Alan Ashton are both very smart. This can be seen from the fact that in the future of their original time and space, they still ranked among the rich after experiencing the turbulence of the personal computer industry.

The two retained the copyright to WordPerfect and jointly formed a company called Satellite Software International - SSI to operate the software.

The way SSI sells WordPerfect is very creative. They hire students to sell the product and after-sales service, which has won a good reputation.

In view of the failure of the previous negotiation with Seymour Rubinstein, which resulted in not being able to attract WordStar, which was a sufficient threat to the philosopher WordEasy, and being provoked by the disappointing EasyWriter, Don Estridge was in a relationship with Bruce Bass When Tian and Alan Ashton were negotiating, their attitude was more pragmatic and flexible.

Are you willing to give up product development for other PC hardware platforms?No problem, as long as the IBM-PC version is completed as agreed, and IBM also provides the necessary technical support.

With such a low profile, obtaining a satisfactory negotiation result is naturally a matter of course.

This is also the main reason why Microsoft is eager to announce the research and development plan of its own spreadsheet software, MultiPlan. Before, Big Blue favored itself, but now there are more VisiCalc, WordPerfect, and DBase II to compete for favor.

Looking at the charismatic Don Estridge in the newspaper, he announced confidently that the three carriages on the IBM-PC platform - electronic forms, word processing, and databases - have been built, and the construction of the factory will also be completed. It will be completed soon, and the user's needs will be [-]% satisfied by then. Tang Huan muttered to himself, "This guy's work efficiency is quite high."

He put down the newspaper, frowning and thinking.

Although Tang Huan is vigilant about the changes in the US personal computer market brought about by IBM, he is fearless.

With enough information at his disposal, he has reason to believe that the more famous or even big-name the interested parties involved, the easier it is to grasp them in the palm of his hand.

At this time, the subordinates came to report that everyone had arrived and the meeting could begin.

Tang Huan nodded, picked up the newspaper again, got up and went to the conference room.

"Everyone, do you smell the smoke of war?" Tang Huan asked casually with a smile while showing Don Estridge's vigorous photo in the newspaper.

"To be able to face-to-face with an enemy of IBM's magnitude is really exciting to think about." There are some elites who are naturally aggressive in Zheru's team.

"On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in ancient China, more than 2000 years ago, there was a historical period called the Spring and Autumn Period. The princes, large and small, attacked each other, and finally the survival of the fittest left only a handful of them."

Tang Huan said leisurely: "The current structure of the US personal computer market is similar to this. There are at least a dozen different hardware platforms. Countries compete for land and population, while enterprises compete for markets and customers."

Having said that, Tang Huan looked around at everyone present, "Have you ever thought about what is the core contention in the market competition for PC hardware systems?"

"Standard." Someone's brains turned quickly, and he quickly answered.

"By the way, it's just for the sake of standards." Tang Huan nodded appreciatively, "In my opinion, the market elimination of personal computer hardware systems will be divided into two stages. Now it is in the first stage, those individuals with poor market prospects The computer is out, and the accompanying hardware standard disappears. After the last few most advantageous personal computer hardware systems are left, there may be competition for compatible machines within them, but the premise is that they have recognized this standard for hardware platforms."

Tang Huan asked people to distribute the documents and continued his analysis: "Among the remaining winners after the first phase of elimination, there will definitely be our Fangyuan Computer. This is a matter of course. Otherwise, we are not participants and it will be difficult to continue the discussion. of."

The conference room burst into laughter, but this also reminded everyone that if this happens, then everyone's good days of ease and ease will come to an end.

"Apple Computer should be the same company, because they always have their own operating system and control the hardware and software platforms in their own hands. IBM PCs are also the same company, just because they are powerful enough. As for others using CP/ No matter who is the boss behind the M operating system personal computer, it will only survive with a breath of life."

Tang Huan coughed lightly, and changed the topic, "However, there may be some exceptions for companies like Tangdi, Commodore, and Atari. Because Tangdi Computer already belongs to us, Zheru may provide some Commodore’s and Atari’s personal computers, because of their excellent game performance, achieved the feature win.”

Tang Huan's analysis naturally integrated multiple aspects.

For example, Commodore, it was the company that Jobs planned to sell the entire Apple company, himself and Woz, for $100 million before he met Markkula, but was rejected by him.

In 1976, Commodore acquired the MOS Technology company that produced the microprocessor MOS 6502, so it can lower the price than its peers.

This is different from Intel, whose principle is not to enter the field of competition with customers.

However, while Commodore produced CPUs and sold them to other companies, it also produced personal computers to compete with these customers, making the relationship very messy. Now Apple’s Apple II is made by Synertek, the second supplier of MOS 6502. Manufactured CPUs.

Atari launched its own personal computer in 1979, and was spotted by Bill Lowe, who tried to make it an IBM-PC. This shows how good it is.

(End of this chapter)