Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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Louis Pratt, the low-key CEO of HP, saw that Tang Huan was quite concerned about the troubles caused by the deal between HP and Iran, so he replied bluntly: Operating in Europe My unit is a company in the Netherlands with only three employees...

At this point, Louis Pratt stopped talking, and Tang Huan also understood that HP's response was to use the loopholes in the rules to justify, and those who blamed it had long been prepared.

To be honest, this method is not very clever, but it can be used by HP, who is not lacking in energy and is sophisticated, and the effect naturally has its own unique mystery.

The richest man nodded slightly, If HP needs help in public relations, I will be happy to help.

Of course that would be great, Louis Pratt responded graciously.

In fact, despite the fact that HP sold 120 million US dollars of computers, printers and other products to Iran this time, its current company positioning is really not the computer company that the public is familiar with after a few years. After entering the 1990s, through the acquisition of two microcomputer companies, it began to increase investment in personal computers.

This is also the internal reason why Tang Huan and IBM have been fighting in the dark for more than ten years, but they have basically lived in peace with HP, a witness in Silicon Valley who is close at hand.

Hewlett-Packard, which has almost never dominated any industrial revolution, started its business with measuring instruments such as oscilloscopes, and its second specialty is medical instruments such as nuclear magnetic resonance.

It is not difficult to imagine that the reason why HP extended its operating tentacles into the computer field is also to better serve its specialty business.

More than 20 years ago, Jobs bewitched Woz, who was an engineer at Hewlett-Packard at the time, to start the company with the Apple computer he developed. Woz, who was honest and kind, first showed the prototype to his employer in a regular manner, but HP was not interested, and then lost The opportunity to participate in the vigorous personal computer industrial revolution is not unrelated to this factor.

Now, the wave of the Internet can be described as turbulent. No matter how mature and prudent HP is, it can no longer take it easy in the operation of personal computers. This will inevitably change the relationship between HP and Fangyuan Company controlled by Tang Huan.

To put it bluntly, Tang Huan is not afraid of HP. Although the opponent is large in scale, it is just like Chu State in the Warring States Period of China. It is large but not strong in the computer field.

However, the necessary layout still needs to be done - this time Mr. Richest Man, who appears to be sending warmth on the surface, just wants to make a stumbling block quietly.

Seeing an opportunity, Tang Huan changed the subject quickly and said: DEC, which has a history of 40 years, is no longer what it used to be. In order to save the emergency, the actions of selling non-core businesses in the past few years have been dizzying. Now it's almost time to sell. There's nowhere near the end of the spectrum. So, I'm going to make a move—is HP interested?

Don really doesn't let go of anything of value. Louis Pratt took advantage of the jokes to ponder the stakes.

The decline of dec reflects the cruelty of competition in the computer industry.

At the beginning, dec was the overlord in the field of minicomputers, and both ibm and HP were in the back row. Even HP tried to control the minicomputer market by acquiring the other party, but dec was too arrogant at the time, and in the end it could only Give up resentfully.

How popular dec's minicomputer is can be seen from the fact that the programming language c and the operating system unix were first developed on its pdp minicomputer.

But there is no success, no failure—dec’s minicomputer was so successful that its founder and leader, Ken Olson, stubbornly believed that the personal computer was just a toy worth mentioning, and was eventually cruelly Ruthless industry competition knocks it out.

For a long time, Tang Huan had difficulty understanding Ken Olson's thinking.

If we say that in the early 1980s, 8-bit personal computers,

In front of minicomputers, the performance is really not worth mentioning, and the functions are not much better than toys. The 16-bit personal computer is outstanding; when the 32-bit personal computer appeared around 1985, it was already a threat. Minicomputer trend.

Dec's most successful model in the 1970s was the 16-bit PDP-11. Not counting those third-party imitations, Dec alone sold about 600,000 units. You know, this is an early minicomputer, not a personal computer. Bell Labs' programming language c and operating system Unix were first implemented on pdp-11, which in itself shows how rich and complete the IT ecological chain centered on pdp-11 is.

However, the premise of eternal life is that the environment remains unchanged.

The most obvious change outside the dec is that even in the second half of the 1970s, the semiconductor memory was still as precious as Atari's home video game console, the Atari 2600, which only designed 128 bytes. It ceased to exist, especially under the impact of a semiconductor memory company, even the personal computer that Ken Olson regarded as a toy was equipped with a memory that quickly reached 64 kilobytes, and even broke through 1024 kilobytes all the way. Kilobytes, or 1mb.

On the other hand, among the various CPUs used in personal computers, the 16-bit microprocessor intel_8086 released by Intel in 1978 is equipped with a 20-bit address bus and can access 1MB of memory space; The 16-bit microprocessor intel_80286 has an address bus increased to 24 bits and can access 16mb of memory space.

No matter how good Dec's pdp-11 is, it can't stand up to personal computers and other such hard work can make up for one's weakness. Under the wave of 32-bit personal computers, it has also been significantly impacted.

In short, no matter whether it is IBM's mainframe or Dec's minicomputer, it has been forced to decline step by step by personal computers, workstations and servers derived upwards, and then die.

IBM was also involved in the personal computer industrial revolution. As a person involved, it knew that it had to change. However, under the leadership of Ken Olson, the stubborn founder, dec went black on the road of minicomputers. After hitting the south wall, it will be too late to turn around—even if the 64-bit risc microprocessor alpha is finally launched, the situation is gone and it won't help.

In 1992, when the U.S. economic cycle was at the bottom of the depression in the early 1990s, Dec lost $2.8 billion for the year. The board of directors of dec couldn't stand it anymore, and sent away Ken Olson, the company's hero, and let Robert Palmer turn the tide.

Robert Palmer's routine is not uncommon. The most effective life-saving tactics are reorganization and layoffs-so he swung his sword and more than 60,000 people lost their jobs.

As the U.S. economic cycle enters an upward phase, dec's life has improved slightly, but don't forget that the market competition has become increasingly fierce and cruel-dec has no chance to be a prodigal son.

The tactic of layoffs has already been used, and Dec had to sell non-core assets. In 1994 alone, it successively sold the relational database product RDB to Oracle, PDP-11 to Mentec, and tape data storage development technology DLT to sell It was given to Quantum, a well-known company that manufactures hard drives at this stage.

After entering this year, Dec has intensified its efforts and has its eye on Intel—boy, your Pentium microprocessor is selling very well, but it infringes at least 14 of our patents, so stop talking nonsense and pay the protection fee.

Now, dec has fallen to such a state, and Tang It feels that the fire is almost ready, it is time to help the industry clean up this mess.

Hewlett-Packard is big but not strong in the computer field at this time, and coupled with the feelings of being unsuccessful in courtship with Dec, it should be interested in Dec's core assets.

If HP gets on the road, it is bound to have a series of interesting chain reactions.

For example, in addition to spending energy on digesting dec, the old bone that has a 40-year history and formed its own corporate culture, HP also has to decide how to deal with the overlapping parts of the two parties' businesses.

Take dec's 64-bit risc microprocessor alpha as an example. Hewlett-Packard, which has already established an epic alliance, how to install this really excellent thing?

Louis Pratt thought for a while, but finally he couldn't hide his desire to slander Dec, and asked, What's the current market for Dec?

The richest man replied casually: No more than 9 billion U.S. dollars.

Louis Pratt turned to tentatively: Listen to Tang, if HP is not interested in dec, it also plans to make a move, and already has its own disposal plan?

Indeed. Tang Huan nodded frankly, After all, DEC is an old-fashioned computer company with a long history, and it was once so powerful. With its first-mover advantage, it really has a lot of valuable things in its hands—— If I take it alone, it will naturally focus on intellectual property rights and eliminate some patent conflicts.

Although Louis Pratt did not know how Google would deal with Motorola more than ten years later in the original time and space, he could also imagine how dec would be beaten to the bone from the seemingly relaxed but cruel words of Mr. Richest Man.

Since Tang already has a comprehensive plan, why did he come to HP? Louis Pratt asked with a wry smile.

Obviously, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse—my family is definitely not the only one interested in dec, maybe HP will see the opportunity to join the fray. Tang Huan explained leisurely: If the two of us join forces, nothing will happen. Undoubtedly, it will save more effort and be more sure, and in the process of dealing with dec in the future, not only will there be no suspicion due to differences, but will use this cooperation opportunity to further enhance friendship.

Speaking of this, the richest man looked at Louis Pratt with great sincerity, and said slowly: You may not be so dazzling under the brilliance of the two founders of HP, but you are down-to-earth and unite knowledge and practice. Following the 'HP Way', HP's reputation in the industry is highly respected—I look forward to and believe that the cooperation between the two parties can develop to a deeper level.

In fact, under Tang Huan's pure appearance, the kindness of HP under the management of Louis Pratt at this stage has been confirmed.

How trustworthy is HP for partners at this point? An example can illustrate the problem - Zheru and HP have 42 cooperative projects in the field of basic network research. Although they have not signed contracts that are haggling and strictly bound, the two parties have cooperated very happily.

This precious trait is believed to be swallowed up soon in the era of utilitarianism - of course we must hurry up and leave good memories now!

How about Louis Pratt is an honest man, he immediately believed the words of Mr. Richest Man, but he still hesitated, According to Tang's disposal plan for Dec, he must have to spend a lot of cash...

Tang Huan waved his hand and said with a smile, Don't prevaricate me with the funding issue—I've heard that HP plans to separate its best measurement and medical businesses to form a company called Agilent and go public. financing.

Why is the richest man wary of Wall Street?

Under its influence, Zheru first separated its software business and became Zheru Software Company, which attracted a lot of money in the U.S. stock market; then AT\u0026T separated its communication equipment business and became Lucent Corporation, which attracted money in the U.S. stock market. Countless; now it's HP's turn to separate the measurement and medical business, become Agilent, and continue to make money-absorbing gimmicks.

No one knows whether Wall Street will swing the cutting knife at Zheru again after the big circle is over - Tang Huan, who has his own plans in mind, naturally pays attention to such movements.

Seeing that Mr. Richest Man spoke so bluntly, Louis Pratt stopped being bureaucratic, and immediately said: Then let's start making plans.

...

Tang Huan continued to cheer up and attend this year's Zheru Spring Developers Conference after finishing the work of the top leaders in Silicon Valley.

Although the noise alliance is a bit sluggish, especially Netscape and Oracle seem to be in a hurry, but this year's Zheru Spring Developers Conference is still held according to its own rhythm, grand and lively.

In the tide of the Internet, the theme of the meeting naturally revolves around the Internet.

During this period, Fangyuan, Zheru Software, and ea, three industry-leading companies in this field, announced almost at the same time that the Internet online sales system was officially launched-users can learn about text, static pictures, animation, and even streaming media advertisements through the online mall Product introduction in the form of tablets, and place orders according to your own needs.

Streaming media can be regarded as the most vivid illustration of how fast the Internet is developing - this year's Zheru Spring Developers Conference cooperated with Hollywood's 20th Century Fox to release the epic masterpiece Titan The trailer of Nick made the attendees, including major mainstream media, order and watch it again and again!