Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 512 PPT and digital projectors
There is no basis for the words, a database management system hidden behind the scenes, no matter how gaudy it is described, its appeal is limited.

Larry Ellison's ability to gather his previous popularity is already the limit of what he can achieve with his personal charm.After being disturbed by a few bottles of Coke, the scene suddenly became deserted.

Larry Ellison, who looked around, finally saw Tang Huan who was standing in the distance and was about to turn around and leave.

"Don, I'm so glad that you can visit Oracle's booth." Larry Ellison walked over quickly while talking.

"Welcome to the ORACLE database and enter the Fangyuan computer platform, which has more and more prospects." Different from the disdain and hostility shown by his subordinates, Tang Huan smiled easily.

"It seems like my joke made you angry?" Larry Ellison asked, pointing to the advertising board that was hit by Coke.

"When you reach my current height, you will find that the biggest feature of these attention-grabbing tricks is that they are fun." Tang Huan looked at the other party gently, "I'm very busy, and I don't have time to get angry about such trivial things."

Larry Ellison was immediately speechless by the lesson, and the depression of being regarded as a monkey was suffocating in his stomach, and he swelled extremely uncomfortable.

"Reciprocity, this is an arrangement of our COMDEX activities, you are welcome to visit." Tang Huan handed a coloring page to Larry Ellison casually, and left calmly.

"What a big air!" Bob Miner exclaimed, "It looks more arrogant than those high-ranking officials we have seen."

"He is as arrogant as IBM, so we have a chance." Larry Ellison smiled meaningfully, shaking the information in his hand, "Look at the booth, and I will pay a return visit."

"Be careful they embarrass you." Ed Oates warned.

"I won't give them a chance." Larry Ellison waved his hand confidently and walked away.

……

Following the electronic form CGrid, the word processing WordEasy, and the microcomputer database EBase, Zheru officially introduced the fourth heavyweight member to the field of commercial office software—the presentation software PowerPresenter, which we nicknamed PPT.

By making presentations through PPT, business personnel, teachers, students, trainers and other users can save a lot of time spent on traditional visual aids such as hand-drawing, mechanical typesetting film and blackboards, and focus on How to improve the effectiveness of explanations.

PPT is another practical breakthrough in graphical user interface applications. The operating systems it supports include FreeDOS and Vientiane, and can run on Fangyuan Computer and Apple's latest generation 16-bit personal computer Apple IIGS.

Theoretically, as long as the digital projector supports the video graphics standard of Fangyuan Computer Company, that is, the VGS interface, it can be connected to the computer platform on which PPT runs for exciting presentations.

Currently, digital projector products certified by Zheru include Barco's CRT projectors and Zheru's own intellectual property LCD projectors.

……

The chief engineer of PowerPresenter, Dr. Robert Gaskins, who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, vigorously introduced various exciting features of PPT.

Larry Ellison, who was sitting in the dark like everyone else in the small venue, was immediately attracted by the new slide system displayed on the stage.

"Those senior government officials and executives of big companies will definitely become obsessed with this brand-new digital presentation format after just one glance. At that time, the money will definitely flow in." Larry Ellison felt sour in his heart Yu finally had a positive understanding of Zheru's strength.

In the plan to push the ORACLE database to the microcomputer database market, the first step Larry Ellison made was a price war.

At this stage, ORACLE's profits mainly come from minicomputers and mainframe products, and the price war is enough to hit Ashton-Tate's DBase on the IBM-PC platform.

However, this trick cannot have such an effect on Zheru's EBase. There are too many products for people to make money, and the presentation software PowerPresenter in front of them is the latest one.

Thinking of this, Larry Ellison couldn't help feeling a little dizzy.

The rising microcomputer market belongs to an unfamiliar field for ORACLE. It doesn't even have an ally, so it's really lonely.

……

"Now, please invite Dr. Peter Brody to introduce the LCD technology involved in the new product LCD projector." Robert Gaskins enthusiastically pushed the demonstration to the next link.

"When Westinghouse Electric canceled the R&D plan, I thought I was going to retire completely. Unexpectedly, Zheru gave me the opportunity to see the launch of LCD products. Thanks to the R&D team who worked with me." Once on stage, Peter Brody said a few digressions excitedly.

No wonder Peter Brody lost his temper. In 1959, he moved from London, England to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After working as a researcher at Westinghouse Electric Company, he did theoretical research in the field of LCD for 20 years until the project was cancelled.

In fact, after entering the 1980s, LCD research and patent competition have entered a fierce stage, and the key link is just a step away.

Relying on the financial power of the upstarts in Silicon Valley, Tang Huan used the method of spending money to catch up with and surpass American and Japanese companies step by step.

In addition to the product LCD projector, Fangyuan laptop display is also introducing LCD technology.

In addition to the commercially available CRT and the just-launched LCD, the implementation of digital projectors also includes Digital Light Processing—Digital Light Processing, or DLP.

At this stage, Texas Instruments is in a leading position in the research and development of DLP.

After enjoying the benefits of entering the end product calculator market in the 1970s, Texas Instruments later entered the personal computer market, another end product, and participated in the low-cost personal computers of Heconmaoda Company, as well as in the field of home video game consoles. The price war between Atari 2600 and EA's Overlord game console, etc., and with the collapse of the North American home video game console market in 1983, the company suffered huge losses and lost its vitality, and had to announce its withdrawal from the terminal product market. , specializing in the chip business like Intel.

It can be said that Texas Instruments is very weak now, and Tang Huan is cooperating with its sluggishness, waving a golden pickaxe, digging and digging, digging and digging.

As a matter of fact, besides Atari, Texas Instruments, Mattel and other well-known companies that have been cheated by this market, there are more victims, and every week there are bankruptcy, bankruptcy, prostitution, etc. drama.

EA swallowed vector graphics game console maker Vectrex in one gulp; Hasbro, which survived by not entering the home video game console market, also targeted its weaker toy makers.

……

"Next, I would like to invite my colleague Gene Dogoff to give a comprehensive introduction to the LCD projector." After Peter Brody finished his lecture on LCD technology, he handed over the host position of the demonstration.

Gene Dogoff, in his 30s, who is equally heroic, joked as soon as he took the stage, "Think about it, using the PowerPresenter digital presentation system to introduce itself is really a wonderful thing."

"Everyone has already learned about the presentation software PowerPresenter and LCD technology, so next, let us turn our attention to LCD projectors."

"Simply put, an LCD projector consists of three major parts, namely the optical system, LCD module and electronic function module."

“The optical system is not only complex, but also involves a wide range of technical aspects and categories, such as optical specification measurement, optical system architecture, optical design, light source modules, splitting and combining light components, projection lenses, and screens, etc. "

"As for the LCD liquid crystal module, it is the main device that controls the image displayed by the projector."

"The final electronic function module is to process the input electronic image signal and transmit it to the LCD liquid crystal module."

"It is undeniable that LCD projectors are brand-new products, and CRT projectors are relatively more mature in technology. The images displayed by them are rich in color, good in reproduction, and have sufficient ability to adjust geometric distortion."

"But CRT projectors also have obvious shortcomings. For example, the two most important technical indicators of the projector - image resolution and brightness, restrict each other in the implementation plan of the CRT projector, directly affecting its brightness value. "

"In addition, the CRT projector is complicated to operate, especially the cumbersome adjustment of convergence, which often takes several hours. Its body is also a bit heavy, ranging from dozens of pounds to hundreds of pounds, and it is not easy to move, so it is only suitable for installation In a relatively fixed place with weak ambient light.”

"On the other hand, LCD projectors just solve these problems of CRT projectors."

……

Gene Dogoff finally concluded: "In addition to meeting the needs of presentations, the projector can also enter the entertainment field in the future, such as building a home theater system."

Seeing that the presentation was coming to an end, Larry Ellison was about to get up and leave, and heard the host's introduction: "Next, the EBase R&D team will use the PowerPresenter digital presentation system, and they will bring the latest research and development results of relational databases. "

Upon hearing this, Larry Ellison quickly put his butt back, intending to see what happened.

Larry Ellison was right to stay. EBase's support for server/client architecture, as well as the Zheru R&D team's discussion and outlook on On-Line Transaction Processing - Online Transaction Processing, or OLTP, even proposed Online Analytical Processing - The concept of online analytical processing, or OLAP, really opened his eyes.

The online transaction processing system is the most important use of relational database at this stage, that is, it immediately transmits the user's original data to the computing center for processing and provides the processing results in a short time.

The OLAP system is specially designed to support complex analysis operations, focusing on decision support for decision makers and senior managers. It can quickly and flexibly perform complex query processing of large amounts of data according to the requirements of analysts, and in a In an intuitive and easy-to-understand form, the query results are provided to decision-makers, so that they can accurately grasp the business status of the enterprise, understand the needs of the target, and formulate the correct plan.

……

When Larry Ellison walked out of the conference hall, he felt heavy in his heart. He had already realized that the real opponent of EBase should be IBM's DB2, his own ORACLE, and DBase on the IBM-PC platform. .

In other words, the entry of ORACLE database into the microcomputer database market is not as simple as his previous plan.

Philosophers with leading technologies are not afraid of price wars at all, and their marketing skills can be seen only from the release of the same product PowerPresenter digital presentation system. They are very sophisticated and impeccable.

Larry Ellison thought hard about the countermeasures to no avail. In the end, he could only shake his head weakly, and continue to read the manual Tang Huan gave him listlessly.

Since he was in a bad mood, Larry Ellison didn't want to visit computer-related products any more. He decided to follow the instructions and go to EA's exhibition venue for entertainment and relaxation.

As a result, as soon as he entered this area, Larry Ellison's eardrums were shocked.

It turned out that Hasbro took the position of the exit, while playing the "Transformers" cartoon, while displaying toys with various photoelectric effects.

Seeing the human-shaped mechanical monster running on the screen, after shouting "Autobot Transformation and Go", and then transforming into a car gorgeously, Larry Ellison, who is nearly forty years old, couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling.

IT companies in Silicon Valley invest a special amount of money every year in entertainment including games, toys and the like.

Therefore, Larry Ellison's first reaction at this time was that he had to spend money again to buy a lot of things to reward the ORACLE programmers.

Larry Ellison laughed, and suddenly became interested, because he was originally a hedonist who pursued perfection. As early as the 1970s, when the husband and wife had a combined monthly income of 1600 U.S. dollars, they spent generously. Borrowed $3000 to buy a 34ft sailboat.Even bought another dinghy in installments at the same time.

Going further inside, Larry Ellison couldn't help whistling. He saw all kinds of Cosplay, and he knew many of the prototypes.

(End of this chapter)