Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 425
"Can there be such a perfect solution?" Benjamin Rosen's eyes lit up. Having worked on Wall Street for 20 years, he is very aware of the harsh conditions required for speculation. Could it be that there really is a perfect solution in front of him? Opportunity.

"Of course." Rod Kenyon replied firmly, "And there is an additional benefit of doing this, that is, until now, there is still no compatible machine for the IBM-PC platform, but various products of the Fangyuan computer standard, It's already booming and blooming all over the market. Since we became the first IBM-PC compatible manufacturer, IBM's attitude is likely to be more relaxed because of it."

"It makes sense." Benjamin Rosen asked eagerly, "Then what are your plans for specific products?"

"The strategy is very simple, still be the number one on the IBM-PC platform. Now portable personal computers are very popular. First, Osborne1 created a precedent, and then came out a competitor, Kaypro 2, and even Fangyuan Computer also launched this kind of products. products, we will design and manufacture IBM-PC standard portable personal computers." Rod Kenyon introduced, while taking out a report and handing it to the bright-eyed Benjamin Rosen.

Compaq, a small entrepreneurial team, has rich experience in the workplace. They are strict in doing things and have traces to follow. They are not comparable to Jobs who solicited investment for Apple without even knowing what the plan was.

After reading the document, Benjamin Rosen pondered for a moment, "Now that Fangyuan Computer is leading almost everywhere, what do you think about the prospects of the IBM-PC platform?"

Rod Kenyon seemed to have considered this question a long time ago, and he replied without hesitation, "In terms of IBM's strength, even if IBM-PC is at a disadvantage in the market, it will not be defeated soon. , There is no problem at all for a few years.”

Speaking of this, Rod Kenyon looked around at the people present and smiled playfully, "IBM has always had a problem, that is, the cost of doing things is high, and the turnaround is slow. The delay in seeing IBM-PC portable products is a clear proof. .We just need to get ahead of IBM and launch compatible products with advantages in cost and performance. As for other issues, the sky is falling and there will be a tall man to support it.”

Others laughed knowingly, and said one after another: "As long as we take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime gap to develop, even if we embrace the Fangyuan computer standard platform in the future, we will have the capital to bargain, at least the licensing fee can be negotiated."

Benjamin Rosen picked up the document in front of him and quickly browsed through it, deliberating on several important links, and then said: "Since you have clearly defined your goals, let's do it. By the way, you still need me Any help?"

"We need a senior intellectual property lawyer." Rod Kenyon made a request, "We will use the 'black box' method to imitate all the BIOS functions of the IBM-PC. A lawyer to confirm."

"No problem." Benjamin Rosen readily agreed, "I will specifically raise targeted funds to deal with possible intellectual property disputes with IBM."

It can be seen from this statement that Benjamin Rosen has spared no effort in supporting the Compaq entrepreneurial team.

"How long will it take for you to come up with a prototype?" Benjamin Rosen asked again.

"We have made sufficient technical preparations and plan to make Compaq Portable -- Compaq Portable Personal Computer catch up with COMDEX at the end of November and meet users." Rod Kenyon's tone was full of confidence.

"I'm looking forward to Compaq's wonderful performance." Benjamin Rosen was very satisfied, "Let's do this first, I have something to do, so I won't stay any longer."

……

As a venture capitalist, Benjamin Rosen has more than one project to focus on, and his next stop is Cambridge, Massachusetts.

According to the address, Benjamin Rosen managed to find the inconspicuous office with the "Lotus Development Corp." sign on it. Before entering the door, he bent down and wiped the dust on his leather shoes with a paper towel.

However, Benjamin Rosen soon discovered that he didn't need to be so particular about it. Although there were only two people in the office, it was a mess, completely looking like a slovenly engineer.

Two people each sitting in front of an IBM-PC: Mitch Kapor - Mitchell Kapoor and Jonathan Sachs - Jonathan Sachs, the founder of this Lotus software company, as well as Compaq, is also It was only established this year.

The leader of the entrepreneurial team of Compaq Computer Company was Rod Kenyon, born in 1945, and the leader of the entrepreneurial team of Lotus Software Company was Mitchell Kapoor, born in 1950.

Mitchell Kapoor has a good family background. His father is a small business owner. He was admitted to Yale University in 1967, specializing in psychology, linguistics and computer science.

Like his peers at that time, Mitchell Kapoor belonged to the typical "Beat Generation", and he didn't fall behind any tricks that should be tried.

After graduating from Yale University in 1971, Mitchell Kapoor worked as a radio music host and a comedian. It can be said that his work was erratic and his life was aimless.

Mitchell Kapoor at this stage was very interested in nothingness, so after wandering for four years, he always felt that he still lacked something, so he went to Switzerland to participate in a kind of "transcendental meditation" training.

This course includes 14 hours a day of sitting meditation and learning the ability to levitate people into the air.Of course, this supernatural ability was not successfully cultivated in the end.

After returning to the United States, Mitchell Kapoor wanted to find out who he really was, so he was admitted to Beacon University to study for a master's degree in psychology and graduated in 1978 with a degree.

Next, Mitchell Kapoor entered a psychiatric institution to work as a waiter, the nature of which was equivalent in spirit to "pouring the potty".

This period was naturally very boring, but fortunately, the interest in computers helped Mitchell Kapoor kill most of the time, and his programming skills made great progress, which made him work at VisiCorp.

Following Tang Huan's success track, Don Estridge created a "troika" of commercial software for IBM-PC, including spreadsheets, word processing, and databases. Among them, the spreadsheet software VisiCalc from VisiCorp was chosen for the spreadsheet.

IBM and VisiCorp reached an agreement, just as Tang Huan's CGrid was pre-installed on Apple II, Dan Bricklin's VisiCalc was pre-installed on IBM-PC.

Obviously, VisiCorp, like Microsoft, embraced the thigh of Big Blue, and the company's performance has made significant progress.

Mitchell Kapoor, who figured out the philosophical question of who he is, did a great job at VisiCorp.

He compiled two sets of software - Visiplot and Visitrend, which were very popular. According to the agreement, he could get a 30.00% commission from the sales.

However, VisiCorp wanted to change this contract and decided to buy the entire copyright of the two software sets.

After negotiation, Mitchell Kapoor received a buyout fee of 120 million US dollars, and left VisiCorp, intending to start his own company as the boss.

As an investor in VisiCorp, Benjamin Rosen naturally noticed this development, and Mitchell Kapoor also needed external help, so the two sides hit it off.

In fact, Benjamin Rosen's vision is indeed correct. Mitchell Kapoor belongs to Jobs' type of genius. up-and-coming.

Now, Benjamin Rosen saw the result he expected on Mitchell Kapoor's IBM-PC - a brand new spreadsheet software, in addition to the general electronic trial calculation design, it can also Visually display the data through charts and support the functions of the database.

"Because this software integrates the three major functions of electronic calculation, drawing, and database, I named it Lotus 1-2-3." Mitchell Kapol introduced it proudly. .

Due to the experience of the previous years, Mitchell Kapoor, who is still obsessed with nothingness, took Lotus, which has a special meaning in religion, as the name of the company and products.

"This design is considered original," Benjamin Rosen asked enthusiastically.

"Not exactly." A look of embarrassment flashed across Mitchell Kapoor's face, but he still chose to tell the truth, "Zheru's CGrid has already had these functions, but this type of software only has Those big customers who can afford the price will buy it out of their pockets, and it is rare to see it on ordinary personal computers. When I was working at VisiCorp, when I went to sell products to customers, I accidentally saw it and was inspired."

"Well, that means it will lose a big selling point in the market in the future." Benjamin Rosen was slightly disappointed.

"Of course not." Mitchell Kapoor resolutely corrected, "Although there are quite a few spreadsheet software on the IBM-PC platform, none of them can achieve such a function. As for Zheru IBM-PC The platform version of CGrid is just a sign to declare its existence, and its functions cannot be compared with the Fangyuan computer platform version of CGrid."

Speaking of this, Mitchell Kapoor emphasized his tone, "So, on the IBM-PC platform, Lotus 1-2-3 is the first software with such a collection of functions, which is definitely a big selling point. "

"It's the number one on the IBM-PC platform again..." Thinking of Compaq's Benjamin Rosen, he couldn't help but smile.

"Today's software companies, such as Gary Kildare's Digital Research, Bill Gates' Microsoft, Dan Bricklin's VisiCorp, Seymour Rubinstein's MicroPro International, etc., are exhausting themselves. It can support as many hardware platforms as possible, and even the leftovers left by Zheru on the Fangyuan computer platform will become their goal."

Unlike Rod Kenyon of the founding team of Compaq Computer Corporation, Mitchell Kapoor provided Benjamin Rosen with various documents including the business plan. He only had a three-inch tongue.

"But my Lotus software will do the opposite and concentrate on supporting only the IBM-PC platform."

Without waiting for Benjamin Rosen to ask the reason for such a choice, Mitchell Kapoor continued to explain, "The most direct benefit of this is that the program code does not need to use too many cross-hardware platform compatibility factors. C language and other high-level programming languages. Lotus 1-2-3 is compiled in assembly language, even if it contains many complex functions, its operating efficiency far exceeds that of similar products on the IBM-PC platform."

Mitchell Kapoor snapped his fingers triumphantly, "More importantly, I have noticed a major trend in the development of personal computer hardware specifications - the memory capacity is constantly increasing, and the memory capacity of commercial microcomputers has reached 256 KB, or higher, is not uncommon."

Speaking of this, Mitchell Kapoor seemed to think of something about Coke and laughed, "But many software companies don't seem to notice this, and they haven't optimized the program code. Support IBM- The three major spreadsheet software on the PC platform: VisiCalc, SuperCalc, and MultiPlan are like this. The most ridiculous thing is that Microsoft’s MultiPlan actively limits the memory of the program to a maximum of 256 KB. I really don’t understand Bill Gates What's going on in your head."

"In this way, compared with other similar products on the IBM-PC platform, Lotus 1-2-3 is not only powerful and fast, but also performs better on a personal computer with a large memory of 256 KB." Benjamin Luo Mori confirms these attractive product features with interest.

"That's it. Lotus 1-2-3 can be described as a combination of VisiCalc, SuperCalc, and MultiPlan. I have all their functions, but their running speed is not as fast as mine. How can I compete with me?" Mitchell Kapoor Made a heroic gesture.

(End of this chapter)