After joining the board of directors of IBM, Xia Yu naturally had the right to visit any department of IBM, including the microcomputer development department.

This department, which has only been established for more than ten days, has only thirteen people, all of whom are elite backbones with active thoughts, and the person in charge is Don Esther Chi.

When Xia Yu came to Bocaraton's secret research department, he met a group of people who were busy, and it was Don Esther Qi, the project leader, who received him.

"Tang, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Xia Yu, the new director of the company. ”

For the later father of IBM's PC, Xia Yu did not put on any shelf, and greeted him kindly.

"Hello, Mr. Xia!"

Don Esther Qi shook hands with Xia Yu and greeted him politely.

After a brief greeting, Xia Yu smelled the research and development of the microcomputer: "Tang, have you made progress in the development of the microcomputer?"

Don Esther Qi walked to the studio with Xia Yu and said: "It has not been officially developed yet, and we are studying the growth trajectory of Apple, hoping to formulate a more comprehensive development plan." ”

Xia Yu exclaimed: "Very good idea, there is a saying in Huaxia that knows oneself and knows the other side to win all battles, Apple has created a miracle of microcomputers, if you can deeply grasp the context of its rise, and formulate a correct strategic plan, you can save a lot of energy." ”

Xia Yu's words came to Don Esther Qixinkan, and he said with a smile: "Yes, that's what I thought at the time, so I did it." ”

While talking, the group came to the studio, Xia Yu saw that there were more than a dozen people in the studio, a group of people gathered around a large table, with a lot of information on it, what they were studying, and from time to time they were talking to each other, and they were working very seriously.

When some employees saw Xia Yu and Don Esther Qi, they just nodded and continued to work.

This attitude made Xia Yu nod secretly, this is the mental outlook that employees should have, spend their energy and time on work, and there is no need to spend it on a vain head.

A truly sensible boss is someone who likes to create value for the company, not someone who only slaps on the back.

After all, making money is the first purpose of starting a company, and if the bureaucratic atmosphere is pervasive in the company, it is strange that the company can develop well.

After staying in IBM for a few days, Xia Yu found that the bureaucratic atmosphere in IBM was relatively heavy.

No wonder Frank S. T. Carry did not put the microcomputer project department in the company, but transferred personnel separately and set up the department outside the company, Boccareton, in order to completely avoid the bureaucracy within IBM, so that the project team could devote themselves to the development of the microcomputer in the best state.

"Tang, are there any research results now?"

Stopping Don Esther Chi from disturbing everyone, Xia Yu asked in a low voice.

Don Esther Chi nodded and introduced: "Yes, our research summary found that if we want to launch our microcomputer as soon as possible, and quickly spread to the market popularization, we must implement the 'open' policy, a complete microcomputer, need too many parts and software, it is not realistic to rely on our company to produce, time-consuming and labor-intensive, the best way is to use the scientific and technological achievements of other enterprises to form a market force, speed up the development speed, and enhance product competitiveness." ”

Xia Yu knew that Don Esther Qi wanted software outsourcing, and then the best hardware procurement.

To put it bluntly, it is part of self-production, part of procurement, assembly of a microcomputer, and then do our best to debug and run-in, so that the software and hardware adaptability reaches the highest.

However, this strategy is indeed best used when it is lagging behind, especially when Apple is still running wild, this strategy is the best choice.

After all, no matter which company, it is impossible to be the first in the market in all aspects, which is simply unrealistic.

It is precisely because of Don Esther Chess's strategy that IBM's first PC will use Intel's 8088 microprocessor as the computer center, and entrust an independent software company to configure various software for it, which led to the signing of a contract between Microsoft and IBM to develop DOS.

If IBM is going to do it on its own, where is there Bill Gates? Microsoft is even more unlikely!

"When will the final results of the research come down, and when are you going to report back to the top?"

Xia Yu asked Don Esther Qi quietly.

Don Esther Chi didn't notice Xia Yu's thoughts, he said truthfully: "The microcomputer is the most important project of the company, so I have to do my best, so I can't be sure yet, and I'm not sure what difficulties will be encountered in the future." “

"But according to my preliminary estimate, it will take at least a month to make the research results and report back to the top. ”

"A month's time!"

Xia Yu must be sure in his heart that this time is still enough, he doesn't have to be in such a hurry, and has more time to plan slowly.

Next, Xia Yu learned some more about the situation, and also put forward constructive suggestions in a targeted manner, which made Don Este Qi's eyes change when he looked at Xia Yu, aroused his curiosity, and discussed with Xia Yu for a long time.

In the end, when Xia Yu left, Don Este Qi was a little reluctant, but considering that Xia Yu was the director of the company, he was not qualified to let Xia Yu stay and help out.

After coming out of the project department, Xia Yu just had lunch and went to Redmond, Washington.

The target he has set his sights on is there!

That night, Xia Yu arrived in Redmond City, and he found a top hotel to stay in and have a good rest.

The next day, he found Microsoft according to the information address he had searched for earlier.

At this time, Microsoft has been established for 5 years, but its main product is the BASIC interpreter.

The BASIC interpreter is needed in microcomputers, but because of the market capacity, although Microsoft BASIC has become the market standard leader in this field with its special syntax and compatibility, Microsoft's turnover is not high.

Therefore, Microsoft at this time can only be regarded as a software company with a certain reputation, but not strong strength.

The information collected by Xia Yu also wrote that Microsoft had tried to design the MSX microcomputer standard to enter the microcomputer market, but the results were not satisfactory.

When Xia Yu and others entered Microsoft, they happened to see Paul Allen, who was precocious and full of beard.

Seeing Xia Yu and his party, Paul Allen was stunned for a moment, and then thought that Xia Yu and the others were talking about business, and immediately greeted him with a smile: "Hello, I am Paul Allen, chief engineer of Microsoft, is there anything that can serve you?"