Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 426 Differentiation of PC Market Power
"When do you plan to finish Lotus 1-2-3?" Benjamin Rosen stopped the high-spirited Mitchell Kapoor from talking, and asked while pointing at the monitor screen.

It has to be said that, in view of Mitchell Kapoor's inconspicuous past experience, Benjamin Rosen is naturally not as easy to gain trust as Compaq's Rod Kenyon.

Therefore, when it comes to product progress, Lotus Software gave Benjamin Rosen a less reliable impression than Compaq Computer.

“Lotus 1-2-3在电子试算方面的功能已经基本完成了，绘图、数据库方面的功能还差一些。所以，我说Lotus 1-2-3比IBM-PC平台上的其它电子表格软件强大，是有事实根据的。”

Mitchell Kapoor's psychology major was not in vain, and he had already noticed the suspicion that Benjamin Rosen inadvertently revealed.

"In the next period of time, we will fix the functions that have not been completed, and carefully eliminate the BUG, ​​and strive for the maturity of Lotus 1-2-3 to be higher than that of Zheru software."

Mitchell Kapoor showed Benjamin Rosen a scrawled software development record book, "According to the current progress, Lotus 1-2-3 can catch up with COMDEX in Las Vegas at the end of November. To Time, we're going to be famous in one fell swoop."

Seeing that Mitchell Kapol, who had been playing tricks all the time, finally took out the written materials, Benjamin Rosen's perception finally improved.

"COMDEX at the end of November is really a coincidence." Benjamin Rosen said to himself, and couldn't help but think of Compaq Computer, which had the same schedule.

"Although Compaq Portable and Lotus 1-2-3 are not completely original, they are the first on the IBM-PC platform. One piece of hardware, one piece of software, and two firsts added together, it is really possible to make a blockbuster , A piece of delicious cake was differentiated from IBM. In this way, before I knew it, I had two good cards in my hands at the same time. Could it be that the goddess of luck has begun to favor me. "

Benjamin Rosen, who became more and more excited as he thought about it, tried to calm himself down, stretched his body and leaned on the back of the chair, raised his legs, and asked leisurely, "Mitchell, is there any contact with VisiCorp?" ? How is the dispute over their interests with SA Company resolved?"

Dan Bricklin's spreadsheet software VisiCalc is completed by the two companies in terms of technology research and development and market operation, and the sales revenue is distributed according to the previously agreed ratio.

As the sales revenue has entered the range of tens of millions of dollars, the originally inconspicuous microcomputer software has become a hen that lays golden eggs. A few tenths of a percent of the figure means gains or losses of tens of thousands of dollars.

In this way, holding IBM's thigh, VisiCorp, which is on the rise, had a conflict with its original partner SA.

Regarding this situation, Benjamin Rosen was very speechless. Fortunately, the resources he invested in VisiCorp were not many and he could withdraw at any time.

"I'm too lazy to care about them." Mitchell Kapoor replied casually, "After Lotus 1-2-3 is officially launched on the market, the first one to be trampled is VisiCorp."

Hearing the resentment in Mitchell Kapoor's words, Benjamin Rosen couldn't help laughing.

……

Tang Huan shook his head and laughed as he watched the information briefings of the IT industry collected and sorted out by his subordinates. Brothers still have to settle their accounts clearly. Aren't VisiCorp and SA just looking for trouble?

A few years ago, everyone was still focusing on computer hardware, but with Gary Kildare's operating system CP/M, Tang Huan's electronic form CGrid and other ace software, it quickly became popular and became a powerful tool for attracting money. There are naturally more and more people who specialize in the software business.

This changing trend can be seen from the amount of advertisements placed in magazines and newspapers.

Tang Huan can also find other information, such as Microsoft, under the painstaking management of Gates, has finally entered the ranks of companies with sales revenue of tens of millions of dollars.

Of course, Gates is still the younger brother behind Tang Huan and Jobs.

However, lagging behind also has its advantages, such as not having to care about face so much, and doing things that "know your shame and be brave".

For this reason, Charles Simeone, the vice president in charge of software R&D, specifically reminded his engineers—fire, theft, and Gates, because the other party has been tirelessly stealing lessons, and now he is wandering around Zheru. .

Regarding this situation, Charles Simeone complained a lot in front of Tang Huan and bluntly suggested that Gates, a guy who doesn't know how to restrain himself, should stop giving face to him and give him a good beating.

But Tang Huan just replied jokingly, "We have known each other for such a long time, how dare you not be sympathetic, if he wants to steal from your teacher, you should just keep it secret."

Tang Huan's ambiguous attitude made Charles Simonyi very depressed. He could only passively guard against the shrewd Gates like a thief, making a lot of jokes.

The reason why Tang Huan did this, of course, had his own considerations. You must know that Gates is an energetic and ambitious person.

IBM chose Microsoft's MS-DOS as the IBM-PC operating system, and Don Estridge chose Dan Bricklin's VisiCalc as the signature spreadsheet software on the IBM-PC platform.

According to Big Blue's big brother's thinking, little brothers like Microsoft who are following him to make a living should work within the scope he has defined and not mess up the rules.

But Gates, who has always been ambitious, was not dazzled by the surprise of hugging IBM's thigh. He knew too well how powerful Big Blue was. The main reason why the other party chose to complete the operating system by himself was that The advent of the IBM-PC required a rush.

It can be said that if IBM wants to change its mind on a whim one day, it can kick Microsoft out without any scruples and build an operating system by itself.

Therefore, Gates, who is wary of danger in times of peace, is doing his best to please IBM on MS-DOS while actively expanding his software product line. Microsoft has begun to get involved in popular programs such as spreadsheets and word processing.

Of course, IBM is not satisfied with Gates' restlessness. You haven't developed MS-DOS for me yet, so you are thinking about changing?
Therefore, while Big Blue increased pressure on Gates in the development of MS-DOS, it also asked Microsoft's newly launched spreadsheet software MultiPlan to closely match the hardware specifications of its own products, focusing on the software's memory capacity not exceeding 256 KB. Performance on IBM-PC.

Obviously, this also means that it is difficult for MultiPlan to handle spreadsheet software with larger data volumes.

At present, Microsoft does not have enough capital to fight, so it can only bow its head and listen to the mercy of big brother IBM.

But this also made Gates understand more clearly that IBM, which has a clear product line plan, has been consciously avoiding the challenge of personal computers to its original high-end products, and this is very important for Microsoft, which only relies on the personal computer market to make a living. Speaking of it, it is very dangerous.

In this way, Gates's pace of expanding Microsoft's product line has not stopped, but has become bigger and bigger.No matter how difficult Charles Simeone is, he is cold-blooded and cold-hearted in Zheru's place, and he is willing to act like a coward.

Gates' ambitious and half-hearted attitude towards IBM is exactly what Tang Huan wants to see. The more uncertain factors on the IBM-PC platform, the more he likes to see it.

Don't you want to steal a teacher, but this way of learning is limited after all, and IBM-PC is squeezed by Fangyuan Computer, and the market scale expands slowly. The more Microsoft tosses according to its own interests, the more it can prevent the power of this platform from embracing. into a ball.

Compared with the benefits of this "differentiation", Charles Simeone's concerns can naturally be abdicated.

……

When Gates wandered back, Tang Huan said with a smile: "Bill, Apple invited me to visit the development process of Apple IIGS, and you should go to see it together, and solve the BASIC support problem by the way."

When such a good thing came to his door, Gates of course happily agreed, and happily accompanied Tang Huan to the Apple II department of Apple, where Woz and Bill Mensch——Bill Mensch had already been waiting there.

Now Apple is divided into three parts in terms of power according to the division of products, Apple II, Lisa, and MAC under the personal control of Jobs. feeling.

Now it is the Apple II department that provides financial support for Apple, but because Woz is not good at company political struggles, Apple II is generally regarded as an outdated product, and its status is not as good as that of MAC, or even the upcoming Lisa Gao. .

How else can we say that Apple at this stage is a strange thing? In addition to Jobs in the second grade, this kind of white-eyed wolf phenomenon who eats meat and scolds his mother also exists openly.

People in the Apple II department are naturally dissatisfied. We have brought absolute profits to the company and supported a large number of people. Why should we be discriminated against?

But Woz was too soft, and the Apple II department lacked strong leaders, so he could only endure it aggrievedly.

Tang Huan didn't want Apple's little partner who shared the pressure to fall, so he kept pointing at the Apple II department.

As for the Lisa and the Mac, because of the novelty of the graphical user interface, the secrecy is extremely high, and he doesn't bother to mess with it. Anyway, these two projects are not as friendly to philosophical software as the Apple II.

In fact, supporting Apple II is also a major achievement of Tang Huan's division of power within Apple, which makes him a nominal member of Apple's board of directors, but still has great influence.

The second-generation Macintosh line of products begins with the original Apple II.Evolved to the Apple II Plus, and even the current Apple IIe, three generations have been updated in six years.

Apple executives, including Woz, basically reached a consensus. The Apple IIe, which was upgraded from Apple II expansion card technology by buying out Apple II from Tang Huan, basically made the 8-bit Apple II reach its peak. It is not worth continuing to comprehensively A technology upgrade is necessary.

In other words, the Apple II ended with the Apple IIe as far as 8-bit personal computers were concerned.

However, the 8-bit Apple II still has room for improvement, and that is the increasingly popular portable personal computer.

Seeing that Fangyuan Computer was the first to launch the Fangyuan portable personal computer, which was very successful, Apple was also moved, so it planned to launch its own portable personal computer-Apple IIc based on the Apple IIe.

The level of technical innovation in this project was very limited, and naturally it could not attract the interest of technology experts such as Tang Huan and Woz. Their focus was on the 16-bit Apple II.

Given that the second-generation Fangyuan Computer and IBM-PC were very successful in attracting consumers with their graphics and sound capabilities, Apple hoped that the direct successor to the Apple IIe would also have such advantages.

Therefore, Apple, which focuses on Graphics-graphics and Sound-sound, named this new product Apple IIGS.

Since Tang Huan supports the Apple IIGS project, its compatibility with Zheru software will naturally reach a perfect level.

In order to achieve this goal, the project team led by Woz chose Bill Mensch's microprocessor W65C816 according to Tang Huan's suggestion.

Tang Huan started from developing the electronic spreadsheet software CGrid for Apple II and made his first pot of gold. On the MOS 6502 CPU platform, he launched many heavyweight software products.

You know, every line of code in it is wealth, if you have to give up these old products because the MOS 6502 microprocessor is becoming obsolete in the field of personal computers, or you have to spend a lot of effort to maintain the code to ensure that the software continues to run If so, it would be too bad.

Therefore, Tang Huan has been actively looking for the 6502-bit CPU successor of MOS 16, in order to protect the value of the old version of the software like Intel's Intel 8086 is compatible with Intel 8080.

In the end, the Western Design Center founded by Bill Mensch fell into the eyes of Tang Huan.

(End of this chapter)