Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 255 Dig, dig, dig~
The conflict between Edgar Code and IBM has actually been going on for almost ten years.

In the late 1950s, the end of the Oppenheimer incident allowed Edgar Codd to return to America and continue working for IBM. During this process, he felt that his knowledge was still insufficient, so in the early 1960s he went to the University of Michigan to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science, and under the guidance of John Holland, he conducted a lot of research on discrete computing models in automata theory.

This direction led him to propose the data arrangement theory when he returned to IBM and published the paper "Data Relational Model for Large Shared Databases", while hoping that IBM would invest in his model.

Unfortunately, IBM refused.

The reason is that database products are not a new thing for IBM. As early as when NASA stated that there was too much data in the Apollo program and a database was needed to store it, IBM built a database system called IMS for them. That system used a hierarchical model, which was very different from the relational model proposed by Edgar Codd.

When the IMS product could bring huge cash flow to IBM, any mature enterprise would know what to choose, after all, capital is profit-seeking.

So IBM refused to innovate.

So, Edgar Cord, who couldn't get help from IBM but thought his product was excellent, started looking for customers on his own. When other companies discovered that the relational model was more suitable for enterprise management, they began to put pressure on IBM, saying that they wanted this product and asked IBM to invest in research and development.

Then--

IBM agreed.

In order to satisfy their customers, they had to launch a project on Edgar Codd's relational model, but at the same time they were dissatisfied with Edgar Codd's unauthorized selling behavior, so while launching the project, they also excluded Edgar Codd, the inventor of the relational model, from the project.

Don't let him participate in the research.

This led to a strange thing: although Edgar Codd was the father of the relational model, his name was not even mentioned in the project paper published by IBM in 1976.

This behavior made Edgar Codd extremely angry. He went to IBM to argue, but IBM ignored him.

According to the normal development of things, there are only two possibilities:
One is that IBM forced the relational model project to die in order to maintain the existing hierarchical model;

One is that IBM is serious about relational modeling to meet customer needs.

If it was the former, Edgar Codd might never have known that the relational model was the path of choice for future enterprises. If it was the latter, he would definitely have fallen out with IBM in order to protect his own interests.

But unfortunately, the third situation occurred.

Larry Ellison commercialized the relational model before IBM did and then handed it to the CIA.

then……

"Fred, you have to help me!"

“I can’t stand IBM anymore!”

“As the person who proposed the relational model! I! cannot conduct research on the relational model!”

"This makes me very miserable!"

"What makes me most upset is that someone has already made a database based on my paper!"

"That was originally my stuff! My research! Now it's all someone else's!"

Edgar Codd was extremely smart, but all the hair on his forehead had fallen out, leaving a small mustache on his mouth that twitched when he cried. When the bald head and the mustache collided, the whole person looked extremely funny.

However, no one laughed at this moment. All were saddened by his tearful story. After listening to his story, Fred Terman, who was sitting on the sofa, sighed.

He patted the armrest and said empathetically, "Edgar, I understand how you feel."

"As a researcher, the most painful thing is not being able to study the topic you like, and what is even more painful is that your topic is done by others."

"Although your behavior of bypassing IBM to find a buyer is problematic, this cannot be a reason for IBM to stop you from continuing your research. So, when I learned that you wanted to get external support to continue your research and development, I had someone contact you and asked you to come here today."

"Because our Stanford school enterprise, Destiny Game, is very interested in your research."

As he spoke, the old principal raised his hand and pointed.

When his name was called, Ethan immediately smiled and nodded at Edgar Codd who was looking at him.

"Dr. Code, although we at Destiny Games are engaged in electronic entertainment, we are also actively embracing computer technology. We co-founded the chip company Western Design with Bill Mensch, the founder of 6502. We invested in Apple Computer, which is now selling very well. We also bought shares in Microsoft. You should know the spreadsheet product. It must be the future."

"In this process, we found that with the popularization of computers and the embodiment of tools, paperless office must have a bright future. In this case, how to store things like spreadsheets directly on computers and allow other people in the company to access them is the direction we want to invest in."

“And as we searched for the future, we found Oracle.”

“To be honest, we have conflicts with some of Oracle’s shareholders, so when we found out that they were using your model, we wanted to invest in you and make a product that would outperform them.”

"do not know……"

"Are you interested?"

When the great wizard Barbara Babcock had already torn and crushed the bread and fed it to Ethan's mouth, if Ethan still didn't eat it, then he must be crazy.

And since it's poaching...

Then of course we have to ask professionals to come forward!
As a peerless master who dared to poach Harvard students on campus, Fred Terman naturally caught Ethan's attention. In addition, he had troubled the other party many times before, so Ethan shamelessly rushed to the old principal's house, hugged his thigh and begged him for help to get someone.

Although the old president was not familiar with Edgar Codd, how many people in the American scientific community did not know this president who was begging for alms for Stanford? In addition, he had already fallen out with his old employer, so Edgar Codd drove directly from San Jose after receiving the invitation call.

And after Ethan threw him an olive without any pretense...

"no problem!"

"I'm quitting now!"

Edgar Codd agreed quickly.

At the same time, he also turned his attention to the old principal.

“Fred, I’m an IBM Fellow, so…”

IBM Fellow is the highest honor that engineers, scientists and programmers can receive within IBM. The selection criteria are simple: either they have made a great contribution to the development of IBM or they have changed the world.

After obtaining this title, it is generally not easy to leave.

But for the old principal...

"This is simple."

"I'll just call your boss, Thomas Watson Jr."

“Just say I want you to come to Stanford to do research.”

"He will give me face."

“As for the location, let’s go with Stanford Research Park.”

The old president looked at Ethan and said, "I'll ask the institute to grant you another building so that you can separate the two projects of different natures, entertainment and software development. I still have the same request. If you need interns or employees in the future, give priority to Stanford."

“If you think some of the startup projects at Stanford are great in the future…”

"For my sake, do me a favor."

"Oh - thank you, Principal." Ethan accepted it happily, "I will."

Edgar Codd was even happier, "Oh Fred, the rumors outside are indeed true."

“When Stanford needs you, you will be the most generous person in the world.”

"Hahahaha——" Fred Terman laughed out loud.

He waved his hand, indicating that the past did not need to be mentioned anymore.

Edgar Code continued, "Fred, if poaching is easy, why don't we just poach IBM's R&D team?"

“That’s Donald Chamberlain who wrote the structured English query language SEQUEL.”

“He is actually from Stanford as well, and he received his master’s and doctoral degrees here.”

"Although they stole my project, I have no conflict with them. I only hate IBM."

“I’ve even worked with his good friend, Raymond Boyce, before.”

"Unfortunately, this child had bad luck and died of an aneurysm a few years ago."

"Okay, no problem." Since there was peace within IBM's relational model team and IBM was not interested in this thing, Fred Terman naturally dared to move them all away.

While agreeing, he also asked: "Does this group have a name?"

"Yes." Edgar Codd nodded and said, "SQL, this is the current name of SEQUEL."

"Because the SEQUEL trademark was already occupied, those guys changed the name."

Although Ethan knew that poaching would become very easy when Edgar Code and IBM had irreconcilable conflicts, he did not expect that things would be so easy.

In just a few words, they moved the entire IBM team over?

Oh - this is really -

Thai pants are hot!
More importantly, when Edgar Code said that the IBM team was called SQL, Ethan's heart skipped a beat and he felt like he had discovered something extraordinary.

If he remembered correctly, this logo had appeared in Microsoft products in his previous life.

Microsoft SQL Server.

This is what he used in his previous life.

And the logos in the Microsoft database come from IBM?

Oh shit, what did he dig out with this hoe?

Just when Ethan wanted to slap his forehead and hate why there was no Wikipedia in his brain, a group of people who had held a meeting at the beginning of the year gathered again at Steve Ross's home in New York.

"You lost miserably this time." Willard Rockwell Jr., Rockwell's chairman, put his hands on his stomach and said, "I don't understand why your plan has such a big loophole."

"You are the ones who said you could use the MPAA's ratings rules to strangle Ethan Jones."

"The results of it?"

"This rule has no legal effect?"

"If it were just that, it would be fine. What surprised me the most is that the local laws in some states in the United States that maintain classification are actually unconstitutional?"

“You guys are a bit…”

"Is it too much?"

Willard Rockwell Jr.'s words won the approval of those around him.

Cornelis van der Krucht, CEO of Philips North America, nodded and said, "Using unconstitutional rules to attack Ethan Jones? This is simply seeking death!"

"Why did you make such a mistake?"

Commodore's boss, Jack Tramiel, cast a scrutinizing look at the other three people. "I now doubt whether the plan Steve proposed is feasible enough."

The constant interrogation and questioning made the gathered Hollywood trio feel a little unhappy.

Even so, they did not get angry. Steve Ross suppressed his anger and said, "I'm sorry, this is my problem. Kirk and I entered Hollywood by acquiring Hollywood Pictures. We don't understand their internal operating procedures."

"Yes, we always thought there was nothing wrong with this plan. Our subordinates and those Hollywood professionals also said that they did this before, but no one expected that Ethan Jones would be so unruly." Kirk Kerkorian defended himself.

"You don't know that we can understand, but what about Ron?"

Rockwell's chairman, Willard Rockwell Jr., turned his gaze to Walt Disney's president, Ron Miller, "Don't you know that, either?"

This question made Ron Miller the focus of the audience.

Yup!

Ron Miller is Walt Disney's son-in-law!
As a kid growing up in Hollywood, he didn't know about the problems of the Motion Picture Association?
Who would believe it?
Faced with doubts, Ron Miller acted even more single-minded.

He shrugged and spread his hands. "Sorry, I really don't know about this matter, because we at Disney never have to worry about the issue of movie approval."

"Whenever the MPAA gives our films a rating higher than G, people will think it's the MPAA's fault, not our fault."

"so--"

“How can we know there is a problem with ratings when we have never thought about it?”

The other three were stunned by his confident words.

Then, unable to refute, they became even angrier.

Just as they were about to bring up another topic to continue their attack, Steve Ross, chairman of Warner Communications, raised his hand and knocked on the table, saying, "Okay, although we failed this time, this failure has almost no impact on the overall plan, right?"

"Our core goal is to dismember Ethan Jones' company with a multi-strike attack."

"We knew from the beginning that the attack on the film would only temporarily slow down Ethan Jones' progress, and would not have a fatal impact on his gaming and computer careers."

"So, the success or failure of this plan can only be affected by our mood."

"And when Ethan Jones can't solve Oracle's problem..."

"Our core hit was still successful."

These words made MGM boss Kirk Kerkorian and Walt Disney president Ron Miller's lips twitch. Now they really wanted to tell Steve Ross that this defeat had cost them a lot of money and influence in Hollywood.

But when they thought that Hollywood's losses had nothing to do with Philips, Komodor, and Rockwell, they sighed silently in their hearts. They understood what Steve Ross meant. When their losses were controllable, then the pain would be acceptable.

Just think of it as a sacrifice made for the final victory.

As for why only sacrifice themselves?

This can only be blamed on them being too confident in the Film Association!

"But the problem is that Ethan Jones has already got his hands on IBM."

Rockwell's chairman, Willard Rockwell Jr., turned his gaze to Steve Ross and said, "Ethan Jones has poached IBM's entire database team."

"That group of people is much better than the Larry Ellison you picked."

"So?" Steve Ross asked back with a smile: "Willard, are you saying that Ethan Jones might create a database that is more powerful than Oracle?"

"Yes, I admit that it is possible for him to do all this, but..."

"This also proves that Ethan Jones is not invincible, right?"

"He has no other way to solve the Oracle problem. He can only transform all attacks into the most basic commercial counterattack and use better products to seize the market."

“And this is also the most time-consuming and laborious way.”

“Especially now that we’ve got a head start.”

At this point, Steve Ross looked around.

Philips CEO Cornelis van der Krucht, Commodore boss Jack Tramiel, MGM boss Kirk Kerkorian and Disney president Ron Miller all nodded.

They were very pleased with the helpless performance of Ethan Jones in the Oracle Impact.

This would prove that Ethan Jones is not unbeatable.

The allies' affirmation also made Steve Ross smile with satisfaction, and continued to face Rockwell's chairman: "More importantly, investing in Oracle is not our purpose, is it?"

"Our goal is to help you out."

"You, Rockwell, have won a major victory in the Department of Defense. Vinton Cerf has returned to his position as a researcher, which is a disguised admission of his mistakes."

"His choice has kept you, Rockwell, out of danger. In the future, when the Ministry of Defense purchases weapons and equipment again, you can still use your power to obtain large orders."

"This will allow you to stabilize your own base."

"When this goal has been achieved..."

"Oracle bones?"

"What is that?"

"Ethan Jones went and attacked him?"

"Isn't that just a waste of time?"

"He doesn't even know what we are pursuing now!"

When this fact came to light, Rockwell's chairman, Willard Rockwell Jr., immediately remained silent. If he continued to be arrogant when others were losing money while he was making money, he would only attract attacks.

As he remained silent, Steve Ross, who was already unhappy, cursed him several times in his heart for his behavior of taking advantage of others. But at the same time, he smiled confidently and said, "So, our cooperation can continue, right?"

This question made everyone at the scene nod.

After receiving a positive answer, Steve Ross turned his attention to Jack Tramiel, the boss of Komodor, and said, "Then I want to know how your contact with Benzi went."

When this matter was mentioned, the boss of Komodor immediately became happy.

“It went very smoothly,” he said. “Casio was very interested in our willingness to share the 6502 design drawings and immediately agreed to the deal we proposed, offering to help us build a cheap computer.”

"Really?" Rockwell's chairman, Willard Rockwell Jr., was a little excited.

Because computers are the next business they want to run well.

"Yes." Jack Tramiel nodded, "Because they have a project right now, and the need for a cheap and easy-to-use micro-CPU is very urgent."

“And this project conflicts with Nintendo, so they don’t want to buy chips from Nintendo.”

"Although they didn't tell me what the project was, according to Casio, this project will definitely change the world..."

"It'll be more stunning than Ethan Jones's home console..."

"It will allow video games to appear in front of people in another way..."

Such words made Steve Ross, Ron Miller and Kirk Kerkorian's eyes light up!
Because games are their main business!

Just as they were eager to know about Casio's project, Arakawa Minoru, who had just got off the plane, came to his father-in-law's house in Kyoto. After knocking on the door of the Yamauchi family and seeing Yamauchi Hiroshi, who had already fallen asleep but got up, Arakawa Minoru immediately handed over the documents in his handbag.

After reading the recent major events in North America, Old Yamauchi called the waiter and asked him to change his clothes for him. At the same time, he said to his son-in-law, "Call Hiroshi Imanishi."

"Meet at the company in an hour."

"We're going to have a little meeting."

Seeing that his son-in-law was not in a good mood, the old man smiled and said, "Don't be so sullen."

"As a human being, the most important thing is to be happy..."

Arakawa Minoru: “???”

He felt that what he saw today was a fake father-in-law.

Note: ① The conflict between Edgar Codd and IBM is as outrageous as described in the article. In reality, he really started his own business after winning the Turing Award. Codd's Twelve Points and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) were all done after he left IBM. As for the possible plagiarism of Oracle mentioned in the article, there was a dispute about this matter in reality, but it was all resolved in the end, and the solution was very interesting. Oracle acquired all of Edgar Codd's affiliated companies. When the source of the problem becomes its own subsidiary, the problem is naturally solved. ② Thomas Watson Jr. is the son of IBM founder Thomas Watson. He managed IBM as the actual controller until his death. ③ SQL is a computer language used to query, change and define relational databases.



(End of this chapter)