bloom america

Chapter 232 The sinister Catherine

Bush put down his copy of "The Actor's Self-cultivation" and took a sip of water.

The bill submitted by George H.W. Bush is currently being discussed in Congress. If nothing goes wrong, legislation to regulate the video game industry will be introduced soon.

Then Bush picked up the nearest New York Times.

"Um...ibm?"

Bush saw a very interesting news.

An interesting news about IBM.

He knew that IBM was Ark's enemy, and Ark's political donations were of great help to his Senate campaign.

"This is……"

This news article in the New York Times provides a detailed analysis of IBM's 360 computer.

Although the software and hardware of the 360 ​​computer studied by Watson are separated, IBM still basically monopolizes the 360 ​​computer software industry.

"Although IBM keeps saying that it wants to separate the hardware and software platforms, they have never done so. The software platform of their 360 mainframe computer is completely monopolized by IBM itself. IBM owns as much as 80% of the mainframe computer.

share, but if they do not open the standard, but completely exclude other manufacturers, countless manufacturers will go bankrupt and countless people will be displaced..."

Bush scratched his head. This seemed to be an exaggeration, but it seemed to be true. He looked at the author's signature - a young researcher with a conscience.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door of Bush Sr.'s house...

…

Starting in mid-July, negative news about IBM began to spread frequently.

IBM's monopoly behavior has always existed. In addition, IBM was investigated during this period, and the negative news with solid evidence was very detrimental to IBM. Therefore, IBM was forced to truly open the 360 ​​mainframe software platform.

However, things are not over yet.

On August 1, the Department of Justice officially launched an antitrust investigation into IBM...

“The antitrust investigation is great”

At Ark's regular meeting, Sanders was visibly happy.

Indeed, very exciting news.

“What do we do? Get the Celeron supercomputer off the ground?”

After all, the computing speed of the Celeron supercomputer is more than twice that of the 360 ​​series. It is completely feasible to squeeze it out.

"Capacity, we don't have enough capacity."

What Catherine is writing seems to be a very important idea.

"Are we still focusing on consolidating the game console market and the microcomputer market?"

"Yes, we also need to take into account the TV market." Catherine said.

Yes, your own company has a serious shortage of production capacity. It can be said that the big market of the United States can absorb as much as your company has.

That’s why Catherine will use all the 400 million funds to put into production... This is equivalent to 2 billion US dollars in the 21st century. If converted into * RMB, it would be more than 12 billion. If it is before inflation, it would be more than 16 billion.

Especially since all these factories are put into production in Taiwan, it is quite convenient.

Catherine predicts that her company's output will at least quadruple in this time.

However, even so, their company can only be said to be able to stabilize this basic base. If it were not for compatible hardware and other products, it would be difficult to say that Catherine's products would be able to gain a foothold in the market - of course, because of patent protection, those who want to

Those who develop new microcomputers can only wait until after the 1970s. Even if they develop game consoles, without Catherine's CPU, it is impossible for people to develop a good game console now...

"Maybe we should even out some of the production... Anyway, the CPU we produce is our core. How about using it to research new supercomputers?" It was Master Clay who said this.

"No, the minicomputer project has just begun, how could it be abandoned halfway?" Olson quit.

"We...can develop software for IBM's 360."

At this moment, Catherine spoke.

Then... there was silence.

Sanders looked at Catherine in disbelief:

"Boss...Miss, do we really want to develop...software for IBM's 360?"

"Yes, and these applications must be killer. People will want to use them after using them. Once they use them, they will be inseparable from our products."

Sanders looked weird.

Not only him, but also Olson and the others looked at Catherine with strange eyes.

Could it be that...we just compromised like this?

"Yes, that's right," the arrogant Catherine laughed, and then took a sip of black tea, ""

"We also need to develop accessories for IBM. Isn't IBM selling our Microsoft II computers to their users? We will let them increase their sales efforts. It is best if IBM's 360 system sells more and more, the better."

Catherine knew that it was not feasible for her to just use her computer for gaming and entertainment. Now IBM just gave her a reminder.

"Ahem, boss, are we really going to do this?" Sanders found it difficult to understand Catherine. He had already called out "boss" instead of "miss."

"Yes, not just ourselves, we also need to sell the C language development kit... Oh, by the way, the development kit can have a dedicated development machine. Olson, your minicomputer is just right.

.”

Catherine was in high spirits.

"Are you sure?" Sanders asked.

"I am sure."

"Are you really sure?"

"That's right...what's wrong?" Catherine looked at Sanders strangely.

“Are we really going to give up on the mainframe market?”

Sanders asked strangely.

"No, how is this possible?" Catherine finally understood the meaning of everyone's look of astonishment.

"The purpose of what we do is to make users feel dependent on our software. Do you understand the feeling of dependence?"

Sanders nodded.

"So, we have to develop software for them. They occupy nearly 80% of the mainframe market. If our software can be popularized, we can also occupy 80% of the market."

"Please continue." Olson seemed to hear something.

"Then, when IBM's 360 became obsolete..."

A "jiān smile" appeared on Catherine's face - she had tried it many times, but she felt that she was the most successful in smiling like this this time.

"...As long as at that time, our software no longer supports IBM machines, and then we launch our own mainframe... What do you think will happen?"

The sinister Catherine decided to use this trick to drain the fire.

Then, on August 2, the day after IBM received the antitrust investigation, Catherine's Apple Computer Company began to announce the development of software for the 360 ​​series of computers.

Not only is this announced externally, but internally, Catherine has strict requirements for the company. The software developed must be able to kill everyone, be simple and easy to use, and have no bugs.

In fact, in addition to this, Catherine also had a very dark idea.

——Ibm has just accepted an antitrust investigation and announced that it will develop software for the other party. Isn’t this a very interesting thing?

What a slap in the face~

Catherine found that sometimes, some naughty activities seemed to be very interesting.

Of course, Catherine has not forgotten the hero of this incident - George H.W. Bush.

Precisely because of the other party's help, the antitrust investigation into IBM, which was originally scheduled to be launched in January 1969, was moved ahead of schedule.

But this is inevitable. After all, IBM's 360 sales have suddenly increased so much, and the other party's market share has now reached an unprecedented 81%.

Although Catherine is very sinister and has a bad taste, the media who don't know the truth come to join in the fun.

——After all, Catherine is already half a celebrity, and her products have already entered the offices of these media companies. This kind of manuscript processing equipment is simply an artifact for these media.

Because of this, many people now know about Catherine's Ark company, as well as Catherine herself.

"Ark Group's compromise? IBM's gospel?"

"The magical girl's magic power is exhausted?"

"How much did Mr. Watson spend to invite the reinforcements from Ark?"

All of a sudden, all kinds of rumors were flying everywhere.

What made Catherine dumbfounded the most was that her name actually appeared in some gossip tabloids that specialized in broadcasting celebrity news, saying that she liked older men...

Well, in fact, with the emergence of these news, Catherine just saw it as a joke. Her main focus now is on IBM.

In fact, when little Watson heard the news, he was also shocked and couldn't believe it.

this……

Did the other party really withdraw from the mainframe market?

No

Little Watson would never think so.

After all, the other party's "billion times computer" plan has just begun, and the other party has no intention of canceling it.

Little Watson's 360 computer itself is not too outstanding, and can only have a calculation speed of 2.5 million times per second.

Even the products Seymour Clay launched before 360 ​​were better than his.

Moreover, compared with Seymour Clay's 7 million, there is a huge difference in the amount of 5 billion.

However, little Watson’s output is huge.

Although Cray's products are cheap, fast, and bug-free, they have no production volume. How can they compare to IBM's 360?

It can be said that the 12 million computers that Master Clay is currently researching can also kill the opponent instantly, but how can the pitiful double-digit output be compared with IBM's 50,000 mainframes?

It is impossible for Catherine to give up her basic base, so when faced with the other party's products, Watson can be said to be full of confidence.

Even if the other party invests 400 million yuan in building a factory, it is still impossible for Ark Group to enter the mainframe market. The most they can do is increase production to hundreds of digits, which poses no threat to IBM at all.

.

In fact, the mainframe market, like the microcomputer market, is not saturated.

"Historically" IBM was able to earn more than 7 billion in profits, which is proof of this.

But...is the other person really the kind of person who would give up?

Little Watson didn't believe it.

He looked at the reports one after another and felt very anxious.

Although he is the son of Thomas Watson and is called Little Watson, in fact, he is now in his 50s.

Little Watson intuitively felt that Ark's behavior was exactly like a weasel paying New Year greetings to a chicken - he had no good intentions.

Although something was wrong, little Watson couldn't tell where it was.

If it were normal times, little Watson might still be able to think calmly.

However, the antitrust investigation by the judicial department has given Watson Jr. a headache.

Little Watson was having a headache over there, but Catherine had already started to get the company working hard.

After all, the U.S. economy has been in recession since 1969.

There is still one year left before that time.

Although the electronics industry did not decline at this time, it developed vigorously.

But... this was the beginning of the depression after all, especially after that, in 1971, the Bretton Woods system in the United States collapsed, the U.S. dollar and gold decoupled, and the price of gold soared...

By the way, when the price of gold soars, you can make a lot of money...

Catherine thought of this and wrote this down in her notebook.

Then, Catherine thought of President Nixon.

This guy is really miserable. As soon as he came up, he encountered an economic recession. He finally found China as a life-saving straw, but soon, the "Watergate Incident" broke out in his company.

Thinking of the "Watergate Incident", Catherine also thought of Hoover, the person in charge of the FBI.

In history, there is a saying that Hoover held the handle on Nixon. Just one month before the Watergate incident, Hoover passed away, and then Nixon went to the Watergate Building to install bugs - just to find out who Hoover was.

What evidence do you have of yourself?

Of course, this is just a statement. After all, the official conclusion has long been made...

Another business opportunity was the oil crisis in 1973, and that oil crisis was not comparable to the current "Six-Day War". It was truly violent.

Immediately afterwards, Catherine thought about the planet project in the 1980s, the "Wanta Project" recorded in her notebook, and the Plaza Accord between the United States and Japan...

Of course, these will not affect Catherine for the time being. What she has to do now is to continue to develop, and it is best to defeat IBM...or, it does not necessarily have to be defeated.

The speculative industry is indeed a hugely profitable industry, but such a speculative industry also requires a huge price.

If IBM is still obsessed with gold at that time, it will be in big trouble for itself to speculate in gold.

After all, although the price of gold has skyrocketed, it will still take a year or two, and after speculating in gold, I will immediately need to switch to the oil market.

Therefore, within such a period of time, I need to face the impact of Japanese companies, Motorola's backside attack, and IBM's frontal attack...

As a result, in the end, my capital chain may only be a tragedy.

So no matter what, Catherine must first settle the family.

Japanese manufacturer?

It's impossible, they have the entire country behind them - you know, Japanese manufacturers sell TVs to the United States at ultra-low prices, but in Japan, their prices are as high as **hundred

Dollar.

**A hundred dollar TV?

To be honest, although Catherine considers herself a capitalist, she still cannot do such a sinister thing...

And the other one is Motorola.

Motorola is now in its heyday. Even the digital transmission signals for the Apollo moon landing were developed by Motorola.

And the last one is IBM.

Of course you have to pick the persimmons soft and pinch them softly. Catherine still understands this principle.

Moreover, after all, only IBM has a huge conflict with itself, and other manufacturers have not yet reached the level of conflict with IBM. It can almost be said that it is a never-ending situation...

Moreover, Motorola's current opponent happens to be Japanese manufacturers, and Motorola is now losing ground. It can be said that the low-end TV market is almost all occupied by Japanese manufacturers. Although the rectangular picture tube jointly developed by Motorola and Sony is amazing,

There is not enough to watch in front of Catherine's dazzling TV set "tv-go", so they are all competing in the mid- to low-end market, and the entry-level market is dominated by Catherine...

…

the other side.

Gregory is in a good mood today.

Although Aikul did not come as promised, she did invite a very talented student from the University of California. She brought this person to the research and development team of "Magic World", but the other person is still at the University of California, so both parties

Communicate online for the time being.

This person's ID is Milk Bear Gate.

This guy is actually very famous because in an accident not long ago, this guy lost his manhood, but luckily his balls were still there, and after the surgery, although the function was temporarily lost, fortunately they were reconnected.

Immortal Gregory: I have already made the basic structure of the game, but I think we need a story, a fascinating story, so that everyone can like our game.

Aikul: Maybe, but I think we just need to take what's already available, right?

Gregory the Immortal: But we will be sued, right? This is copyright infringement.

Milk Bear Gate: We should write a novel and become famous instantly, so that people can play our game.

Gregory the Immortal: It seems like a good idea, and it can also be regarded as a line of the story. If it is long enough, we can also use this story to build our entire world.

Aikul: What’s the specific story?

Milk Bear Gate: A boy whose parents were affected by the magic war and died when he was young, then he determined to become a magician, and then married his own sister. Is this a good story?

At this time, another person suddenly came online.

Angela: Why is it the elder sister and not the younger sister?

Milk Bear Gate: Anyone who likes my sister is a paper tiger.

Angela:》_《!(Text emoticon)

Milk Bear Gate: Don’t you think it’s a great thing to be able to marry your own sister?

Aikul:~ They all sound good. If we write down both stories, maybe our game script will be ready.

Immortal Gregory: Hey, don’t talk about such topics casually.

Gregory felt like his head was getting big... This is a taboo topic...