Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 204 Bill Mensch
Phoenix, Arizona, is located on the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert. Although the climate is hot, the natural scenery is beautiful. Ethan had been here several times before, but he had never appreciated the beautiful scenery here, because those trips were accompanied by the sale of "Snake". When he and his classmate Xiao Qiao hurriedly delivered the goods to the merchants who ordered the arcade machines, the green dollars were the most beautiful scenery in the world, at least that's what they thought at the time.

And now...

When there were powerful enemies all around and giants were making moves, he had no intention of appreciating the beautiful scenery. After landing, he and his sister went straight to the city to find a place for the 6502 R&D personnel to settle down.

Bill Mensch, a Phoenix-based developer, attended Temple University, where he earned an associate's degree, and the University of Arizona, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

At first, this guy worked for Filco, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, as an integrated circuit designer. Later, he jumped to Motorola and joined Chuck Petto's R&D team, contributing to Motorola's chip engineering. Finally, he went to MOS, allowing human civilization to officially enter the computer age.

To be honest, Ethan and him didn't have a deep relationship in the past few years, after all, Chuck Peteau was the first inventor of MOS 6502. After Chuck Peteau said that members of his team had left one after another, in order to maintain the relationship between himself and Chuck Peteau, Ethan just called them to express his regret, and then cut off contact like a stranger.

So, when Ethan came over according to the address he got from the last contact, he was actually nervous because he didn't know whether Bill Mensch still lived there after a year.

But after Ballmer's big bald head knocked on the door according to his instructions, with a low beep of the buzzer, the small wooden three-story building also turned on the lights.There was a crash, and a window on the right side of the second floor was pushed open by an arm, and a slightly resentful voice came out.

"Who?"

This question made Ethan speak quickly, "William?"

The next second he introduced himself, "It's me! Ethan! Ethan Jones——"

These words made the figure leaning out of the window pause, as if he was trying to recall who Ethan was, but more like confirming Ethan's identity in the dark. After a moment, the sturdy upper limbs retracted, and a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded. About ten seconds later, the tightly closed door on the first floor was pushed open.

When a man with a beard, a slightly bald forehead and glasses appeared, Ethan immediately breathed a sigh of relief. The guy first looked around to confirm the number of people, and then focused his eyes on Ethan outside the fence. The eagerness of the visit in the middle of the night made the man laugh out loud, and his daughter who was accompanying Ethan surprised the man and asked, "Evelyn? You are here too?"

“Yes, William, I’m here too.” Evelyn raised her right hand and waved at him.

At the beginning, after helping the R&D team of 6502 solve the infringement problem, these people personally visited California to thank Master Barbara Babcock, and Evelyn also met them at that time.

Although they were not close friends, they knew each other. Evelyn's wave made Bill Mensch walk forward quickly and open the fence gate. "You came earlier than I thought."

This statement did not surprise Ethan and Evelyn. Because as long as they paid attention to the news from the outside world, they, as smart people, would naturally be able to deduce the best way to break the situation.

"So you just slept?" Ethan asked familiarly.

"Of course." Bill Mensch nodded with a smile, "I was thinking of going to bed early tonight and getting up early tomorrow because you might come over tomorrow morning."

"But I didn't expect that you guys would be here less than twelve hours after Mokodor announced the acquisition of MOS. This speed... really surprised me."

He stretched out his right hand and shook hands with Ethan, then Bill Mensch stepped aside.

"Since you're here, let's go in and talk. But I have to say in advance that you guys came too quickly and I haven't prepared anything to entertain you. I don't have anything at home."

“Oh~ William, you’re so polite.” Evelin smiled and shook her head to show that she didn’t care.

Ethan turned his head and looked at Ballmer, "Buy some?"

Such a clear suggestion made Ballmer nod quickly and leave with his bodyguards.

This action made Bill Mensch smile. He nodded happily at Ethan and took the remaining two people home. After they sat down in the living room on the first floor, Bill Mensch also took out a fruit plate and three bottles of water from the refrigerator in the kitchen.

"Since you can come here at this time, let's be direct."

"You can ask me anything you want to know."

"I can't say I know everything, but I can say I know more than you."

The confident words made Ethan and his sister look at each other.

Both of them saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Because before they came, they wanted to ask Bill Mensch to come out and continue to provide them with cheap chips, but now... Bill Mensch not only guessed their intentions, but also seemed to have information that they didn't know? This is so...

That’s interesting!
Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Ethan looked at the other person with a smile, "So you are not surprised?"

"Are you talking about Rockwell acquiring Allen Bradley? Or Commodore acquiring MOS? Or... both?" Bill Mensch asked.

“It’s both,” Ethan said.

"I'm still a little surprised." Bill Mensch opened the bottle of mineral water, took a sip, and said, "Because I didn't know Rockwell had any intention of acquiring Allen Bradley. In other words, I only knew that Komodor had contacted MOS since 1976 and expressed its willingness to acquire it."

What the fuck? ? ?

Ethan was shocked!

Komodor had contact with MOS as early as 1976?

How come he doesn't know about this?
"William...are you kidding me?" Ethan was a little unconvinced.

Bill Mensch shrugged nonchalantly and asked, "Why would I joke about something like this?" Seeing that Ethan didn't reply, he added, "Besides, after the MOS 6502 fire, there were more than just Komodor companies that communicated with MOS. In addition to them, companies like Tandy also contacted us, oh no... they contacted MOS."

Intelligence is the least important factor in achieving success. In other words, there can be no truly stupid people who can make a career in the business world.

Ethan knew that holding on to the MOS 6502 chip meant holding on to the future development of the computer and video game industries. Even if others had no memory of the future, they knew how much real benefit a cheap, easy-to-use chip could bring to them.

So, when Ethan used the MOS 6502 chip to make one amazing game after another and Apple created unlimited possibilities with the MOS 6502, companies that wanted to enter the electronic game and personal computer industries set their sights on this patent. They wanted to acquire MOS to solve the problem once and for all.

But faced with the overwhelming influx of contacts, MOS Technology rejected almost all of them.

It's not because they are so loyal to Ethan Jones, but because their big boss Alan Bradley feels that MOS Technology still has room to grow.

"Alan Bradley, the major shareholder of MOS Technology, feels that working with you will allow the value of MOS Technology to continue to expand. The success you have achieved with MOS 6502 is the best advertisement for MOS 6502. The more MOS 6502 you sell, the higher the value of MOS Technology will be. When this value expands to a certain level, it will be the wisest decision to sell the company because that will maximize profits."

Bill Mensch smiled and said, "So, in the past few years, MOS has been developing quietly. This development is not only waiting for the continuous expansion of the computer industry and the video game industry, but also showing its value to other companies and forcing them to bid higher prices."

"And they have the right idea, right?"

"If I remember correctly, in 1976, when Commodore approached MOS, the market value of MOS was only 12 million US dollars, but today, it has risen to more than 20 million."

"More than a year!"

“That’s a nearly 50 percent increase!”

"This has outperformed 99% of the financial products on the market!"

"And what did Alan Bradley do?"

“They didn’t do anything.”

"They just gave you 20 percent of the chip manufacturing company."

Bill Mensch spread his hands.

And his words made Ethan a little breathless.

Before coming here, he had a favorable impression of MOS Technology because the low-priced chips they provided helped him gain unparalleled competitiveness in the computer field and electronic game market.

So now...

He really wanted to kill these guys with one punch!

Special code!
Did this group of people regard his use of 6502 as external advertising from the very beginning?

From the very beginning, this group of people wanted to prostitute his influence to sell the company?

This is crazy!

Although the current achievements of Destiny Game, Apple Computer and MOS Technology are all achieved through mutual help, this help is only the result of equal cooperation, right?

If they had been up to no good from the beginning...

Then isn't Ethan Jones just being taken advantage of?
As for the shares of Chuck Petrus Chip Company?

Special code!
He didn't get this thing for nothing, right?

In order to get this thing, he owed a huge favor to the great wizard Barbara Babcock! At the same time, Motorola was always watching him!
'Grass! '

Two villains have already appeared in Ethan's mind.

One of the hot guys was hitting another guy.

wrong.

It's grabbing that person's ankles and swinging him up and throwing him down!

"William...you mean, Alan Bradley never thought about making chips from the beginning?"

Ethan asked.

As soon as his words came out, Evelin reached out and grabbed his arm, brought his hand into her arms, then held his palm and interlocked his fingers.

because……

Ethan's voice was a little hoarse.

It feels like a traveler in the desert, thirsty and smoking.

"Yes." Bill Mensch could understand Ethan's current mood.

He nodded and said, "Because the chip industry doesn't make money."

"Allen Bradley's purpose of investing in MOS was to intervene in the calculator wars. They needed a reliable company to produce their own semiconductor chips for them. After the calculator wars, the significance of MOS's existence was not great for Allen Bradley." "After the calculator wars, before the computer age, Allen Bradley had already thought about selling the company, but he could not find a buyer. When we joined MOS and developed the 6800 based on Motorola's 6501, the fact of infringement made them even more angry."

"To be honest, Ethan, if you hadn't appeared to help us solve the legal issues of 6502, then Allen Bradley would probably have killed us. Similarly, it was because of your appearance that you made Allen Bradley see greater possibilities..."

“The potential to make a lot of money.”

Bill Mensch looked at Ethan and smiled.

Those simple words made Ethan very sad.

But just when he opened his mouth to continue asking, he found that he could not make a sound.

This situation also made Evelin pinch his palm and said, “William, if everything is as you said, then I can’t figure it out.”

“Since Allen Bradley never wanted to make chips from the beginning and just wanted to sell the company through the gimmick of chips, why didn’t they consider us?”

Ethan nodded at the question.

This is what he wants to ask.

And Bill Mensch tilted his head and said, "It's very simple."

"Because it is more profitable to sell it to Komodor."

"When I was still in MOS, Komodor's offer to Alan Bradley was a share swap merger, and Alan Bradley could directly own nearly % of the shares of Komodor Commercial Company .”

"Although I haven't asked you, everyone knows that you can't afford this price, right? You can't use Apple or Destiny to make a stock acquisition with Allen Bradley. Among all the acquisitions, cash acquisitions are worthless to large companies."

"I will sell the company to you and get the shares of the new company. This will not only allow me to enjoy the premium brought by the acquisition, but also allow me to grab future market share."

"This kind of deal where you win twice is much better than just getting cash directly."

When this fact came out, Ethan laughed out loud.

That is anger, but also admiration.

It really is a capitalist society!

All operations are based on money!
Although Ethan was very unhappy at the moment, he admitted that Alan Bradley did nothing wrong.

we can even say……

They have a good game!
And if Bill Mensch wasn't lying, then...

"So Chuck Petrus knew about this, too, right?" Evelyn asked.

"I know all about this, how could he not know it?"

"Is this the reason why he's hiding from us?" Evelyn told what happened today.

When Bill Mensch learned that Chuck Petrus had disappeared after the acquisition broke out, he was stunned for a moment. It took him four or five seconds before he laughed.

"Hahaha--"

"Chuck is hiding from you? This guy is really funny—"

"As for why you want to know about his hiding... I haven't contacted him for a long time, and I don't know the real reason, but I can tell you one thing. When Commodore secretly offered a quote to Allen Bradley, there was a special requirement on their quotation sheet, which was that after the acquisition was completed, Chuck Pete had to serve the new company for at least three years."

“This agreement is a prerequisite for Komodor’s share swap acquisition.”

"As for why they asked for this..."

"I think you guys know better than me?"

Bill Mensch looked at the two of them with a smile.

Ethan raised the corner of his mouth and smiled.

But the look in his eyes was extremely cold.

When Komodor is backed by a bunch of giants...

Of course Ethan knew what these people wanted to do!
When there are only a few chip sellers on the market...

If we firmly grasp the 6502, the cheapest chip, and firmly grasp the inventor and patent owner of the chip, we can strangle all our competitors by the throats!

Although this idea seems a bit outrageous decades later, after all, people can no longer accept a 50,000 yuan computer using a B-board. But in the early stages of an industry, lowering the price is the most important thing! As for performance? We have to wait until it becomes popular before we can talk about it!
"So... Chuck accepted it?" Evelyn asked coldly.

If Evelyn could understand what Bill Mensch said before, she was really angry now, because all the previous things were done by Allen Bradley. When the major shareholder of a company has a special will, the workers can only accept it.

But if Chuck had decided to go to Komodor since 1976...

So this is a blatant betrayal, right?
Her question made Bill Mensch sigh.

"Ethan, I know you are very angry now, but I hope you can stay calm next."

“Chuck is a good guy.”

"He wanted to tell you about this at first, but before I left, he decided not to tell you. The reason was simple: your product is too expensive."

“WTF???”

Ethan, who had been silent for a long time, started to curse.

He yelled at the top of his voice: "What a bullshit reason!!!"

At this moment, he was like an enraged lion. If Evelyn hadn't held him back, he would have rushed up and grabbed Bill Mensch's collar, wanting him to explain himself.

"Okay, Okay, Okay..."

"Calm down, calm down, calm down..."

Bill Mensch pressed his hands down and said, "It's very simple..."

"Because you raised the price of arcade machines!"

"Do you remember what was the first game you made with the 6502?"

“It’s Pac-Man!”

“How much are they selling for?”

"It's two thousand dollars!"

“And how much did you sell your first game, Snake, for?”

“That’s just over a thousand dollars!”

"The emergence of 6502 has caused the hardware cost of games to drop sharply, but not only did you not lower the price of the game, but you increased it a lot. This makes Chuck very sad!"

"And after that, Apple Computer's pricing shocked him even more!"

"When the Altair 8800 only sold for a few hundred dollars with Intel chips, the Apple 6502 was more expensive than them?"

"Chuck just can't understand it!"

"To be honest, if you hadn't helped us solve the chip infringement problem, Chuck would have cut off the chip supply to you long ago! Although he always communicates with you happily, he is actually very sad! Because you don't bring cheap things to the world at all!"

"..." Ethan was stunned by Bill Mensch's roar!
At this moment, he just felt that this matter was outrageous. It was so outrageous that it was outrageous to the extreme!

Chuck Pettle avoided him because the Destiny arcade machines and Apple computers were too expensive? They didn't fit in with the cheap concept they promoted when they promoted the 6502?

This is ridiculous...

"Oh Sxxt! What kind of excuse is that!"

Ethan couldn't figure it out!
When there was an obvious conflict between the Chuck Peddle in Bill Mensch's words and the Chuck Peddle in Ethan's perception, a question immediately popped up in Ethan's mind.

Of these two identities, which one is the closest to real-life Chuck Petrus?

Thinking of this, Ethan took a deep breath. He looked at Bill Mensch seriously and said in a cautious tone, "William, I want to ask you something. Please answer me truthfully."

"You tell me." Bill Mensch said with a smile, "As long as it's not a big secret, I can tell you."

"Why did you leave MOS?" Ethan clenched his fists as he asked.

It seems that only in this way can one feel the power.

His question made Bill Mensch blink his eyes and said, "So that's the question? I thought it was something else!" He smiled and asked, "Didn't Chuck tell you the reason why I left MOS? Because I wanted to continue to develop 6502-bit chips but MOS wouldn't let me. I thought had greater potential and could be used in more fields, but they didn't support me, so I left."

boom! ! !
When this explanation appeared, Ethan's pupils contracted instantly!
He turned his head with difficulty and cast a shocked look at his sister!
And Evelin, who also looked back, held his hand tightly!
Because both of them discovered that this answer was different from the reason they had heard before!

You know, Chuck Petrus told them before -

Bill Mensch left because of money!

Note: ① Bill Mensch and Chuck Peteau are both regarded as pioneers in the personal computer industry. In other words, 6800 and 6502 would not have been made without him, because the basic circuits of those chips were drawn by him. In a book called "Border: The Rise and Fall of Komodor" published in 06, it is written that Mensch should be the most powerful chip layout engineer in the world. When making chips in the 6502s, he drew the circuit diagrams of those chips on a rectangular dining table and then soldered the transistors. In this case, they used a microscope to shrink them after the test was successful. It's an exaggeration. ② The reason why Mensch and Peteau parted ways in reality is very contradictory. Peteau said that Mensch wanted money, and Mensch said that he just wanted to make a 65-bit chip but MOS did not allow it. No one knows the truth of the matter because Peteau has passed away, but one thing can be confirmed, Mensch did not brag, and in reality he made the subsequent 816-bit version of by hand, and that chip was WDC C. ③Alan Bradley invested in MOS just for the calculator wars, and wanted to sell the company after it was defeated. In reality, they sold MOS to Komodor for this reason, and the capitalists behind Komodor did lock up Paido for three years.

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(End of this chapter)