Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 453 Spreadsheet Software War
Gates is so frustrated, mainly because of the huge pressure from Lotus 1-2-3, its rapid development momentum can only be described as sweeping the entire IBM-PC platform, and now it has become a bundled sale of IBM-PC and Compaq portable personal computers standard spreadsheet software.

As for similar products such as VisiCalc and MultiPlan, they have become yesterday's flowers. If they did not have versions that support CP/M and other multi-platforms to survive, they would simply close down.

The stimulating effect of Lotus 1-2-3 on the sales of IBM-PC is also very obvious. Because personal computers and spreadsheet software are the best combination of functions at this stage, customers can use them directly to explore on their own without any special training. Use to solve real business needs.

At this time, IBM-PC obviously found its true destiny in the killer application software, coupled with the brand effect created by Big Blue for a long time, it finally began to show its power in the market.

Tang Huan quickly realized that in this spreadsheet software war, Lotus had basically completed the unification of the IBM-PC platform at a speed beyond his expectations.

This jaw-dropping achievement in the industry can only be explained by using the current situation to make a hero.

The current profit margin of software products is generally between 60.00% and 70.00%. If all links are properly matched, it may reach a higher level.

So it can be seen how strong the gold-absorbing ability of this intellectual product is.

In other words, if Lotus software is allowed to develop without any obstacles, it will definitely become a serious problem, because Lotus 1-2-3 has pushed the front line of this spreadsheet software war to IBM-PC and Fangyuan Between the two PC camps.

As the first bucket of gold in Tang Huan's career, CGrid has always occupied a special position in the software product department. The programmers engaged in coding, the functions provided, and the sales and profits contributed are all top-notch.

In addition to the built-in electronic trial calculation, financial functions, chart display, data analysis and other functions, CGrid also provides powerful software suite functions for data interaction with word processing software WordEasy and database product EBase, and supports languages ​​including Far East languages. multi-lingual.

These features are unmatched by other similar products, and Lotus 1-2-3 is no exception.

But in response to that sentence, in the world of martial arts, the only thing that can't be broken is fast, and Lotus 1-2-3, which shows almost no bugs, has swept away all competitors just because of its operating efficiency.

It is impossible for CGrid to completely abandon C language and use assembly language for coding in order to pursue execution speed like Lotus 1-2-3.

First of all, CGrid far exceeds the powerful functions of Lotus 1-2-3 in quantity, and the coding complexity brought by it is not allowed to do so.

In addition, according to the news, Don Esterlich has reached an agreement with Mitchell Capol that Lotus 1-2-3 only supports the IBM-PC platform.

That is to say, using Lotus 1-2-3 in assembly language, its programmers only need to face the Intel 8088 CPU.

However, CGrid supports multiple hardware platforms such as the first-generation Fangyuan computer, the second-generation Fangyuan computer, and Apple II, and needs to deal with various CPUs such as MOS 6502, Intel 8086, and MC68000.Only a high-level programming language like C can help in effective project management.

The result of this is that, according to the user's way of thinking, ignoring the professional differences in the personal computer architecture, in the machine environment with low operating frequency CPU and small memory capacity, Lotus 1-2-3 is indeed superior in terms of execution efficiency. Gives a better feel.

"The honor of being the first spreadsheet software in the world belongs to us, but now someone is using a similar product to steal the limelight based on the plausible publicity stunt of running speed. Are you willing to accept this situation?" Tang Huan, who was sitting at the top , looked around at his subordinates, and asked slowly.

Although some of them went to Hawaii for vacation, the rest of them just got the opportunity to show their ability in front of the big boss, so they cheered up and offered advice and suggestions.

……

"Comparing the operating efficiency of CGrid and Lotus 1-2-3 on a low-configuration personal computer is meaningless."

"It is true that the main users of spreadsheet software are enterprises, not individuals. One of the characteristics of the practical application of spreadsheet software today is that the amount of data is increasing. This fundamentally requires a personal computer with a faster CPU and more Large memory, and as long as it can really help solve business problems, enterprises still have a lot of tolerance for price.”

"Although CGrid also has an IBM-PC version, it is mainly to provide functions such as viewing and printing data files, and it cannot be greatly enhanced in order to compete with the running speed.

"Therefore, the competition environment between CGrid and Lotus 1-2-3 should be set in a hardware configuration with a memory capacity of 256 KB and above, which is almost the mainstream configuration of commercial computers."

"CGrid has good modularity in design. We can launch a targeted version to destroy the combination of Lotus 1-2-3 and IBM-PC."

……

In the heated discussion, the response plan was quickly formed.

In order to let users who don’t understand computer science understand that since they want to compete for operating efficiency, there should be a reasonable and fair environment. Therefore, in the second-generation Fangyuan computer, the Intel 256 model with 8086 KB memory and the MC512 model with 68000 KB memory , was chosen as the platform for comparison with IBM-PC.

At the same time, the plan also clearly highlights three elements:
What is meaningfully fast is called fast—that is, it is only meaningful to compare the speed on such a commercial platform.

It is as powerful as it looks—that is, CGrid has more practical functions and can help customers solve business problems.

It is truly multifunctional—that is, FreeDOS on the MC68000 model provides multitasking support, and can simultaneously run electronic form CGrid and word processing WordEasy.

At the same time, corresponding to the price advantage of Lotus 1-2-3, CGrid also counterattacks the purchase cost of enterprises with a similar set of functions.

……

After reading the plan, Tang Huan felt that this vigorous action should be of great benefit to Fangyuan Computer's goal of shipping more than 1983 million units in 160.

Tang Huan, who nodded secretly, approved the first phase of 80 US dollars with a wave of his golden pen.

As a result, people quickly noticed the start of a new spreadsheet software war in various advertisements—the recently embraced IBM's thigh, the glorious, and somewhat arrogant Lotus 1-2-3, which attracted philosophers The ire of the industry pioneer and the world's largest independent software vendor.

(End of this chapter)