He groaned for a long time and said: "I don't understand what you mean, it is not legal to establish a price alliance 'privately'. ”

Kalien said urgently: "It's not a price alliance, it's just a joint establishment of software and hardware standards on PCs, and everyone abides by and improves it, and now this open model is recognized by everyone, and no single company can control it, and that's what I mean." ”

"In order to prevent IBM's monopoly?" has long been clear in his heart, this is the source of fear for those compatible machine manufacturers, they have been living under the shadow of IBM all these years, as long as the blue 'color' giant sneezes, they have to be hospitalized for examination, nothing more unhappy.

Now it seems that IBM really has such a closed idea, Ilovo means to unify all the software systems of IBM large, medium and small computers, regardless of the difficulty of doing so, this idea alone is enough to show IBM's ambitions, and the day of success is probably the death of the PC.

But now it is not what it used to be, compatible machines have sprung up, with a lower price to squeeze a large amount of market share, faintly surpassing the momentum of IBM original machines, these users are their biggest bargaining chips, and the weapon behind them is compatible.

I have long understood that this is a matter of course, and it is rare for Kalion to see this step, and it is not fortunate to be able to become the first microcomputer manufacturer.

"As a staunch supporter of open systems, in order to resist our common enemy......" he held up his small coffee cup for a long time, "I am willing to cooperate with Your Excellency and do my best to support you." ”

Kalien was overjoyed, and also replaced the wine with coffee, and touched it with a long time: "Thank you very much Your Excellency for your wise decision, I think there is someone who will be equally happy." ”

"Who?"

"Mr. Grove of Intel Corporation!"

~~~~~~~~~~ the next day, under the introduction of Kalien, he met with Grove for a long time, and the three of them closed the 'door' to talk secretly, and even Xu Zhixing was not able to participate.

Chang naturally did not mention his chip industry in Hong Kong, but only said that he knew Dr. Yu.

Naturally, Grove was taken aback, asked himself how the student was doing, and finally sighed: "Yu is a very talented engineer, but unfortunately heroes always have to create their own worlds." ”

I didn't want to talk about it for a long time, but I just 'communicated' with the two of them about how to cooperate.

However, after some 'exchange' talks, it was found that Grove did not have the idea of replacing IBM, he seemed to only care about how to make Intel's chips used in more machines, and kept complaining there that due to the weak technical strength of AMD, the development of related control chips was slow, which affected the sales of processors.

It turned out that Intel at this time was far less domineering than in the future, due to production capacity and legal reasons, Intel licensed processor technology to many companies, and commissioned AMD to design a variety of control chips for it.

This made Chang Chang's heart move, and he tentatively threw out some 'decoy' bait: "Excuse me, gentlemen, I think you must be interested in the next little gadget! ”

Kalien laughed, "If that's the case, I can't ask for it!"

Grove was also attracted by the long words and listened attentively to what he had to say.

"Mr. Grove just said about the control chip, which reminded me of the product design of my team. "The design of the AT motherboard is complex, and the number of functional chips used reaches an astonishing 63, which not only increases the cost, but also affects the stability of the system." I designed a set of three chipsets, which completely replaced the AT motherboard chip in terms of function. Mr. Kalion only needs to use such a set of chips, plus Intel processors and a few necessary components, to produce a microcomputer with the same function as IBM-AT, but the price is very cheap, hehe. ”

It was easy to talk for a long time, but Kalien and Grove were stunned. Kalien was ecstatic and almost jumped up to hug for a long time. Grove, on the other hand, is interested in the details of this chipset.

"The chipset Mr. Cao said is very good, but is there a finished product?" asked Grove anxiously.

"Oh, if you are interested, I can provide samples, and mass production has already begun, but it is difficult to have a large production capacity. Chang Chang smiled, "Also, more advanced products are currently being developed, and I believe they will succeed soon." ”

Glover said: "This is amazing, Mr. Cao, this technology can change the whole world, congratulations! On behalf of Intel, I will apply to you for the authorization of this technology." ”

Grove has a very keen business sense, and as soon as he talks about the function of this thing, he knows that it is definitely more profitable than the processor, as far as he knows, Chang is just a software vendor, and this kind of hardware production is definitely not a strong point, maybe he has to sell licenses, so he strikes while the iron is hot.

I was secretly happy for a long time, but my face was silent: "It's a great honor, doing business with Intel is something I dream of, but I don't want money." ”

Grove is inexplicable, what do you want without money?

"There are many opportunities to make money, but there is a delay in the development of this chipset, and I hope that my designers can get a long-term license for Intel's X86 architecture, so that they can launch new chipsets at the same time as Intel's new processors are released. He said leisurely for a long time, while observing Grove's look, "In exchange, I will share all the chipset development results with Intel and provide them free of charge." ”

Grove was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect to make this request for a long time, and he weighed which of these two things was more important, but he hesitated.

In terms of important 'sex', the long-term development of this chipset is even more than the processor, after all, there is only one processor, and the various control chips designed by Intel such as 8051 and so on are very simple functions, which is why IBM had to use as many as 63 integrated circuits to design AT machines, Moore even claimed that Intel made money from these control chips.

Grove thought about it for a while, x86 structure licensing is not nothing, on the contrary, there are many such examples, in order to compete with Motorola and Texas Instruments, Intel has authorized a large number of second-tier companies, in order to occupy the market and ship a large number of them, AMD is also one of them, but the same software company 'exchange' on the hardware authorization is very ironic, Grove wants to agree to it, but reason always prevents him from doing so, and it seems that there is no harm in the 'transaction' is there any trap?

Grove is also a hero, and then smiled: "The authorization is normal, everything can be done according to the procedure, I need to report this matter to the board of directors, and you had better send an official letter, so that everyone can do it easily." ”

I felt that there was a 'door' for this matter for a long time, and immediately hit the snake with the stick, and praised Intel for its good management, Mr. Ge had a bright future, and the Grove was extremely cool.

Among them, the happiest is Kalien, who originally had to join the gang for a long time just as a last resort, and he was determined to fight to the death with IBM, and his words and deeds already had the meaning that the strong man would never return.

Who knows that under the turn of the peak, the situation has changed greatly, and no one knows better than Kalion about this killer weapon thrown for a long time, how much hardware cost can this thing reduce Kalien's mind is very thorough, so he also wants to promote this uprising alliance very much.

The three have a common enemy, the three industries do not have a 'intersection' but can complement each other, that is a complete industrial chain, IBM as a technology leader effect has become dispensable, so Kalien, Grove and Changjiu hit it off, and then signed a memorandum of cooperation.

At this point, an offensive and defensive alliance with common interests was born in the United States, and the three divided their respective spheres of influence on paper, oh no, they stipulated their respective obligations and responsibilities to work hard to liberate the people of the world from IBM.

This secret meeting went smoothly beyond everyone's expectations, and there was almost no 'revealed' rumor, and the three families went their own way but maintained an amazing tacit understanding, and even a 'shrewd' person like Lovo was 'blinded' in the dark.

Maybe it's not that Lovo is incompetent, but it can only be said that IBM's bureaucratic style has affected his thinking, and there is a popular saying in the industry that one strong is weak, that is, IBM is one big and maintains an absolute advantage, and those compatible machine manufacturers can only compete with each other, and they can't call IBM, and those accessories manufacturers such as Intel can only be a supplier, IBM still holds 20% of Intel's shares!

Christmas has always been the prime time for business, there is no joy and sorrow at all, everyone has more or less money in the account, so you can have a good year.

IBM naturally made a lot of money, but the most limelight at the end of the year was not the PC-AT machine, an oriental goods emptied the money bags of almost most Americans.

If there is a gift that American children most want to receive at the end of 84, there is no doubt that it is a NES with a "fine" package, and it will be even more beautiful if it comes with a game card.

Don't wonder where NES came from, it's just a product of Hiroshi Yamauchi's ambitions. Nintendo's FC has been unrivaled in Japan, completely surpassing Sega's SG1000, with a total sales of 3.5 million to sit on the top spot, and the SG1000 game console sales have not even reached a fraction of it, which can be regarded as a complete failure.

The success in China proves how unique Hiroshi Yamauchi's vision is, and he saw the loophole in the market and plunged into the gold ingots, and the next thing is naturally everyone can reason, since this is the case in Japan, then the United States and Europe are naturally the same.

Based on this idea, Yamauchi immediately launched the American strategy, and his 'son-in-law', Minoru Arakawa, the president of Nintendo of the United States, was fully responsible for this matter, and it was necessary to be an instant hit.

Human beings are social animals, and family 'sex' is the biggest reaction, and blood relations have become the bond to maintain their respective interests, whether it is money or power, it is better to control it in their own hands.

So nepotism has inevitably become a common phenomenon in those old companies, and the word is usually associated with incompetence, but this is also one-sided, would you feel comfortable 'handing' the business to a fool?

Minoru Arakawa is definitely the ideal person in Hiroshi Yamauchi's heart, born in a famous "door" family, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been in charge of overseas business, is very familiar with the United States, "mixed" in North America, and has met some heroes. Later, he returned to China for a vacation and successfully brought the 'daughter' in the mountain, and since then he has jumped ***.

However, the young man was high-spirited and did not want to be accused of being a soft eater in Japan, so he strongly asked to go to the United States to develop, and Yamauchi also gave him the right to withdraw $10 million and let him expand Nintendo's business in North America.

Hands are bare-handed (sort of...... Minoru Arakawa contacted friends, including barrister Howard Lincoln and marketing genius Pete Mann, to form Nintendo's North American branch and start a vigorous business.

Arakawa is not incompetent, since the 80s, the North American business has been smooth, and the US dollar earned in a few years has reached more than 200 million, which is indeed enough to be in charge, so Yamauchi trusts this fast son-in-law very much, and entrusts the big responsibility of FC North American distribution, and lets it play freely without restrictions.

In fact, Arakawa didn't want to take on this job, he knew that North America and Japan were completely different worlds, and the pop culture was fundamentally incompatible, and those games that could no longer be pounced on in Japan would be sold out of stock in the United States, and he had relied on this to succeed over the years.

In Arakawa's view, FC's toy-like appearance is really difficult to attract the interest of hardcore North Americans, and it is likely to fail if it is rashly attacked, not to mention that some professionals have pointed out that the impact of the Atari collapse will last for at least two decades in the United States, and anyone who wants to set foot in the game console market must think twice.

But heroes will always go against the laws of nature, Arakawa came up with a series of ways to counteract these negative factors, he redesigned the appearance of the game console, red and white 'color' naturally can no longer be used, replaced by silver gray dumb 'color', trying to get closer to the regular microcomputer, the streamlined body shape also has a sci-fi feeling, as for the handle, cassette, configuration is all upgraded, both the connotation and appearance are one size larger, in line with the habits of Americans.

In addition, since home game consoles have become synonymous with garbage in the United States, Arakawa had to develop a huge advertising campaign, burning nearly $3 million to spend on touring the United States.

These measures are just a foreshadowing, and the most important thing is that Minoru Arakawa persuaded the stubborn Yamauchi to open up the software world of FC and agree with a third-party software vendor to develop games for FC.

This is no less than the effect of heroin on addicts, you must know that 3.5 million machines, nearly $500 million total software market, any game developer will be crazy, but Yamauchi has always insisted on Nintendo's independent development, only because of the long-term agreement to allow the 'fat' target company to develop five new games a year, and those third-party manufacturers although salivating, but not allowed to enter.

But Arakawa knows how big the market capacity of 3.5 million units is, and the growth rate of this number has not slowed down, and Nintendo has no strength to support it alone, and if it does not open again, the company will only decline.