Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 259 A week
"Dr. Codd, Professor Chamberlain, from today on, we are a family."

"Oh yes, Ethan, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation in the future."

Edgar Codd smiled and stretched out his hand, shaking hands with Ethan in a friendly manner.

Donald Chamberlain opened his arms and hugged Ethan. Not only that, he also winked at Edgar Codd and said, "Oh Edgar, we can definitely get along well with Ethan."

"Because everyone in the circle knows that Ethan is famous for only investing money and not caring about the business."

"Hahaha--"

The joking remarks made everyone at the scene burst into laughter, and amidst the cheers, the image of the group of people standing in a friendly manner in front of the sign was forever frozen on film.

February of 1979 was a busy month, at least for Ethan. The endless troubles made him busy and confused, but fortunately, after the storm, there is a rainbow.

On the morning of February 22, Edgar Cord and Donald Chamberlain, who had already left IBM, came to the Stanford Research Park and moved into the newly cleaned office building.

Under the illumination of flashing lights, the SQL laboratory with an initial investment of two million was officially established. This meant that Destiny Game officially started the research on relational databases and database query languages.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, while everyone was chatting, Ethan heard another piece of news.

"Vinton Cerf's concession has once again boosted Rockwell's reputation within the Department of Defense. Oracle has also expanded rapidly with the help of this aircraft carrier. In the middle of the month, they signed a software sales agreement with the CIA, but now... they have sold their products to our Air Force."

Edgar Code's words made Ethan laugh, and he said, "Then at this rate, Larry Ellison will probably be able to extend his tentacles to every corner of the federal government soon?"

"It's very likely." Donald Chamberlain nodded and said, "Oracle will be able to go public in two years at most. This is because the federal government's procurement will attract a lot of buyers for them."

"Especially since Rockwell and Warner just announced that they have jointly invested in Oracle, in this case, they will definitely help their own people to seize the market, so -"

"The situation we are facing now is extremely serious."

"Pressure is motivation, isn't it?" Ethan shrugged, not caring about these things.

"Hahaha - yes -" The other two nodded with a smile. For scientific researchers, competition is commonplace. "A head start does not mean success. Perseverance is the key to success."

Although Steve Ross and Rockwell have officially announced their alliance, what does this have to do with Ethan? They are enemies, and whether they unite or not cannot change the fate of fighting each other.

Since everyone is going to fight to the death anyway, then...

Just hit him.

Who is afraid of whom?
At the same time as the SQL Lab was being established, good news came from Michael Blanco Manufacturing Company.

The home console production line in Milpitas, Bay Area has been completed.

The first batch of trial production officially started on the 24th.

The production of home consoles and the manufacturing of electronic arcade machines are actually different. Since the latter has high unit prices and low demand, directly hiring workers can promote production and save costs at the same time. However, since the former has low unit prices and large orders, purchasing production lines and operating in an assembly-line mechanical mode is the right way.

The technology involved is not difficult. The circuit board engraving and etching machines used in manufacturing home consoles are exactly the same as the circuit board production lines in home TVs. All that needs to be done is to make a new mold.

After the circuit board is flushed out, all the electronic components are then manually soldered by workers.

These two simple steps are the most difficult part in the production of home consoles. The rest of the wiring, shell assembly, product testing, packaging and warehousing are extremely simple.

Workers don't even need any training to start working.

While visiting the trial production line, Ethan also discovered several problems.

"Don't we make the plastic casing of the home console ourselves?"

"No." Michael Blanco Manufacturing's vice president, the director of the company's California headquarters, and the middle-aged man who had set foot on the Asian continent with Ethan's father, shook his head and said, "Plastic production is too polluting and difficult to handle. In addition, it produces a lot of toxic gases during production. So after our joint consultation, we decided to assign this part of the work to others."

"The contractor is a plastics factory over in Baja California."

“It was also opened by our American people.”

“Reasonable price.”

This fact made Ethan nod his head, "Then the pollution here..."

“Mass production of circuit boards is bound to cause pollution, but we also have comprehensive treatment measures.” The vice president continued: “The technology in this area was provided by HP because the pollutants they encountered when producing calculators are actually the same as ours.”

"Okay." Ethan was very satisfied with the perfect and careful arrangement.

Although the factory has been split off, and Ethan has also set up an incentive mechanism for them, rewarding them with up to 30% of the shares according to their operating performance, this does not mean that Ethan can just ignore it. After all, this is the key to turning design into products. Without the factory's all-night production, they would have nothing to sell. And when the factory is developing steadily and positively...

Ethan was relieved.

On the morning of February 24, Ethan inspected the California factory. The next day, he received a call from Michael Blanco in Arkansas. On the phone, his uncle said that the first production workshop and warehouse in Arkansas had passed the acceptance inspection, the purchased circuit board production line would be delivered within three days, and the raw materials used in production would be in place within seven working days.

If nothing goes wrong, trial production will begin in mid-March, and by early April, the production of home consoles should be able to reach 2,000 units per day. Although the production of 60,000 units per month seems a bit low, it is still acceptable considering the scale of the factory there.

As for the missing production capacity?
Then it will be made up by the California factory.

This kind of thing is actually not a big deal. When the underwriters of home consoles are major shopping malls, point-to-point delivery is much easier than the previous arcade machine-scattering delivery.

After finishing his production work, Ethan flew to Arizona again on the 26th.

At the party at the end of last year, Bill Mensch showed Ethan his optimized MOS 6502, and the great performance improvement was recognized by everyone. After two months of improvement, this new chip finally came off the production line.

When Ethan arrived at the Western Design Company, the rows of brand new chips made him smile. When he witnessed Bill Mensch soldering a chip onto the testing machine, running the disk system of the Apple II, and simply running the Apple version of "Snake", the fact that it was plug-and-play made him give a thumbs up.

"Is this chip ready for mass production?" Ethan gave Bill Mensch a questioning look.

The other party smiled and nodded, "The production line has been debugged, and the current output is 500 pieces a day."

The output of 6502 chips is barely enough for Ethan now, but when MOS has not yet withdrawn from the market, the output of the new chip is already very considerable.

"How much does a single chip cost?" Ethan asked again.

"The production process of this chip is the same as that of the 6502, and it costs four dollars for two chips per piece." Bill Mensch said, "One board can make two chips, the yield rate is over %, and each chip costs two dollars."

"What? Isn't this just increasing the quantity without raising the price?" Ethan was a little surprised.

This metaphor also made Bill Mensch stunned for a moment, and then he laughed and nodded.

"Yes! Ethan! You're right! Just increase the quantity without increasing the price!"

The affirmative answer made Ethan very happy.

Improving performance without increasing price can give him more advantages in hardware.

However, even though the new chip is ready for sale, Ethan is not planning to release the product to the market right away, because the life cycle of MOS 6502 is still very long, so -

He reluctantly used the upgraded chip himself.

"I need to take some of the chips back. From now on, our arcade products will officially use this chip. At the same time, I will also bring some chips to Apple so that Steve Wozniak can iterate the performance of Apple's computer products."

"From the current situation, this chip will not be mass-produced in the short term, so you can focus on developing other products in the future."

"Michael Blanco Manufacturing's chip production line does not need to be upgraded for the time being."

"Okay." Bill Mensch understood what Ethan meant.

"I will start research and development of sixteen-bit chips immediately."

"This is my vow and my dream."

"Of course, if you need to replace the production line during this process, I will still go to Miaobida. You just need to give me a call."

"Okay." Ethan opened his arms and hugged the other person.

At the same time, he expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you." Since the breakup with Allen Bradley last year, Chuck Petrus Chip Manufacturing Company has officially cut off the supply of chips for their Destiny game. Fortunately, Bill Mensch has the installation technology and directly set up two production lines at Michael Blanco's Milpitas factory for emergency response. In the following six months, the production lines were expanded to eight, perfectly meeting the daily needs of the Destiny game and Apple.

So, when Bill Mensch said that the upgraded chip uses the same manufacturing process as the old chip, the most cost-effective way to upgrade is to transform the production line that has just been used.

But if it is not sold to the outside world, there is no need to rush.

Moreover, there is another reason for not upgrading the production line.

That means Johnson's home console is currently using 6502!
It would be a stupid act to replace the production line without authorization when the product's release date is approaching!
As for the argument that since the chip costs are the same, maybe it would be better for home consoles to use new chips?
This is even more impossible, right?
Changing commanders on the battlefield is a big taboo!

When there is no problem with 6502 and the new chip has not been tested, what should I do if a problem occurs if I replace it randomly?
Who is responsible?
Who bears the loss?
This kind of thing is not like playing a construction game. If it is not well built, you can just demolish it. When the headquarters of Destiny Game has more than 100 employees, and the two factories have thousands of employees combined, and if it is expanded to the entire industrial chain, there are tens of thousands of people who depend on him, Ethan Jones, for a living. In this case, changing the design at the drop of a hat is not striving for excellence, but destroying the jobs of countless people!

The chips were packed very quickly. In no time, two hundred chips were packed into a large box. While Ethan was waiting, Bill Mensch said:
"Ethan, this chip doesn't have a name yet. Please give it a name. Otherwise, we will have to call it the new chip when we communicate in the future."

This question made Ethan think for a while, and then he said, "Then let's call it Fate."

"It was fate that brought us together, and it was also fate that gave birth to them."

“No other words can tell its legend.”

"Fate? Okay." Bill Mensch liked Ethan's point of view, "Then he is 0801."

"It represents his first eight-bit chip from a Western design company."

"If there is more, it will be 0802, 0803..."

"When the sixteenth one comes out, it will be 1601."

For the general public who don’t know what’s going on, the product codes of technology companies are all randomly chosen, and those dazzling words are simply impossible to understand.

But in fact, this is not the case. Each code name has a unique meaning.

Take NVIDIA for example, the origin of the GeForce series is the combination of the German word Geschwindigkeit and the English word Force, which represents speed and power;
The Tesla series is in honor of Nikola Tesla, an American physicist who made great contributions to modern power systems and radio communications.
The Titan series represents the Titan in ancient Greek mythology, symbolizing that its graphics card is powerful and invincible;
Quadro and Tegra, that also has its own meaning.

Because everyone is used to using objects to personify others, Bill Mensch didn't think there was anything wrong with Fate, and the word also refers to destiny, and has a double entendre with the game of fate. At the same time, Ethan didn't think there was anything wrong with the string of numbers. When a product is good enough, people will be able to remember even the hard-to-remember things.

After spending a morning at the Western Design Company, Ethan flew back to California because Arakawa Minoru called in advance and said that he could arrive in San Francisco in the afternoon and wanted to make an appointment with Ethan to sign a contract.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the two met at the headquarters of the Destiny Game. Looking at the name of Yamauchi Hiroshi on the contract, Ethan chuckled and said, "Don't let me find out."

Although Ethan's words were a bit incoherent, Arakawa Minoru still smiled.

"I don't understand you, Mr. Jones."

“Hehehe——” Ethan chuckled and didn’t explain.

He has already reminded me.

If there is a conflict next time, we will go to war.

Although Ethan understood that Nintendo's tolerance meant a huge blow to the company, he had no time to figure out the other party's plan at the moment, because on the 27th, the Destiny Game Internal Rating Team composed of the former Governor of California came to Palo Alto, California.

Ethan had indeed written a five-level rating and threw it in the face of the American Film Association before this, but the specific age and prohibited items corresponding to each rating required a separate meeting and serious discussion.

And this was the reason why Ethan invited them here.

After all, the credibility of a one-man show cannot compare to external supervision.

Of course, no matter whether he is the former governor of California, the director of the American Legal Aid Corporation, or Professor Ralph Baer, ​​Bill Gates' father, these people actually know that they are here just for the formality. How a game or a movie should be rated will ultimately be decided by Ethan Jones, but this formality can earn them enough reputation.

For the uninformed public, when the video game industry was developing faster and faster, with more and more products and more harm, it was these people who stepped forward decisively, requiring and guiding the leading companies in the industry to develop a series of review measures. When some inappropriate content first appeared in the video game industry and the New York Police Association first criticized some violent games, it was these people who stepped forward and made a small contribution to protecting the healthy growth of young people.

This reputation of rectifying the industry is a benefit that everyone likes. Therefore, everyone simply held a meeting for the whole morning, confirmed and slightly modified Ethan's classification method one by one, and gathered together in the afternoon to take a group photo holding the "Destiny Game Movie and Game Rating Method (Interim)" signed by everyone.

After completing the process, the former governor also said with a smile: "Ethan, before you announce the grading method, you must inform me so that I can be prepared, okay?"

Ethan understood what he meant and said with a smile, “I decided to announce this at the finals. At the end of the competition, before the prizes are distributed, you and everyone present will stand on the podium.”

"Oh—" the former governor stretched out his voice and patted Ethan's shoulder vigorously, "I like this time—I like you more—Ethan—"

"Thank you." Ethan nodded with a smile.

"The timing is great." The wife of the Arkansas Governor also smiled and extended her hand.

"Thank you." Ethan responded.

"Am I going to give a speech that day too?" Ralph Bell asked with a smile.

"Of course, you're the inventor of video games!" Ethan pretended to be angry and said, "As the only senior consultant in our company, you're not here? Aren't you embarrassing me?"

"Haha——" Ralph Bell laughed and hugged Ethan.

When it was Bill Gates' father's turn, this gentle guy said humbly: "Ethan, if William Jr. has ever made you angry before, I apologize on his behalf."

"Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity."

“No, No, No…” Ethan shook his head and said, “I have no conflict with him.”

“There is no disagreement at the moment.”

“I admire his and Paul Allen’s talents.”

"So please don't worry too much."

"Oh, thank you--" Old Gates stretched out his right hand, wanting to shake hands with Ethan, but just as he stretched it out, he retracted it and opened his arms instead, "May I have the honor?"

"Of course." Ethan met his request.

To be honest, Ethan actually knew why old Gates was so kind.

Only an idiot would go head-on with him when he can flip the Hollywood table unscathed.

Old Gates was not a moron. On the contrary, he knew the value of Excel.

In this situation, Ethan took the initiative to show goodwill and asked him to participate in the formulation of industry standards and norms... If his son made Ethan Jones unhappy, he really deserved a beating.

With a series of affairs completed, Ethan, who had been busy for a week, finally had time to sit down and rest. But before he could catch his breath, on February 28, Steve Ballmer poked his head into his office and looked at him with a flattering expression.

"What's the matter?" Ethan asked curiously.

"Yes." Ballmer touched his shiny forehead and said with a smile: "Boss, are you free tomorrow? I'll take you to San Francisco for a tour?"

"?"

That obscene smile made Ethan's heart tremble.

"I have time, but—why should I go shopping with you?"

Ethan didn't understand.

Ballmer played charades.

"You have time? That's good!"

"As for why we go shopping..."

"You'll know when you get there tomorrow~"

Note: ① In reality, Larry Ellison was immediately noticed by the Department of Defense after he impressed the CIA with Oracle, and the U.S. Air Force indeed purchased their database in 1979. ② Two factories with thousands of people are not small, and the assembly line is enough to cope with production. In reality, Atari had only over 10,000 employees at its peak, and these people supported the production of tens of millions of cartridges and game consoles.

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(End of this chapter)