Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 290 The Avengers assemble again!

The last time the Avengers officially assembled was last winter.

When Ethan Jones took out the Johnson home console and the "Starfield" game in a live broadcast, Steve Ross was shocked beyond words and took the initiative to invite all of Ethan Jones' competitors to a meeting in New York, the center of the East Coast, to discuss how to attack him.

In that meeting, the invited members were full of confidence and were ready to defeat Ethan Jones in three moves. But now...

Half a year later, on August 10, at Warner's headquarters in Los Angeles, the atmosphere in the huge conference room was solemn.

There were only five chairs around the round table, which was in stark contrast to the previous group of six. Even though no one said anything, everyone knew that Ron Miller was out.

Although everyone present was a bloodthirsty jackal, and each of them had used cruel means to suppress competitors in their past entrepreneurial journeys, even so, after discovering that one of their allies was missing, they still felt an inexplicable sadness.

Because everyone knows that the current Ron Miller may be their future self. Once they are attacked by Ethan Jones and their weaknesses are exposed, with no chance of rescue, or the cost of rescue is greater than the benefit of releasing them, their current allies will abandon them for their own safety.

As if he could see what the people around him were thinking, or more like he knew that the current alliance was not unbreakable, after looking around the scene, Steve Ross smiled and said, "Everyone, Ron Miller came to me before. He asked me for help and hoped that I could help him keep his management rights in Disney."

"I agreed and provided him with a workable white knight plan. He accepted it, but he did not choose to let me operate it. Instead, he took the initiative to find other allies."

"Moreover, the ally he found was my former enemy."

“That’s very regretful of mine.”

“So I didn’t call him to the meeting this time.”

"Because he took the initiative to betray the alliance."

Steve Ross's words stunned everyone present for a moment. The next second, laughter broke out in the scene. "Oh - so Ron Miller is such a person?" MGM Chairman Kirk Kerkorian shook his head regretfully and said, "I always thought he was a loyal guy."

"did not expect……"

"Hey!"

The deep sigh caused the other three to nod politely.

As for what they really think in their hearts?

It's clear to everyone.

But this is not important, because even Steve Ross himself knows that the explanation just now is just a whitewash, and their real purpose...

That is to analyze Ethan Jones' strange behavior and deal with possible revenge.

"Okay, even though Ron Miller betrayed us, his actions didn't cause us much harm, so we don't need to worry about him."

"The question we need to explore now is what exactly is Ethan Jones doing."

"In the past ten days, he acquired a company, bought a bunch of patents, and reached cooperation agreements with Xerox and HP. Although his behavior is a bit confusing, everything points to a demonstration that took place in San Francisco eleven years ago."

"Back then, an engineer named Douglas Engelbart showed his creativity to the world in San Francisco. He wanted to revolutionize computers and sweep the command line interface into the dustbin of history. His declaration aroused a lot of discussion at the time, but unfortunately, he failed."

"Because in the past eleven years, even if other companies have been researching in the direction he pointed out, they have not produced any world-shaking products. Not only that, most of the teams researching graphical user interfaces have announced their dissolution in recent years. But now..."

"Ethan Jones seems to want to conduct special research in this direction."

“He wanted to get this thing to market.”

Having said this, Steve Ross also distributed the documents in his hand.

Then he said, “Everyone, do you think Ethan Jones’s behavior will have an impact on us?”

In fact, before sending out the invitation to everyone, Steve Ross had already sent them the sorted information, and the information recorded in that report was actually no different from the current documents.

It’s just that the current summary document contains more content and more comprehensive information.

So, in less than ten minutes, everyone at the scene had finished reading the information.

After everyone closed the file, a strong sense of contrast suddenly emerged.

Sitting on Steve Ross's left was MGM boss Kirk Kerkorian and North American Philips CEO Cornelis van der Krucht, who looked calm at the moment.

Not only did he not intend to speak, but he cast inquiring glances at Jack Tramiel, the owner of Commodore, and Willard Rockwell Jr., the chairman of Rockwell, who were standing opposite him.

It seems like he wants to know what these two guys are thinking.

And the boss of Komodor and the chairman of Rockwell...

The two of them looked gloomy and in a bad mood.

As for the reason?

"I don't know whether Ethan Jones's behavior will have an impact on us." Commodore's boss Jack Tramiel said in a hard tone: "But I know that Ethan Jones' next target is us! Because now he is mobilizing all resources against us!"

Before he finished speaking, Willard Rockwell Jr., chairman of Rockwell, nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, I have asked the company's R&D personnel to analyze the graphical user interface technology. They said that this thing can only be used on personal computers, so..."

"Steve." Willard Rockwell Jr. looked at the chairman of Warner, who was sitting in the first seat, with a fake smile. "You called me to the meeting. Do you want to give us some help on behalf of the alliance?"

"Or..."

Willard Rockwell Jr. turned his head and focused his gaze on the owner of MGM and the CEO of Philips North America, "You want to help us too?"

"Oh - thank you so much!"

The sarcastic words made the boss of MGM and the CEO of Philips North America look serious.

It also made the face of Steve Ross, who was in the first seat, twitch.

At this moment, they had all smelled the bad odor in the air.

That's right!

The boss of Komodor and the chairman of Rockwell came with emotions!

Or, when they found out that after Ethan Jones was slapped five times by them, he did not declare war on all of them, but only took active measures against their personal computer industry, they felt that they were being targeted!

Clearly, everyone did this together, so why are they the only ones being targeted?

It is obvious that the cooperation between Philips and Sony was the first shot in this war!
Their alliance with Casio and providing chips to Casio is already the second step in the war!

In this case, Ethan Jones chose to hammer them first?

This is unfair no matter how you look at it, isn't it?

To be honest, even if Steve Ross didn't call and invite them to a meeting, they would take the initiative to come forward and ask for a meeting with alliance members after understanding the graphical user interface!

Because they don't want to confront Ethan Jones head-on!
Or rather——

Even if we get beaten, the entire alliance has to bear it together!

They are not Ron Miller! They are not stupid enough to choose to work alone!

"Oh - Jack, Willard, I understand your feelings." Although Steve Ross looked unhappy, he smiled again in a second. "It is precisely because we know that this matter is very serious that we are holding a collective meeting today."

"Since none of us know how powerful the technology that Ethan Jones has seized is, let's analyze the situation first? If his actions can have a far-reaching impact on the entire industry, then we will naturally find a way to help you. After all, we are all comrades in the same alliance, right?"

Everyone can say nice polite words, but these things are completely useless to shrewd people.

The boss of Komodor and the chairman of Rockwell just shrugged and didn't accept it.

Steve Ross's last question was directed at the boss of MGM and the CEO of Philips North America. The two of them...

The former nodded in agreement and was quite cooperative.

The latter just smiled and showed nothing else.

When three people at a table of five showed an extremely perfunctory attitude, Steve Ross suddenly became a little angry, but he knew that he couldn't get angry.

Take a deep breath and force a smile.

"Since we all have the same goal, let's discuss Ethan Jones's actions in detail. According to the information I received, this transaction of Apple was carried out through a share transfer. When Ethan Jones was willing to exchange Apple's shares for patent technology support from Xerox, HP and Stanford Research Institute, I personally felt that they should have full confidence in this product."

"I wonder what you think?"

The pragmatic words surprised the three people who were perfunctorily responding. In their opinion, the meeting held today was a one-man show by Steve Ross, and his core purpose should be to appease the emotions of Komodor and Rockwell and let them continue to fight with Ethan Jones to the end, but unexpectedly... Steve Ross really came to discuss things?
When this thought appeared in everyone's mind, the boss of Komodor and the chairman of Rockwell, who wanted to drag everyone into the water with anger, immediately looked at Steve Ross twice.

The violence in his body subsided a lot.

But at the same time, they had no intention of speaking.

As they fell silent, Steve Ross continued, “Well, since I invited you here, I will set an example and express my views first.”

"First, I want to explain why I think Ethan Jones is confident in the GUI product, because under normal circumstances, share transactions in business activities represent shared risks."

“When a company wants to acquire something or a company, the management thinks the deal might be feasible, but is not completely sure. At this time, they will take the initiative to propose a share transaction. Once they think a certain technology or company is a great complement to them, the management will definitely find a way to turn the deal into a cash transaction.”

“Even if it costs a certain premium.”

"Because only in this way can we maximize the benefits in the true sense."

"But that kind of thing is not true for Ethan Jones."

“Because when Ethan Jones is very optimistic about a certain technology, his desire for this technology will become a flaw in the negotiation, and the company that trades with him will definitely try to get his company’s shares.”

"If Ethan Jones hesitates, it proves that he is not sure enough about this technology. If Ethan Jones is willing to negotiate, it proves that he is very optimistic about this technology. If Ethan Jones reaches a deal with the other party, it proves that he is really confident."

"This……"

“That’s the most important thing.”

At this point, Steve Ross tapped the table with his index finger, his face serious, "Although Ethan Jones and I are enemies, I admit that Ethan Jones may have a vision of success that is difficult for ordinary people to understand."

"Everything he looks at has a good chance of success, so, at worst, the graphical user interface might be the next thing he discovers that will change the world."

"I have made my reasons clear."

"I don't think you will object, right?"

Steve Ross's eyes swept over the four people around him one by one.

The boss of MGM and the CEO of Philips North America had no objection, and the chairman of Rockwell and the boss of Commodor, who had been angry before, now expressed their agreement in silence.

This situation made Steve Ross nod slightly——

"Okay, since everyone has no objection, I will continue."

"When I discovered that Ethan Jones's newly patented technology might be another key to changing the world, I asked professionals to carefully evaluate the technology."

"Then……"

“I learned the following news.”

"The first point is that this technology is unlikely to be introduced to the market in a short period of time. Because according to what I have learned, Xerox's technology is implemented on mainframes."

"If you want to move something from a mainframe to a personal computer, even the simplest transplantation will take up to one to two years to optimize and test it."

"So, even if GUIs are the future..."

"Ethan Jones couldn't open it right away either."

"The second point is that the graphical user interface has very high requirements for computer configuration, which is beyond the current personal computer market's ability to bear."

"According to Xerox's report, the minimum operating standard for this product is a 5-bit 128MHz CPU and KB of RAM."

"There are currently only two companies that can produce 6502-bit chips, Intel and Motorola. Motorola had a conflict with Ethan Jones because of the patent issue of MOS . Although Intel is an industry invested by Lawrence Rockefeller, their chips are very expensive."

"This expensiveness does not refer to the selling price, but the manufacturing cost."

"So, even with Lawrence Rockefeller, they can't get cheap chips, and once Apple loses the advantage of cheap chips..."

"So what else do they have?"

"At the same time, we all know about RAM. The cheapest RAM is in Japan."

“And this is not something that Ethan Jones and his team can easily obtain.”

"In summary, when Ethan Jones and his team need to spend a lot of time to move the graphical user interface to personal computers and spend a lot of energy to solve the cost problem, his behavior this time actually poses a relatively small threat to us. Not to mention..."

"Chuck Peddle is still with us. In the words of MOS Technology, Bill Mensch could not have developed a 16-bit chip without his team."

"We are the only ones who can be the first to produce a 6502-bit chip based on MOS ."

When Steve Ross presented the facts and made his point, everyone at the scene fell silent.

While waiting for Steve Ross to call his assistant and have him distribute the report that had been prepared long ago, Jack Tramiel and Willard Rockwell Jr. breathed a sigh of relief when they saw all the details.

“Steve, is this report credible?”

Jack Trammell shook the papers in his hand.

"Where did you get this information?"

"All I can say is that the final farewell ceremony for all the Jews in North America was held in my church," Steve Ross shrugged.

It seemed like there was no answer, but he answered everything.

As the owner of the largest funeral company in America and the one who controls the American Jewish Synagogue, Steve Ross knows more of his fellow synagogues than Jack Trammell does.

Even Jack Trammell was Jewish.

"Okay, I'm fine." Jack Tramiel stopped talking.

But Rockwell's chairman, Willard Rockwell Jr., had problems.

"Steve, I understand what you mean. When Ethan Jones cannot bring the graphical user interface product to market immediately, there is still room for our plan to be implemented."

"As long as we use cheap computers to seize Apple's market and encroach on Apple's living space, they may have revenue problems and fall into a situation where it is difficult to develop."

"But what I want to say is that Apple's current craze is not because of how influential Apple itself is, but because Microsoft's spreadsheets have given them a huge boost."

"When Microsoft was already controlled by Ethan Jones, our spreadsheets..."

"And where?"

Willard Rockwell Jr. asked a crucial question.

His words also caused Jack Tramiel, the boss of Commodore, to nod his head repeatedly. "Yes, Steve, although Bill Gates said that Microsoft would provide electronic spreadsheets for all computers on the market, Microsoft accepted Ethan Jones' investment after all."

"I don't believe they would give us the spreadsheet unconditionally."

This question made Steve Ross raise the corner of his mouth.

"So, this is how we help you..."

"I said before that I came to solve the problem with sincerity..."

"You have to believe me..."

The two men didn't understand the inexplicable words, and Steve Ross turned his head and cast his gaze towards MGM's boss Kirk Kerkorian.

As he watched, Kirk Kerkorian also took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to the two men. After the two men briefly glanced at it...

A cry of surprise came out of their mouths!
"Jack Valenti?"

The name instantly made Cornelis van der Krucht, CEO of Philips North America, frown, and also made Steve Ross, who was sitting in the first seat, nod his head.

"Yes, that's Jack Valenti."

Steve Ross smiled and said, "Jack Valenti who went to Southeast Asia."

"After he spent some time in Southeast Asia..."

"So I sent him to Neon."

(End of this chapter)