Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 704 Will it be the next IBM?

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The 32-bit architecture personal computer war that broke out in the second half of last year has been going on for almost a year now.

All parties have evolved from simply comparing the cost performance of hardware at the earliest stage to the overall value of today's competition platform, which in turn makes the status of third-party manufacturers more and more important.

IBM's PS/2 personal computer is a brand-new architecture that has been overthrown and rebuilt with closed authorization. It has thoroughly sorted out the existing series of products from Intel8088, Intel8086 to Intel80286, and launched a flagship model that supports the latest microprocessor Intel80386. product.

According to Big Blue's consistent approach of step-by-step and mastery, the first step is to clear up the IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers who sucked their own blood, and then enjoy the exclusive use of the IBM-PC standard. The territory; then the second step is a natural one to compete with Fangyuan PC.

It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven.

The camp of IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers headed by Compaq Computer did not dare to imitate PS/2-based computers, but they were not reconciled, and their tenacious vitality broke out, which caught IBM, which was full of confidence, by surprise.

It not only launched a personal computer that supports the latest microprocessor Intel80386, but also tried to develop a new generation open bus comparable to the PS/2 micro-channel architecture based on the IBM-PC/AT that Big Blue has abandoned. technology.According to the latest disclosed news, this result will be ready next year at the latest.

If the technology upgrade plan is successful, it will not only be a heavy blow to IBM, but also a great irony-you know, Big Blue is advocating the superiority of the PS/2 architecture while lobbying customers to abandon it. The IBM-PC/AT architecture is old and has no future.

But the result is that Compaq Computers, members of the "Six Doors" of the IBM-PC compatible manufacturer camp, let the old tree of IBM-PC/AT architecture sprout and rejuvenate.

In contrast, IBM, which tried its best to deceive customers into paying more for PS/2, has completely lost its moral integrity and tarnished its golden brand.

At the same time, the dark IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturer camp on the cost-effective road has really stabilized many customers with the slogan "the computer is enough", and they have not let themselves think that "as soon as the PS/2 comes out, IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers all the little thieves are awarded the first "IBM has an absolute upper hand.

It must be pointed out that there is another big help for the camp of IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers to survive, that is, relying on the high quality and low price of the products, it has attracted many programmers, and the platform composed of IBM-PC and MS-DOS , has developed a large number of utility programs, including functional applications and decent video games.

IBM's PS/2 is a newly designed personal computer platform. The operating system it runs is OS/2, which has powerful functions including multitasking support, and MS-DOS can't keep up with it.

However, OS/2 is not perfect.It is often criticized that the hardware requirements are a bit high. In order to run smoothly, it is best for a personal computer to be equipped with a memory of 2MB or above.

According to the rumors released by the joint developer of OS/2 and Microsoft, which has many conflicts with IBM, the reason why OS/2 is not efficient is that IBM puts too much emphasis on the rules and regulations of software engineering management, which in turn leads to the two parties writing Code execution efficiency is not ideal.

But in any case, the combination of PS/2 and OS/2 is technically better than the combination of IBM-PC compatibles and MS-DOS.But the former encountered an embarrassing situation similar to that of Apple's graphical user interface personal computer MAC in the early stages of its advent without third-party software support.

In fact, the prosperous status quo of rich software support on the IBM-PC platform did not exist at the very beginning. It relied on Don Estrich, the head of IBM's personal computer department at the time, who tried his best to win over and support Lotus Software's electronic products. Table software Lotus1-2-3, Ashton-Tate's database software Dbase and other ace applications have been developed and accumulated step by step.

The current head of IBM's personal computer department, Bill Lovo, is also talented, but his work style is typical of IBM's bureaucratic genes. Don? There are shortcomings in the layout supported by the third-party software.

It is not too late.Conservative IBM has never lacked the background of being a latecomer.Bill Lovo, who realized what was wrong, was confident that the unfavorable situation of third-party software support could be quickly improved.

But the tragedy is that now is the period when the global price of DRAM is soaring. If the PS/2 and OS/2 combination platform, which is sensitive to memory capacity, wants to achieve smooth and practical specifications, the market price will be at least 5000 US dollars. Simply lost to the combination of IBM-PC compatibles and MS-DOS.

What's more terrible is that the gap between IBM, which cannot quickly unify its internal territory, and Fangyuan Computer Company is getting wider and wider.

The most obvious evidence is that almost all global stock markets are bullish now.Compared with Fangyuan Computer Company, whose market value continues to rise in the range of more than 1000 billion US dollars, IBM's performance is sluggish, and its market value is only about half of its young rival.

Some observers pointed out that this year, IBM may experience losses for the first time.

Under such a severe situation, the busy IBM management could only hope to cover up its own incompetence and help the company find excuses for losses by exposing its competitors' unethical methods.

According to Big Blue, Fangyuan, Zheru, and EA have many crimes.

First of all, Fangyuan computer standard camp manufacturers, headed by Fangyuan Computer Company, have hoarded and almost monopolized the 256KB DRAM market in the United States, making the mainstream products of other computer companies almost to the point where there is no rice to cook.

Secondly, the high-end semiconductor factory controlled by Tang Huan has the world's leading 1.5 micron and the latest 1 micron process level.It is an OEM microprocessor Intel80386 for Intel, and all the finished products of 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz operating frequency versions produced by it are detained for personal use, while computers manufactured by other companies can only be equipped with Intel12.5 operating frequency of 80386MHz.

Thirdly, Tang Huan is an important shareholder of computer parts suppliers such as Seagate and 3COM, which gives the entire Fangyuan computer supply chain a higher priority than others.

In addition, Fangyuan has reached a de facto cooperative relationship with many independent software vendors for product platform exclusive or platform priority.

For example, Zheru is the most obvious example of platform exclusivity.The spreadsheet software CGrid, the word processing software WordEasy, and the database system EBase developed by it all supported Apple computers at first, or launched special versions for other hardware platforms, but now they only support the Fangyuan computer platform.

Products such as the operating system FreeDOS, studioOS, and the slideshow software PowerPresenter have only supported the Fangyuan computer platform since they came out.

This platform exclusivity has helped Fangyuan occupy a large share of the commercial PC market.

EAs are the most obvious example of platform-first.Many of its PC version games are transplanted from the popular masterpieces that are widely loved by players on the game console system, which in turn drives the sales of PCs. After all, when individuals buy computers, the entertainment function is an influencing factor that cannot be ignored— — No one wants a "pedant" who is not interesting at all.

However, when launching these PC versions of games, EA almost always releases them on the Fangyuan computer platform immediately, and the development process is rarely borrowed from others; It is far behind, and will be outsourced to third-party game companies, which will inevitably lead to differences in quality.

This platform priority has helped Fangyuan attract an inestimable number of individual users.

There are many other examples of Fangyuan computer platform exclusivity and priority.

Take the serious security problems caused by the increasingly rampant computer viruses. Symantec is a leader in this field. It claims to provide a "shield" for all computers, which can be combined with hardware anti-virus expansion cards to improve execution efficiency. The highest security product only supports Fangyuan computers.

In the field of professional application software with higher profits, heavyweight products such as Adobe's desktop publishing system, graphics processing program Photoshop, and Autodesk's computer-aided design system AutoCAD are only optimized on the Fangyuan computer platform. The best, the easiest to use, and the most satisfying performance.

……

The management of IBM, who was trying their best to get rid of the crime and give an explanation to Wall Street, originally turned their attention to attacking Fangyuan Computer's operating methods in a desperate situation. However, as more and more "criminal evidence" was collected, it was found that competitors The ecological circle of IBM has unknowingly managed to such an indestructible point. In despair, they began to hypnotize themselves and try to convince others that IBM's current predicament is caused by "crimes" that are too numerous to describe.

Why did Tang Huan, who was originally in charge of the scene in Xiangjiang, have to rush back to the United States?It is because IBM is crying and making such a big fuss that there is a tendency to describe Fangyuan as the former American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and even as an industry monopolist like IBM itself. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is cruel. .

When the reporters behaved in every possible way so that Tang Huan could express his true thoughts on this matter, Mr. Richest Man did what they wished.

At the media briefing, Tang Huan, who had always presented himself as a gentleman, put away his smile and expressed his dissatisfaction strongly like never before.

……

"This is really a big joke in the world. IBM, which once monopolized 80.00% of the market share in the mainframe era, and then attracted the anti-monopoly investigation of the Ministry of Justice, has come up with anti-monopoly weapons to protect its so-called interests. .”

"I would like to ask, when IBM accuses others, will it apply the monopoly thinking that has long been used to nature to others, or more accurately describe it as measuring the hinterland of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, and apply it to others?"

"I don't want to flaunt how noble we are, but I just want to point out that the current situation in the personal computer market is typical of a hundred flowers blooming. In addition to IBM, the products of Apple and Commodore are also very competitive. Who would dare to be careless? Snooze on success, and tomorrow you'll be dumped in the gutter."

"Fangyuan Computer has indeed gained some advantages in the current market competition, but it has never taken advantage of this position and followed IBM's previous practice, that is, in order to maximize profits, forcibly divide product lines and kidnap users to buy its so-called more profitable products. High-end products."

"We have never changed our original intention, which is to provide users with the most suitable IT solutions and achieve win-win results with customers and partners."

"IBM's mainframe product lines, System/360 and System/370, will be updated about every 10 years. After entering the 1980s, they have almost stagnated."

"Fangyuan will not lose its enterprising spirit in order to pursue profits one-sidedly. Since its establishment in 1979, it has comprehensively updated the product line of personal computers about every two years, so as to bring this field step by step from the 8-bit era to the To the 16-bit era, and now to the 32-bit era."

"The advancement of technology will never stop. Fangyuan will not short-sightedly stifle its own creativity for the sake of its own short-term interests, and become a stumbling block of the times."

"We have never denied our ambition, that is, we want to be an industry leader? But if our ambition is achieved, will it be the next IBM that everyone is worried about? The answer is of course, NO! We must be with progress, not with it. Slave owners, opponents of progress!"

"I've heard that this year IBM's financial statements will be ugly, and it will experience unprecedented losses. But you can't divert the attention of the outside world by attacking competitors out of nothing."

"There is a common saying in the East: If you have a stomach ache, you blame the Stove King. It describes that when some people are unhappy, they do not examine their own problems, but unreasonably put all the blame on others."

"If IBM still can't find a solution to the problem at hand, I'm willing to make a fool of myself and offer a suggestion—it's better to split up and separate the personal computer business to completely free itself."

"Fangyuan hopes that his opponent is strong enough to motivate him to keep improving, instead of competing with a pig."

(End of this chapter)