"There's a problem. Warlock swallowed his saliva and said with some embarrassment, "The EC is indeed the most powerful microcomputer I've ever seen, but it doesn't seem to be the company's 'excited' printer that can be connected to it at the moment." ”

I was stunned for a long time, I didn't expect this problem at all, the memory in the dream has no such thing at all, all the connections are quite mature, the compatibility is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the platform is highly unified, and all the devices seem to be born together.

"This ......" tilted his head for a long time and thought about it, "the problem is not too big, isn't it the interface, the printer manufacturer is not a fairy, he has to eat, what's the use of making a machine that can't be connected to anything, we should have no problem asking for technical licensing." ”

Volok said: "This thing is high-end, and the main mounting object is the mainframe and small computer workstations, and there seems to be no application in this area on the microcomputer." We were going to give it a try on Apple's Mac platform, but it's no longer possible. It seems that only Xerox has "excited" light printers now, and Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley has just released its "excited" light printer products, so it is too late to do it. ”

"Workstation?" "You don't have to worry about this, do as I say, I believe there is no hurdle that cannot be overcome." There may also be some work to trouble Mr. Warlock. ”

Volok was full of confidence when he heard what he had said, and he let go of his doubts: "Call me Dr. John, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes, Dr. John. Chang Chang smiled and said, "After a few days of understanding, I am very impressed by your knowledge, and your attainments in computer graphics are more interesting to me than this postscript language." I'm going to set up a research institute and I'd love to invite you to join me, I don't know if that's too much to ask?"

"This ......" Vollock made a difficulty, the postscript language is the foundation of his fortune, all his efforts are focused on this aspect, the principle of the postscript language seems simple, it is really difficult to do, even now it is still not perfect, so it is not that he is unwilling to send this invitation for a long time, but he really can't get rid of it.

"Do you have any requirements for that kind of research in that research institute, if you ......" Volok asked, as long as he was a little bit longer, he would politely refuse.

Knowing Volok's difficulties for a long time, he hurriedly said: "It's just pure technical research, there is no compulsion, all developers act completely according to their own wishes, of course, all the developed results are to be commercialized, we can't learn Xerox, hehe." As for the first problem to be solved, it is about the application of computer graphics, such as the research of graphics 'operation' system, graphics display, graphics editing and programming, etc., you are an expert in this field, so I have the cheekiness to ask you to come out. However, if you are really busy, you can also be a consultant, and we are always welcome. ”

Wallock thought that it would not be a big deal to be a consultant, so he agreed.

With the support of Vollock, the first graphics master, the future graphical interface war is equivalent to half of the victory, not to mention the untapped high-profit market of desktop printing and publishing.

First-class companies sell standards, Adobe is such a high-level enterprise, with the development of computer technology, Volok they step by step to improve the postscript language, develop a variety of graphics editing software, grab a lot of money, never met an opponent in their lives, even if Apple and Microsoft joined forces to fight against it were easily cut off.

I still have a lot of confidence in them for a long time, this is a high-speed and stable profit growth point, you must know that Apple's Mac machine just came out is not a good thing, except for the "operation" system is more "fancy" is almost useless, there are only two functional software, almost no business users fancy this expensive toy, they would rather use the office software on the PC to process spreadsheets.

But just like the second-generation Mac machine with videoform spreadsheet software, the long-term memory of the Mac machine is standing with the support of Adobe, graphics processing and publishing business has always been Apple's most profitable department, which has the capital of Apple's comeback in the future.

But now that everything is gone, Adobe is in its own name, and millions of dollars in stock will never be let go for a long time.

"How did you come up with the idea of making a 'excited' light printer?" Zhang Yi asked with a frown, sorted out some documents and handed them to Chang Chang, "This is the market research report you want, you can read it yourself." ”

The words were very small, and for a long time, I couldn't help but squint my eyes and look closer: "Oh, is there a problem?"

"'Excitation' printers are not our main business, VS The current software market is mainly for IBM-PC, and there is no printer to support, small office only needs to be needle-shot, who will buy such high-end things, that is matched with small computer graphics workstations. ”

"A small computer with a small computer?" Chang Chang chuckled, "Can't they be shared?"

"Sharing?" Zhang Yi frowned slightly, "What sharing?"

"What do you want to print? You can't have a printer for every machine, right? What if you don't have a printer?"

"Wouldn't it be nice to copy the disk to a computer with a printer. Zhang Yi blurted out without thinking about it, and it was natural for her to come here.

"It's a shame that your purpose is still user-oriented!" Chang Chang smiled, "Small offices can do this, but what about those big companies, how many computer users are in a building, and how many computer users do you have to climb up to the fourth floor on the first floor to print a form?"

"What then? You bastard, you know I don't know how to do it. Zhang Yi said angrily, "Did you think of any way to make money again, hurry up and recruit from the truth." ”

"The Internet. "The effect of the dot matrix printer is very poor, and I can barely make a salary form or something, but it is cheaper." 'Excitation' printers can produce print-grade effects, and of course they are also very expensive, but a department or company must be able to afford it. As long as all computers can be connected to the Internet, then the printer can be set to share, so that the printer in a LAN is like a local one, of course, this needs to be a small program. ”

This large paragraph is very easy for a long time, but it is tantamount to a book from heaven to Zhang Yi, but he only roughly understands that there are probably a lot of computers that can be used with a printer.

"It doesn't seem to be any different. ”

I couldn't help but roll my eyes for a long time, the Tao is not the same, forget it, let's discuss it with Volok.

"It's nothing. Wallock wasn't surprised to hear the long-term idea, "We used to be like this when we were at PARC, several Altos were connected together with cables and shared a printer, but that printer was bad enough to jam at every turn, I really miss it." ”

In the end, it is a person who has come over, that is, there is a common language, and it is dark for a long time: "Then you see if this idea has a future, I think this is a trend in the office." ”

"What I mean is that you can connect a computer and a printer together, bring a network interface card, and a protocol stack, so that you can directly connect to the LAN as a device without a computer and automatically control the printing process," Warlock said. ”

"LAN printer!" shouted for a long time. That's right, now that network sharing has come out, the concept of LAN printers is not far away.

"This should be possible, as long as the single-board computer is integrated in the printer, all the programs are placed in the ROM, it is not difficult to achieve this, isn't this a patent? He clenched his fists excitedly for a long time.