Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 450 Playing a Divisive Scheme against IBM

Compared with the investor and media appreciation meeting in New York, the reason why Tang Huan described the celebration banquet held in San Francisco as a family banquet is because this is his base camp.

The Shennong Foundation, which throws money everywhere and is like the Virgin, is headquartered in San Francisco.

Pacific Telecom, the jewel of the American communications industry acquired from AT&T for a huge sum of money, is also headquartered in San Francisco.

Yanle Entertainment Group, which controls EA, Hasbro, Radio Shack, United Artists, MGM, Orion, KTVU, Oakland Raiders, Oakland Athletics, and Golden State Warriors, is also headquartered in San Francisco.

As for the distance between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are close at hand.

It is precisely because of such a powerful influence that the celebration banquet held at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel gathered almost all the celebrities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and there were not a few guests who came from Los Angeles and other places.

To Tang Huan's slight surprise, the biggest rival in the personal computer market, Don Estridge, who is in charge of IBM-PC, also came all the way here.

You must know that the reason why Tang Huan sent invitations to many colleagues, including competitors, was that he did not expect them to respond positively one by one. His main purpose was nothing more than to assume a condescending leadership posture.

But the result was that all the invitees showed up, regardless of whether they were friends or foes. This can only be explained by his strong position in the industry.

Don Estridge, who had a reason to come, was depressed. He originally planned to hold an IBM-PC platform industry conference at the beginning of the year, but everyone went to San Francisco to support Tang Huan, which made Don Estridge Feeling very uneasy, I had to hurry to see the scene.

After exchanging pleasantries, Tang Huan smiled playfully, "IBM's management is very generous, so they let Compaq Computer go. Presumably when you chose to disclose the specifications of IBM-PC, your intention was not to make wedding dresses for others. For example, an IBM-PC compatible machine without any restrictions will undoubtedly become a ferocious white-eyed wolf, and the IBM-PC will be overwhelmed by the cost-effectiveness alone. They may help the IBM-PC platform to expand its market share, but they have a problem with you. Is it about the dollar?"

Hearing Tang Huan's words of alienating the relationship between IBM-PC and compatible machines, Don Estridge's face became ugly.

The decision to let go of Compaq Computer was a decision made by the headquarters based on IBM's overall interests, not from his original intention.The purpose of the IBM-PC platform industry conference that is being held is to strengthen its leadership over IBM-PC to make up for previous poor consideration.

Covering up in front of Tang Huan, a discerning man, will only weaken his momentum.So Don Estridge said directly: "The decision of the headquarters is justified. I believe that Fangyuan Computer Company, whose product line covers supercomputers, servers, and personal computers, will also make development plans for the personal computer business. At that time, it was constrained by the factor of overall interests."

"Your vision is very accurate." Tang Huan laughed loudly with an admiring look on his face. "Maybe there is something like what you said, but Fangyuan Computer Company does not have as much historical burden as IBM."

It has to be said that Don Estridge saw the key.

In the original time and space, the reason why Big Blue made all kinds of stupid decisions in the personal computer industry that outsiders thought was unbelievable was that IBM's management considered issues from the perspective of the company's overall interests. Computers will impact the traditional mainframe computer business, which is the main source of profit.

Fangyuan Computer Company, whose business scope is not limited to personal computers, will inevitably encounter such troubles.

However, unlike IBM, which has a large number of mainframe users and needs constant maintenance, Fangyuan Computer Company's high-end products such as servers and workstations are in the stage of active expansion. Tang Huan will not deliberately set up these products and personal computers. Avoid machine performance ceilings that compete with each other for market share.

Today's era is an era of chasing each other, whether inside or outside the company.

Naturally, it was impossible for Tang Huan to express these plans to Don Estridge.He finally just patted the other person on the shoulder and said, "Anyway, thank you for coming, please enjoy this banquet", and then turned to entertain others.

……

When seeing the Microsoft trio of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Steve Ballmer, Tang Huan smiled and said, "It's really rare that you are all here. Let's take a moment and sit down together. Play bridge."

Looking back from the direction of Mitchell Kapoor of the Lotus Company, Gates nodded with a forced smile, "Of course."

The reason why Gates can't cheer up is mainly because Microsoft has encountered thorny troubles recently-MultiPlan, a spreadsheet software with high hopes, has no resistance in front of the new similar product Lotus 1-2-3, and quickly defeated.

It can be said that Gates is definitely a veteran in the field of personal computers. As early as the mid-1970s, when the first batch of personal computers such as Altair came out, he began to mix in this circle.

However, because of this, Gates was constrained by the initial success of BASIC. Although he realized the importance of software to personal computers very early, he still believed that every computer needs a programming language. That's all, and a lot of opportunities have been missed.

Microsoft's launch of the spreadsheet software MultiPlan is a proof that Gates has come to his senses and made amends.

It's a pity that MultiPlan was born at an untimely time, and Lotus 1-2-3 was born as soon as it tasted a little sweetness in the market.

This software written in assembly language has almost no bugs, just like Tang Huan launched the Apple II version of the spreadsheet software CGrid. It was a great success as soon as it appeared on the IBM-PC platform. Here, the predecessors such as VisiCalc, MultiPlan, and SuperGrid are trampled underfoot mercilessly.

You know, at this stage, Microsoft's profit point mainly depends on BASIC.

In the $100 million deal between Gates and IBM, $40 was the assembler fee for the four programming languages ​​PASCAL, COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC, and the other $40 was for each IBM-PC using MS-DOS. An upfront payment of $1 for the operating system license fee, and the remaining $20 for a year of labor required to adapt MS-DOS to run correctly on the IBM-PC.

Among them is an important agreement, as long as IBM preinstalls Microsoft's BASIC in the basic structure of the machine, he can use MS-DOS in a limited way without having to pay for the authorization fee.

In other words, Gates is using the way of giving away the right to use MS-DOS for free to expand a new market for his BASIC.

But BASIC is an abstract programming language after all, and its applicability is not as wide as application software such as spreadsheets, so MultiPlan has become a very important supplement to Microsoft's product line.

But now that Lotus 1-2-3 has tortured MultiPlan to death, it is tantamount to giving Microsoft a head-on stick. Gates' heart is bleeding, and it is strange to be happy.

"Don, did you know that the rapid popularity of Lotus 1-2-3 gave a shot in the arm to the sales of IBM-PC." Steve Ballmer said with emotion.

"It doesn't matter whether I know it or not. It's not me who should be the most worried." Tang Huan smiled slightly, "Why, after being saped by Lotus 1-2-3, some of you can't find the north."

Steve Ballmer showed embarrassment and coughed lightly, "Aren't you afraid of such a dark horse? Although Lotus 1-2-3 is not as powerful as CGrid, as long as it enters the Fangyuan computer and Apple II platform, It can still stir up wind and rain."

"Are you trying to trick me?" Seeing Gates and Paul Allen looking over together, Tang Huan joked.

"Of course I asked for advice." Steve Ballmer quickly complimented him.

To be honest, there is currently no obvious conflict of interest between Microsoft and Tang Huan. Both parties tacitly respect each other's territory, just like Gates' BASIC and Gary Kildare's CP/M back then.

In particular, Tang Huan, who is on the strong side, not only did not covet the market for BASIC, but also generously introduced it into the Fangyuan computer platform and EBase database environment.

Otherwise, the trio of Microsoft would not be so convinced in front of Tang Huan, and even "shamelessly ask" the doctor.

"I've never been afraid of fighting face to face, and this is also the most decent way to defeat an opponent, but proper skills will not give up needlessly." Tang Huan made a gesture, "The party that masters the platform and rules resources, I will most likely have the last laugh.”

Speaking of this, Tang Huan left after saying "I'll go to Compaq Computer first, don't forget to play cards together at night", got up and left.

"What does Tang mean?" Paul Allen asked suspiciously.

Thoughtful Gates slowly replied: "He is reminding us that if we want to defeat Lotus' 1-2-3 attack, we still need to work hard on product development. At the same time, don't forget that we have the operating system MS in our hands. -DOS advantage."

"But today's programmers can completely bypass our MS-DOS and directly call the IBM-PC's BIOS function. We can't restrict it at all." Paul Allen scratched his head regretfully.

"But these software still run in MS-DOS, don't they?" Gates raised his glass and took a sip. "The point is that MS-DOS is still too simple at present. If it can be as powerful as Free-DOS on the Fangyuan computer, With a complete high-level programming interface, programmers are not willing to bypass the operating system and frequently call obscure underlying system functions."

"IBM is developing a new personal computer based on the Intel 80286, and..." Steve Ballmer lowered his voice, "We are also developing an operating system with a graphical user interface, which is a platform and a game changer. Opportunity, we can quietly make adjustments to our advantage while ensuring forward software compatibility. However, in this way, we can no longer listen to IBM."

Paul Allen snorted, "The limit that IBM imposed on MultiPlan's maximum memory capacity of 256 KB has made us miserable. Of course, we can no longer trust IBM so much."

"I think that's what Don means." Gates nodded in agreement, "But this is a long-term view. We must not give up on the spreadsheet war in front of us and continue to fight."

……

In fact, there is one point that Tang Huan has not had time to clarify, that is, with the emergence of IBM-PC compatible machines such as Compaq Computer, MS-DOS will inevitably usher in a great opportunity like BASIC sold to various manufacturers.

Seeing Don Esterlich walking to the Lotus Company and chatting and laughing with Mitchell Capol, Tang Huan saw the opportunity, left the Microsoft trio, and quickly walked towards the Compaq Computer team nearby.

The two companies, Lotus and Compaq, share a common venture capitalist, Benjamin Rosen, as a bond, and they are virtually close to each other.

While shaking hands with Rod Kenyon, the CEO of Compaq Computer who got up to greet him respectfully, Tang Huan laughed loudly and said, "I have seen Compaq's portable personal computer, it is a very good product, no wonder it is very popular in the market. "

Rod Kenyon blushed from being praised, and quickly invited Tang Huan to sit down, and attentively discussed the prospects of the personal computer industry.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the eyes of many people, Tang Huan is now similar to Warren Buffett who auctioned off opportunities to have dinner together in the original time and space. He has profound industry insights and every word may indicate a business opportunity.

"How about it? Are you interested in making a compatible computer for Fangyuan Computer? With your strength in developing IBM-PC compatible computers, it shouldn't be difficult." Tang Huan found a gap and asked sincerely.

"Of course I wish for it. But Compaq is still busy digesting the technological achievements of the IBM-PC compatible machine, and is unable to take care of the compatible machine of Fangyuan Computer for the time being." Rod Kenyon gave a wry smile and replied regretfully.

Their high-spirited talk quickly attracted the attention of Don Estridge not far away.

Because from the development momentum of Lotus 1-2-3, it is only a matter of time before it replaces VisiCalc's market position, so Don Estridge had to change the object of support and was busy wooing Mitchell Kapoor .

Unexpectedly, Tang Huan was also doing a similar job. Seeing this scene, Don Estridge was so angry, he thought that you are a new billionaire, so why go out and poach the wall yourself?There is really no lower limit, and you are not afraid of price drops!
Don Estrich walked over quickly and interjected calmly: "Compaq paid $100 million to obtain all the technical specifications and authorization of the IBM-PC. Can Fangyuan Computer also achieve such favorable conditions?"

"It's up to people." Tang Huan shrugged, said "Contact more" to Rod Kenyon, and got up to leave.

The seeds of suspicion had been sown, and he was too lazy to continue performing.

(End of this chapter)