Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 530 IBM-PCAT stumbles
With the blowout development in successive years, the commercial value of personal computers has become more and more obvious, and now it has formed a huge sunrise industry with an output value of tens of billions of dollars.

Two companies, Fangyuan Computer and IBM, one is the emerging overlord of microcomputers and the other is the established king of traditional computers, have both achieved great success in the personal computer market.

In terms of market capitalization alone, the latter has reached a high of 600 billion US dollars, while the former is closely catching up, reaching an astonishing 500 billion US dollars, and it even topped out the American Tobacco Company and was included in the Dow Jones Industrials Among the 30 largest constituent stocks of the Average Index.

What drives investors crazy is that the combined market capitalization of Fangyuan Computer and IBM has already accounted for more than one-third of the market capitalization of all stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

What this means is self-explanatory.The fierce battle between Fangyuan Computer and IBM also made the onlookers excited to witness the changes of the times when "talented people emerge from generation to generation, each leading for hundreds of years".

In fact, the wave of microcomputers led by Fangyuan Computer did not only affect IBM, but launched a comprehensive impact on the entire traditional computer industry.

Fangyuan supercomputer, Fangyuan server, and Fangyuan workstation have used repeatable successful cases to prove the feasibility of microprocessor-based IT products in high-end applications.

Personal computers have popularized computer technology, making it no longer the privileged exclusive product of large enterprises and government agencies.

At this stage, various computer companies are adopting different layouts to meet this industrial revolution.

For example, although HP, which has obtained the standard authorization of Fangyuan PCs, has not directly entered the consumer market, it has still launched its own brand of personal computers, and combined with the accumulation of technology in the traditional computer field, it has been connected to minicomputers and has become a small computer. A very attractive and inexpensive terminal.

Even if it stubbornly dismisses personal computers, DEC does not dare to take lightly the Fangyuan Computer Company, which is actively promoting this product, and has been constantly introducing new products—the 32-bit minicomputer VAX—to cope with Fangyuan servers and Fangyuan computers. An increasingly visible threat to workstations.

However, although the competition in these high-end fields and the enterprise market is turbulent and thrilling, it is not as smooth and hearty as the competition in personal computers for the mass market. .

In recent months, IBM-PC and Fangyuan Personal Computer have indeed been fighting fiercely. The former bought out Intel's Intel 80286 in an attempt to let its latest model IBM-PC/AT seize market share first. It eliminated the first-mover advantage of its rival Fangyuan PC of the third generation; while the former did not hesitate to adjust its marketing strategy and reduce the price of the MC 68000 PC, which was originally a high-end product line.

The two sides even fought an advertising war, ridiculing each other, almost to the point of spitting at each other, it can be said that there is no grace to talk about, but it also formed a booming supply and marketing situation, which made Wall Street appreciate it.

In short, if you earn enough popularity, no matter the product or the company, it will become a star-like existence.

When the battle situation fell into a stalemate, MAC with a graphical user interface made its debut amidst the long-awaited, and a press conference attracted the attention of the whole United States.

Jobs even made a bold statement: Apple will sell 75 MACs this year.

As a result, industry commentators generally believe that the competition in the PC market will become more intense.Especially with AMD’s announcement that it has successfully mass-produced AM286, which is fully compatible with Intel’s Intel 80286, and has the ability to supply to computer manufacturers, and Fangyuan Computer Company also announced immediately that some out-of-stock models of the third-generation Fangyuan personal computers began to resume Sale.

But what happened next showed people what it means to be in a changing world. Big Blue went to great lengths to produce and market the IBM-PC/AT, but it stumbled and was exposed by the media as having product design flaws.

In fact, after IBM-PC/AT was launched in large quantities, complaints about downtime were not uncommon, but even IBM, which has a very mature and stable technology research and development and production process system, did not find out the root cause, so it had to vaguely pull in a scapegoat , inferring that there is a bug in Microsoft's operating system MS-DOS 3.0, and this problem can be solved after modification and improvement.

This reason is not only believed by the industry and consumers, but even Gates himself thinks it should be like this. Who made this counterfeit operating system bought by opportunism have many problems in the first place.

This is a hard time for Microsoft's programmers, and several MS-DOS 3.0+ versions have been delivered one after another, but it still doesn't help.

While Gates was furious, he was also sitting on pins and needles. Gein Microsoft was ridiculed, and IBM had clearly shown distrust and even disgust for MS-DOS.

Although Microsoft has been adding various new features to MS-DOS day and night, such as supporting floppy disks with more specifications.Hard disk, and network, etc., but there is a technical gap that can never be bridged, that is, Free DOS, the operating system used by Fangyuan personal computer, which makes full use of the processor characteristics of MC 68000 and Intel 80286, and thus has the multitasking ability.

Seeing that IBM-PC/AT was completely defeated by the third generation Fangyuan PC at this point, Big Blue was so annoyed that he revealed a message that it planned to develop a brand new operating system.

What can Gates say? His skills are inferior to others, so he has no choice but to swallow his nerve and promise to actively cooperate. Otherwise, he will be kicked away by IBM, and he will not even be able to eat his current meat.

Therefore, the scapegoat of IBM-PC/AT's irregular downtime, whether Microsoft is willing or not, has to be carried on.

Fortunately, at this time, the angel of justice appeared.

The IT magazine "PC Magazine", which was the first to discover the quality door of the third-generation Fangyuan personal computer, once again published a special report pointing out that after tracking the experience of hundreds of IBM-PC/AT users, it was found that as long as the 20 MB hard drive, the downtime phenomenon disappeared.

Naturally, IBM has to respond to this. Fangyuan Computer has set an example before, and it can't make a name for itself.

As a result, IBM confirmed that the findings of "PC Magazine" were correct, and the root cause of IBM-PC/AT's irregular downtime was its hard disk.As for the more detailed situation, IBM did not disclose further.

This news alone is enough. The Microsoft engineers burst into tears. It is not easy. They have finally been wronged. It seems that IBM is not technically omnipotent.

Invisibly, the technical teams of Microsoft and IBM have also widened the gap.

……

This mess made Don Estridge flustered, and the false flames rose. Gein's hard disk is not cheap, and the losses caused by it cannot be ignored.

The physical structure of a hard disk is generally composed of magnetic heads, discs, motors, and main control chips. However, the current use of 5.25-inch personal computer hard drives is usually that manufacturers package the magnetic heads, discs, and motors together, and the main control The chip is connected in the form of a bus expansion board.

This approach brings a lot of trouble to the assembly of the personal computer. The most obvious disadvantage is that it takes up a valuable motherboard expansion slot.

Therefore, after adopting the same memory stick design as Fangyuan Computer, IBM also began to directly integrate the main control chip into the hard disk.

The slight difference is that Fangyuan Computer and Seagate jointly developed the main control chip, while IBM, the inventor of the hard disk, only purchased Seagate's hard disk body, and then equipped it with its own main control chip.

After investigation, it was these main control chips that lost the chain, but the more detailed reasons are still unknown, and it is necessary to shorten the scope of investigation step by step.

But in Don Estrich’s view, this work is no longer important. Personal computers are products of limited value. In many cases, the pursuit of the final result and cost reduction should be the top priority in doing things. In the future, all Seagate hard drives will be used The disk body and the main control chip are enough.

But how to deal with the aftermath will be very tricky. You must know that IBM's personal computer manufacturing base in Boca Raton has an amazing production capacity. If it is operated at full capacity, it can produce [-] units a day.

It is not difficult to imagine how large the number of these problematic hard drives is.

In the end, Don Estridge bit the bullet and dumped a tugboat-full hard drive into the sea, which was considered to be the end of the trouble.

Of course, the media will not miss such a good show, catch a positive, and then have a big meal.

No matter how big IBM is, it can't be so wasteful. Don Estridge, who is devastated, has to report the cause and effect of this quality accident to the headquarters.

The current IBM-PC department has contributed nearly 20.00% of the annual sales of Big Blue, so it is highly valued by the headquarters, and then sent a large number of middle-level managers to improve the management structure, so as to be included in IBM's huge bureaucratic system, and the scale is even larger. It swelled to more than [-] people, and Don Estridge was also promoted to vice president.But going to the headquarters to be trained this time, I have to say, it's really hard to live with face.

After entering the conference room, Don Estridge glanced at the huge seats, couldn't help but feel a sinking heart, and muttered to himself, is this going to hold a public trial for himself?
After finding Bill Lovo, Don Estrich muttered, seemingly unintentionally, "There seem to be a lot of people coming to the meeting today."

"Isn't that good? It means that everyone is paying attention to your personal computer department." The shrewd Bill Lovo, of course, understood Don Estridge's true feelings, so he joked.

"The appearance is beautiful, but it's like walking on thin ice." Don Estridge shook his head with a wry smile, "Although I am in charge of more than ten thousand people now, but I don't know why, but I don't do things as well as before. "

"The soaring stock price of the company has a lot to do with the huge cash flow brought by the personal computer department. Therefore, the headquarters must no longer allow the personal computer department to be out of the system as before, and run wherever it wants like a wild horse. "Bill Lovo pointed to Don Estridge sternly.

……

With IBM CEO John Opel seated, the meeting officially began.

According to the procedure, it was soon Don Estridge's turn to report, so he reviewed his work mistakes in a very sincere manner.

Seriously speaking, there is nothing to complain about, and Don Estridge should be responsible for the quality accident of IBM-PC/AT.

Fortunately, most members of the management committee looked at the problem very rationally, and still affirmed Don Estridge's work achievements. After all, the sales volume of IBM-PC exceeded 1983 million units in 100.

Some people said: "Don Estridge, you are eager for quick success. In order to quickly promote IBM-PC/AT, you prematurely announced the abandonment of IBM-PC and IBM-PC/XT using Intel 8088. As a result, Compaq took advantage of the opportunity and took advantage of it. In fact, there is still a considerable market demand for personal computers using Intel 8088."

"Fangyuan Computer Company launched the 1979-bit first-generation Fangyuan personal computer in 8, the 1981-bit second-generation Fangyuan personal computer in 16, and last year, in 1983, the third-generation Fangyuan personal computer that supports multitasking. Every product update Fangyuan Computer Company will firmly hold the mid-to-high-end market with greater profits, and let compatible machine manufacturers compete for the mid-to-low-end market. Facts have proved that this business strategy is very successful." Don Estridge argues.

"Is this comparable?" the other party immediately retorted, "All the compatible manufacturers of Fangyuan PCs have licenses, but you have disclosed the technical standards of IBM-PC for free. It can be seen that the so-called compatible manufacturers represented by Compaq are using The growth rate is eating up our interests.”

"IBM-PC was released later than the second-generation Fangyuan personal computer. If I don't choose to disclose the technical standards, then I won't be able to regain the disadvantage." Don Estrich tried his best to argue with a blushing neck. He didn't expect that, What seemed to be an incomparably correct decision at the beginning has now become a stinking move, which in turn provoked attacks from his colleagues.

"Okay, no amount of arguing about this fait accompli is meaningless." John Opel coughed lightly, "The backwardness of IBM-PC at this stage may be related to our previous attitude. According to a survey report, in addition to the United States, Japan, China in Asia, Britain, and France in Europe are all clearly promoting computer education in schools, but the big cakes of Japan, China, Britain, and France are almost all controlled by Fangyuan PC alone. Eat it, I need an opinion on this. Don Estridge, give me your opinion."

"In addition to the extraordinary scalability of the hardware architecture of Fangyuan PC to adapt to various customer needs, the more critical point is that it is backed by powerful Zheru software."

Don Estridge pondered and replied, "On our side, only the Lotus software in the field of spreadsheets can be used. Microsoft has nothing but BASIC. I suggest that in order to maintain long-term competitiveness, the software must be This link is in your hands, especially the operating system. In this way, you can even restrain those compatible machine manufacturers who don’t listen to discipline.”

Hearing what Don Estridge said about Microsoft, John Opel couldn't help but look a bit gloomy, because when discussing whether to trust Gates, he sold favors and said good things for the sake of the other's mother. of.

(End of this chapter)