Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 123 An unexpected surprise
“What the fuck???”

"You said they only come to the company once a week?"

Looking at the Apple employee in front of him, Ethan's face showed surprise.

The young man with thinning hair nodded fearfully and explained in a low voice: "Mr. Jones, it's not what you think. Mr. Jobs and Mr. Wozniak just don't like working in the company, but they still have precise control over everything in the company."

"They would come to the company every Monday afternoon with their work results from the previous week to explain to us, so that we could implement their ideas and understand the problems in our work. Of course, if there was an emergency during working hours, they would come to solve it immediately."

'...'

Ethan was speechless.

To be honest, he didn't hear any sign of dedication to his job from the Apple employee in front of him.

'Will urgent problems be solved immediately during working hours?'

'Isn't this what it should be?'

'Work once a week?'

"Oh - how come these two guys are living a more comfortable life than me!"

These facts made Ethan feel a little uncomfortable.

He was hesitant for a long time, afraid that asking for help would disturb the work of Jobs and Wozniak, but he didn't expect that these two gentlemen were not working at all?
This is too nonsense!

Thinking of this, Ethan became a little angry and rushed directly to Jobs' house. When he climbed in through the open window, he found that Jobs was lying on the ground with his butt sticking up, practicing calligraphy!

Not only that, when he found Ethan coming, he enthusiastically invited Ethan to come over and see -

"Ethan? Why are you here?"

"Hurry up, hurry up, take a look at how I write this character."

Ethan's eyes went dark after hearing these words.

He came to Jobs and asked him why he, as the head of the company, could be so lax.

This question made Jobs stunned for a moment, and then he realized that Ethan was here to call him to task! But he was not afraid, and smiled and said:
"Oh Ethan, aren't we learning from you?"

"When Stephen and I found that the rigid environment of the company restricted our thinking and the work mode of going to work on time and leaving get off work on time made us lose the motivation to think after get off work, we decided to integrate work into life like you did."

“Although we don’t go to the company every day, as long as we are still breathing, we will work. This way of working wherever we go has given us countless inspirations!”

"Good fellow! Are you blaming me for not going to work?"

Ethan never expected that Jobs could actually put the blame for not going to work on himself.

But he really couldn't refute this.

Who made him never work a day in the company so far?

It was obviously not in Ethan's character to admit it with his nose pinched. After looking at Jobs for a moment, he asked again: "You said this method gave you countless inspirations?"

"Then can you let me see your inspiration?"

Ethan admitted that he was angry and wanted to expose Jobs's disguise of not going to work, but before he finished his words, Jobs nodded immediately.

"of course can!"

He got up from the ground neatly, took Ethan into the room, pointed at the brand new machine on the table, and said, "This is our inspiration."

As Jobs pointed lightly, Ethan saw a white machine. It was a small and exquisite trapezoidal electronic device. Its smooth shell made it look no different from the current home appliances, but the sloping keyboard told outsiders its identity.

Not only that, there is also a square screen on the top of the machine that can be held in both hands.

On the right side of the screen, there are two small rectangular boxes.

Although Jobs did not reveal the identity of this product, Ethan could tell its name at a glance because this machine looked almost the same as later computers.

"APPLE 2?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah!" Jobs nodded and said, "Ethan, you are right! It is Apple 2!"

"I said that we want to make a home computer, so I asked the people in the company to design a computer with a similar appearance to home appliances according to my requirements! When a machine with this appearance appears in front of the public, I think no one will doubt its difficulty in using it, right?"

"After all, the current usage threshold is only 26 letters!"

At this point, Jobs' face also showed excitement.

“More importantly, Stephen also made the idea of ​​the game come true!”

Jobs opened the drawer, took out a stack of papers, and waved them at Ethan.

"Here are six games. As long as our users follow the instructions above and enter the code into the computer, they will be able to play them successfully on the computer."

“Even the longest code is only 80 lines, and that is Snake. The shortest code is only 50 lines, and that is Pong. I believe that with this simple design, as long as users have a little patience, they can enjoy the happiness brought by computers!”

As Jobs continued to introduce, the expression on Ethan's face changed drastically.

From the original awkwardness to happiness, from the happy smile to the unexpected surprise.

If these things were their inspiration, then Ethan admitted——

It actually makes no difference whether these guys go to work in the company or not, right?
"Oh Steve, you're right."

"Genius must never be limited!"

"Hahahaha—" Jobs narrowed his eyes when he heard Ethan's change of words.

At the same time, he handed a game card to Ethan.

"Would you like to give it a try?" Although Ethan had important business to attend to today, when the finished product of APPLE 2 appeared in front of him, he knew that the fat boy Wozniak would definitely have time to help him.

Then in this case...

It's also possible to try out the APPLE 2.

He smiled and nodded, which was considered as agreement.

Jobs immediately bent down and turned on the computer.

As the power light came on, the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROM started running automatically, and then a color image appeared on the screen.

It is an apple with colorful stripes, and it is a classic logo that has been passed down for a generation.

This pattern also brought back memories for Ethan.

He tilted his head and glanced at Jobs.

The figure with long fluttering hair seemed to have touched success.

Although Ethan didn't understand technology, with the help of the game manual written by Wozniak, he found the programming instructions in just half a minute. After typing the code in the manual, when he pressed the Enter key, the classic interface of "Pong" suddenly appeared on the display screen with 40 rows and 20 columns...

A white vertical line divides the screen into two, with two finger-sized horizontal bars at both ends.

Tap the space bar and a small white ball will start from the center line and move forward to the left.

After hitting the left horizontal board, it changed direction instantly as if it had suffered a blow.

Then he rushed to the right.

However, when Ethan subconsciously used WASD to control the horizontal board, he found that no matter how he pressed it, the horizontal board on the screen did not respond.

So he could only watch the ball fly out of bounds.

"Is this a BUG?" This situation made Ethan ask in confusion.

At this time, Jobs smiled and took out a pair of game joysticks from the drawer.

Then he pointed to the jack on the side of the Apple 2.

Under his operation, Apple directly turned into a game console.

Such a change made Ethan's eyes widen!
Jobs sat down on the table and smiled, "Ethan, I don't know if you remember that I once told you that we at Apple don't make games. But when designing this machine, I asked Stephen to add the function of a game joystick..."

"It's not because the keyboard can't play games, but I think it's a bit of a loss to give up the home game console market to Milova. I don't know what your conception of the Destiny game is, but I know that if I add a joystick function to the Apple 2, then perhaps when necessary, we can appear in front of the public as both a home computer and a home game console..."

“When I made this decision, I was very nervous.”

"Because this approach may disrupt your plans."

"but now……"

"Like it?"

Jobs patted the Apple 2 beside him.

At the same time, he raised an eyebrow at Ethan.

Ethan, who witnessed all this, felt a huge surprise!

Can the iPhone 2 instantly turn into a game console?
Oh! Sxxt!

With this thing, who the hell dares to say that Ethan Jones is one step behind?
With this thing around, who the hell dares to say that Ethan Jones doesn't have a console project?

"MFxxk!"

Ethan, overwhelmed with joy, shouted, "This is such a surprise!"

"Oh Steve, this design of yours is fucking amazing!"

"Hahahaha——" Ethan's reaction made Jobs laugh continuously.

"I know I know I know I'm a genius!"

After having fun, he also told Ethan the shortcomings of the machine.

Although the Apple II can be instantly transformed from a home computer to a home game console, it cannot be as cheap as a home game console due to its configuration. For example, the cost of 2K memory is more than $4, and the cost of its own color display is as high as more than $. When the cost remains high, the price of the entire machine will also rise.

According to Jobs' idea, $1,298 would be profitable.

Ethan had no objection to this.

Because he will always make a home console.

Now, what is lacking is time.

The iPhone 2 could help him temporarily solve the embarrassment of not having a product before launching the console.

Although Ethan knew that the price of $1,298 would discourage countless game geeks, what they were selling was not the game itself, but the gimmick of making the game.

After "Star Wars" is released in time with the times, they can buy press releases to say that the machine used to produce the "Star Wars" video game is the latest APPLE 2. In order to help more people experience the joy of playing games and making games, Apple will give away the BASIC programming code for classic games for free. Ethan Jones also hopes that someone can transform from a player to a producer.

Ethan believed that when he publicly expressed his desire for more people to achieve success like himself, those American children would definitely be looking forward to APPLE 2!

There is no way around it, because winner-oriented education is popular in America!

All the children have a special feeling that they are the chosen ones!
When Pac-Man was released, there were quite a few individual orders for APPLE 1!
And the future——

Apple may really become a learning machine!
Note: ① The real Apple 2 was equipped with a game joystick, and the price at that time seemed to be US$.

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(End of this chapter)