bloom america

Chapter 233 The sudden rise of Wang An Computer Company

It's August and the temperature is still very high, but air conditioning has been installed at Ark's headquarters, so it's very cool.

"Looks good?"

Catherine operates the completed stargate system.

Of course, such a product needs at least one year or more of testing before it can enter the market.

"Come on, Elsa, come and try."

Catherine drew Ella to her actions.

"Well...but I don't know how to use a computer."

she said.

"No problem, this is actually very simple."

The ease of getting started is also a very important thing for Catherine to think about.

The size of the Stargate system is 70mb, which is exactly the capacity of a CD.

As for the laser head of the optical drive, its lifespan is about 1,500 hours. If it is used for two hours a day, it can be used for at least two years. Even if it works more than four hours a day, it can last for one year.

Because it has a super large capacity of 70MB, those technicians took great pains to test the system repeatedly to ensure that the system can continue to work when certain problems occur. In this way, even if a ji bald head is broken, or

With two ji bald heads, as long as the bit error rate can be maintained to a certain extent, the system can still start.

"Eh? There are also games?"

Elsa seemed to have discovered something.

"This...drawing?"

——Yes, Catherine's system has a built-in drawing program, but this program is not very good. It only has 16 colors and only tools such as pencils and erasers.

This Pentium computer has a 2D renderer graphics chip, but the fly in the ointment is that although this renderer is the most high-tech graphics card product available, in Catherine's view, it is still not enough.

Although the resolution is very low, because the monitors of this era are CRT display devices and can truly restore colors, the display effect is much better than the same effect that Catherine will see on the LCD screen in the future - this is

The advantages of point-to-point perfect display.

Catherine considered that the microcomputer should be a product for many industries, so all aspects must be prepared.

In addition to the 70mb optical drive core, this computer also has 512kb of memory and 64kb of storage - yes, the memory is much larger than the storage device.

As for the next step, Catherine is planning to research a larger capacity optical drive.

At this time, there are two choices before Catherine. One is to improve the plate pressure process and increase the capacity to 600mb. However, in this case, three ji-bald heads may still be needed to ensure data stability.

The second option is to make the plate pressing process more refined and at the same time increase the accuracy of data reading on the laser head. Making the plate pressing process more refined can be achieved without changing the foundation of current optical disc technology.

Continue research and development, but in this case, the capacity of the optical disc will not increase, it will still be 210mb, but the advantage is that three laser heads are no longer needed, and the cost will be greatly reduced - but this also has a disadvantage, that is, the cost of research and development

It may be quite high.

After thinking about it, Catherine decided to research and develop in the second direction. After all, the cost of equipment with a single optical head is lower. In the long run, such an optical drive equipment is better than the previous one, and the failure rate is also higher than that of a triple optical head.

lower.

Of course, new technologies still need to be researched, and it won't take more than two or three years.

Elsa operated it twice and basically understood how the system should be operated. Catherine saw it and nodded.

It seems that such a system is easy to get started with.

Then, Catherine took out a CD.

This kind of disc Catherine refers to the UMD of the original world. There is a shell on the outside instead of a separate disc. This way, the disc can be better protected.

This disc has a white plastic case on one side - this was originally used to affix game and software logos.

This disc is the game disc for "Age of Discovery" being developed by Blizzard Game Entertainment.

Catherine put the disc in, and then the system started reading. Asking Elsa to get down, Catherine sat back, and then opened the "Application".

Then, she saw an icon of a large sea ship.

The so-called "application" is a folder that stores shortcuts.

When the disc and cassette are inserted, the application icon will appear directly in this place instead of displaying the disc itself.

Although on the surface, this is for convenience of operation, on the other hand, it is also a way to prevent piracy, because the optical drive is not directly displayed in the system. When Catherine's system reads the optical drive, it does not appear at all.

It will be like the computer of the "future", where the optical drive itself will appear like a peripheral, but there will be an additional icon in the "Applications" folder.

——In any case, the optical drive has not appeared now. You can set it however you like. The rules of this system are entirely up to you.

After entering the game, the game starts to read the configuration.

Some contents of Catherine's stargate system are used to store user settings. Users can completely customize the system according to their own needs.

The first thing the system reads every time it is turned on is these data, and then it will be read after it is turned on.

The same goes for game saves.

In this regard, Catherine specially set a path and stipulated that the paths for all software settings must be in it.

For example, in this Age of Discovery, after inserting the CD, the first thing the system has to do is to read the "Age of Discovery" folder under the "game" folder under the c drive. All system settings and archives are

They are all stored in this place. If there is not one, the system will create one.

This Age of Discovery is still a demo version, so you can only experience the game at a glance.

Due to system limitations, the picture quality of the game is not very good. Although the Japanese art in the 1960s is good, it is still not as good as the art in the 1980s...

In the game, only one female pirate is provided. After entering the game, the main purpose is to experience the operation and control of the big voyage.

Catherine felt quite satisfied.

And because the characters were designed by Aniya herself, they look very beautiful - although it can't be seen in the game, the original painting on the game's promotional poster was completed by her.

“Everything went well~”

IBM was having a headache, but everyone in Catherine's company was busy going around. After the system reform, the enthusiasm of the company's employees was unprecedentedly high.

Within the group, Catherine integrates the entire group as much as possible. Although there are various companies under it, almost all employees are closely united.

After all, Catherine's assets are not high. Even if she counts all her assets, her market value may barely reach 1 billion.

At this time, the company's ability to resist risks is low, so what the company needs to do is to work together to break through the obstacles.

In the future, when the company develops, Catherine will prepare each subsidiary to be responsible for its own profits and losses instead of "eating from the same big pot", which will be more beneficial to the company's future development.

While playing the game, Olson walked in at this time.

"Ms. Edson, I would like to ask about the C language development machine..."

The C language development machine is a kind of minicomputer. Olson is responsible for this kind of minicomputer - it is his old profession...

The C language development kit will be given as a random gift.

"By the way, how's the software development thing going?"

Catherine asked.

"We have a complete plan in place."

Olson controls Apple, and software development has not yet been spun out of the company.

"Well, then continue."

Catherine said.

She knows that no matter how good the current software is, due to functional limitations, the height that the software can reach is limited.

So even if I develop software for the 360 ​​computer, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep the 360 ​​alive for a few more years. On the contrary, the current Ark is IBM's killer. With Clay here, it will be a matter of time to surpass IBM - Clay

In 1986, computers accounted for 70% of the supercomputer market.

Of course, there are some differences between mainframes and supercomputers, but Catherine knows the future trend.

With the development of the times, the trends of networking and miniaturization will become more and more obvious, and the traditional centralized processing and host/sub-terminal models will become increasingly unable to meet people's needs.

In this case, traditional mainframes and minicomputers will only lose ground when facing this trend.

Catherine's main research direction on mainframes is the server model characterized by patterns.

The so-called mode is client/server - client/server.

Catherine adopts this model. Specifically, some functions are executed on the front-end machine (i.e., the client), and other functions are executed on the back-end machine (i.e., the server). The distribution of functions is to reduce various bottlenecks of the computer system.

question.

Simply speaking, the model is an application system based on the enterprise's internal network.

However, now Catherine has moved this server from within the enterprise to the cloud network through the cloud model. In this way, for users who need a mainframe, they only need to purchase a client machine.

In fact, this is somewhat similar to the extension of the mode - mode (brer/server, browser/server), but in fact there are some differences, so Catherine does not know what the mode of her computer should be.

The supercomputer that Master Clay is developing is, to be precise, somewhat different from a traditional supercomputer. It is a machine that has the characteristics of a mainframe, is safe and stable.

To put it this way, all of Catherine's products are neither fish nor fowl.

But Catherine doesn't care. History has changed anyway, and she doesn't care what history will be like in the future.

——After all, the development of our own products now follows the trend of history...

As for the software developed for IBM, Catherine's requirement is that the product should be "more than the inferior". Catherine needs her own product to make users shine. At the same time, she also requires users to be dissatisfied with the functions of 360. This is also her own

intention.

After Ken Olson left, Catherine called Seymour Clay over again.

"Mr. Clay, do you want to be president?"

As soon as Clay came in, Catherine immediately asked a question.

"You...what?"

Clay still didn't react.

"I want to acquire CDC"

Catherine said.

"CDC? Are you sure?" Clay had a look of surprise on his face.

In the original year of 1969, the improved CDC-7600 was launched, running 10 million times per second, and orders would come in one after another. From then on, Clay became a world-famous expert in the overall design of large and supercomputers. Throughout the 1960s, CDC almost dominated

Entering the supercomputer market, the company's revenue reached US$60 million. Even Watson had to admit that IBM had to retreat.

However, because Clay was poached to Catherine, although the CDC company's current CDC-6600 is superior to iTou in terms of performance, because the production capacity cannot keep up with IBM, it was still firmly suppressed in the end. Although now

The hunt was going well, but Catherine also knew that they were almost at the end.

"If it's really possible."

Clay was very excited.

It was precisely because of the success of its products that CDC became complacent, while Clay always wanted to research faster supercomputers, so the two finally parted ways. At this time, Catherine, who was holding a lollipop, asked Clay to

You turned around.

Catherine knew Clay's value, and there was no doubt about that value.

Catherine's idea was not a temporary idea, but because she had a new enemy - Wang An Computer Company.

Not long ago, Wangan Computer Company demonstrated their word processing system.

After hearing the news, Catherine was shocked.

Wasn't this thing supposed to appear in the 1970s?

Soon, Catherine learned that the other party used its own chip to create this word processing system.

Now, Catherine had a headache.

In the mid-range market, Wang An's word processors are competing with himself for this market, while in the high-end market, he is competing with IBM.

Catherine had to adjust her company's strategy.

The purpose of acquiring CDC was to strengthen its ability to fight against IBM on mainframes and supercomputers. On the other hand, it began to deal with this suddenly emerging enemy.

Wang An is a Chinese-American. The storage core in Catherine's computer was invented by Wang An - of course, when the patent protection time is up, anyone can produce it. After all, this is a 49-year-old patent.

Later, Wang An was forced to sell the patent to the powerful IBM, and the two parties have been facing each other since then, becoming almost eternal enemies.

In 1983, Wang An's company's turnover soared to seventh place. Wang An's personal assets also reached US$2 billion, making him truly the richest man in China and the fifth richest man in the United States.

But in 1985, Wang An Company suffered a loss for the first time, and continued to decline thereafter. The company began its second transformation.

However, Wang An died of cancer in 1990, and his son was a mediocre person. As a result, the company's final transformation failed, and the company suffered losses and went bankrupt. Although it later developed again, the company has transformed into

It mainly provides services and was acquired in 1999.

Even Bill Gates once said that if Wang An could complete his second strategic turn, there might not be Microsoft today in the world, and Bill Gates would not become a hero in the personal computer era - "I

Probably became a mathematician somewhere, or a lawyer."

When facing such an enemy, Catherine had to brace herself up.

After all, if you can't beat IBM, you might as well stick to the microcomputer market, but Wang An's word processing system is impacting your foundation.

What makes Catherine even more depressed is another thing...

Catherine's microcomputer was indeed cheap—less than a thousand dollars.

However, the price of Catherine's software is ridiculous - none is less than a thousand dollars.

Since the release of the Microsoft II computer, Catherine's software low-price strategy has begun to adjust. Third parties relied on themselves and made a lot of money. This was also a good way for them to win over third parties.

Catherine originally thought that she was ready to expand the market. This lack of a sense of crisis has now caused Catherine a headache.

But lower the price yourself?

How embarrassing is this for people who buy our products?

Catherine doesn't know what price the other party's products are going to enter the market at, but this is not good news for herself.

No matter what kind of product it is, it is always a blow to him.

Catherine's products now dominate the microcomputer market. Dozens or millions of microcomputers are simply not enough to satisfy the large market of the United States.

In the minicomputer market, Catherine is also developing prosperously with the help of the industry left behind by her acquisition of dec.

As for Wang An's products, whether they are aimed at the minicomputer market or the microcomputer market, he will undoubtedly be hit.

——Especially in the microcomputer market, after all, Catherine’s products here are dominated by one company. If the other party develops a product that can compete with itself... it will be great fun.

"Wang An..."

The only thing that doesn't conflict with the other party is probably dealing with IBM, right?

On October 21, 1949, Wang An applied for a patent for "storage core" from the Patent Office. IBM, with its keen sense of smell, immediately realized the broad commercial application prospects of this invention, decided to purchase the patent, and constantly requested information from Wang An. That is

It has been slow to finalize the patent fee for the storage core. On November 16, 1953, the two parties finally reached an agreement. But two years later, IBM canceled the originally planned royalty fee, and they also rejected Wang An's one-time offer of US$2.5 million.

Purchase fee, and threatened Wang An with pending patent applications. In order to avoid being involved in a protracted lawsuit, Wang An finally had to accept the final price of US$500,000. From then on, fighting against IBM became Wang An's lifelong belief.

Each of Catherine's products has dozens or even hundreds of patents - Catherine applied for these patents with the belief that she would rather be invalidated than apply for a patent.

But obviously, Wang An was a little younger than me at that time, so he was tricked by IBM in the end.

Can we form an alliance with the other party?

Catherine thought.