Five-point update

Chapter 199 Advertisement

"All the employees of the CIO company are just a husband and wife, first of all, two Stanford professors, and second, two businessmen. The company is committed to connecting all computer systems through a network. The more they learned about the computer industry over the past year, the more they realized that people were being gripped by a hell-shattering conspiracy. ”

A deep, clear bass voice came out on TV, and Leonard Nimoy, dressed in a smart bodysuit, was talking in front of a stark white background.

If the name Leonard Nimoy were changed to a Chinese, he probably didn't know much about it. But if it is a role that he has always played in his life, many people should have heard of it.

Spock, captain of the USS Lincoln in Star Trek. This is a well-known and ingrained figure in the United States.

His wise, strong, and absolutely rational way of thinking has long been his label. So much so that Leonard Nimoy had to write a book to emphasize that he was "I Am Not Spock".

When Leonard Nimoy stands in a straitjacket on the television, no matter what he does, Americans will unconsciously substitute Spock's image into it.

Spock, oh no. Leonard Nimoy said in a light, unhurried tone: "In the computer industry, people are being forced to buy a chicken to go home just to eat eggs. Think about it, in the modern world, who would have to raise a chicken just to eat eggs? But this kind of thing is happening in the United States. We're paying for computing power we don't need, and we're having to buy a computer back in order to get the computing power of a computer at some point. ”

"Let's look at an example, Wayne has 500 employees, and in order to use computers, Wayne had to spend $1.25 million on 500 Apple Macintosh computers. But for the vast majority of the time, such an investment is precipitated capital and is depreciating at a rapid rate. Take a look at the famous Moore's Law, where the computing power of a computer doubles every 18 months. In other words, after 36 months, a PC will be eliminated. ”

"So how much of the Macintosh computer was running at full power during those 36 months? According to statistics, there was only one month when the PC was running at full power. At other times, the PC's system resource utilization does not exceed 30%. This is because the processing power of a person who uses a PC is far from being able to keep up with the processing power of a PC. In other words, a $2,500 Macintosh computer won't take more than three months to fully utilize it until it needs to be phased out. ”

"Yes, some people may say that a lot of our society is wasted like this. People who only eat at home once in a while will also have a kitchen at home. The vast majority of electrical appliances that people don't usually use after buying them back, and it seems that there is nothing more than one PC. But the Leonards found that we were actually on the wrong path, and that the last chance to make amends was in front of us. ”

"If this opportunity is missed, people all over the United States and even the world will be kidnapped by the current system of computer companies, and the cost of transformation will be too expensive for the whole society to afford. ”

"The opportunity is to network computing. In the case of Wayne, for example, it does not need to buy 500 Macintosh computers to meet the computing needs of 500 employees. It only needs a central server that costs 400,000 yuan and 500 service terminals. Such a system can't even use half of 1,250,000, but it can fully meet the needs of Wayne Company. And because all the data is stored in a central server, it is much easier to work than the 500 Macintosh computers that are distributed together. ”

"People no longer need to buy 500 operating system licenses for 500 Macintosh computers, they don't need 500 reporting systems, word processing systems, news systems, communication systems, storage systems, all the software can be used by the whole company as long as they buy it once in a central server, what could be better than that?"

"But such a system would pose a threat to our computer companies, which would no longer be able to coerce users into making constant upgrades, no longer be able to get users to buy resources they don't need, and no longer be able to make us replace our PCs every three years. That is, the capital will not be able to get the feast once every three years, and it will no longer be able to rob ordinary users. ”

In other words, traditional computer companies will never choose this path. ”

o At the company's headquarters, Karen, the head of the public relations department, picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Dave, you have to take a look at this, look at this **** commercial that ABC is broadcasting now! Yes, hurry up, find your nearest TV and have a good look." Of course, I know you're my boss, and if you remember being a boss, you'd better listen to me!"

"I'm waiting for that damn Chinese documentary, is ABC crazy? How dare they show such an advertisement!****! yes, I know it's not a lady-"

"of**k!" came Dave's foul mouth on the phone.

"Well, you're not a gentleman at all. Karen rolled her eyes and said, "Now you know what I'm talking about, right?"

On TV, two Americans, a man and a woman, came out of the pure white background, and it was none other than Mr. and Mrs. Leonard.

"It's going to be a huge, difficult choice, whether to go along with the traditional computer companies, or to stand up bravely. The Leonards chose the latter because, someone has to stand up to stop them, otherwise our country, our people, will pay a huge price. ”

"Yes, the server terminal mode has a much higher resource utilization rate than the PC mode, which is more suitable for commercial use strategies. PCs for personal use can purchase the computing resources of the surrounding service stations and call the resources of the surrounding servers when a large amount of computing is required. ”

Leonard took over, and a string of nouns popped out of his mouth: "Through the guò network, we can achieve these functions." You don't have to buy a high-spec computer for your very little computing needs, you just need to connect to the nearest server when you need it. In this way, a computer that would have been obsolete in three years can be used for 10 or 20 years, and the performance will always keep up with the most advanced computing speeds. ”

"Most of the computer functions used by ordinary people are things that can be met with very few computing resources, and there is no need to spend more money on them. ”

"Look at the computer companies now, they are full of monopolies and the shadow of capital. IBM, the Blue Giant, no company in computer technology can threaten it. Intel, our CPU variety is rapidly decreasing, and the foreseeable future CPU will be mainly produced by this company, and he will at most keep a weak competitor in case it is put in the dock by antitrust laws. Our memory businesses are dying in large numbers because cheap Japanese memory is robbing us of the market. ”

"Without a force to break this situation, our computer industry will have a dark ...... in the future"

......

"Dave, did you see it?" are you okay?" said Karen, a concerned greeting on the phone.

"Not good, never...... f**k!" There was a crackling sound on the phone, and then it was a long time before Dave's voice rang from the phone: "Karen, we need to have a meeting as much as possible." Find someone from the technical department, and by the way, someone from the network department......"

The IB business started a little later than Apple, but with the hegemony of the IB market is already IBM.

As the largest company in the PC industry, IB Markets. In particular, this is still a gold mine that can never be dug up -- the damn Leonards are right, the computer market will eliminate a batch of old equipment in three years, and this market will never be saturated!

"I know, do you want to ...... this matter with other companies?"

"IBM doesn't need help from others, and there are no difficulties that we can't overcome. On the phone, Dave's voice was categorical.

However, this advertisement, which was broadcast before the start of "A Day in the Life of a Chinese", has already caused an uproar in society. Some people suddenly realized that computer companies really intended to mislead consumers and kidnap consumers in this way. Others are dismissive of this argument, arguing that it is technically unrealistic. Others believe that the Leonards are hyping up to promote Cisco......

Either way, this kind of drama of a college professor and a couple standing up to challenge the blue giant really aroused the appetite of all audiences.

In the words of later generations, this time it is really going to be the drama party to become the biggest winner.

If the Leonards can finally knock off the traditional computer companies, everyone will naturally have to give a thumbs up to the Don Quixote.

If you lose, you can still criticize all the evil computer companies. The strong contrast of strength between the two sides makes ordinary people naturally have compassion and empathy for the Leonards.

This kind of thing of challenging the giants of capital for the interests of the people, even if it fails, Hollywood does not take turns to make seventeen or eighteen biopics, and it is sorry for the American culture where heroism is rampant.

It can be said that since the start of this advertisement, traditional computer companies have already lost.

Chapter 200 Speculation

"Tell me, what do you think of this advertisement?" Dave's complexion doesn't look good, and the IB program is the biggest and most successful program he's led since taking office.

Having just tasted the sweetness of the PC market, it is clear that behind it is a gold mine to be tapped, and it will never be exhausted. The hen that can lay golden eggs in this way is about to be stewed and eaten, and no one will be in a good mood. Even if the opponent is just a couple of university professors with little power, they can't stop the personal heroism of Americans. If it is really willing to kill the master who dares to pull the emperor off the horse, IBM is so wronged.

"This ad is simply an exaggeration, and I don't think there's anything to worry about. Is there such a conspiracy, don't we know about it ourselves?"

"yes, what's the conspiracy? PC is the choice of the market, we just sell goods. If the customer feels that it is not suitable, they can do without our products at all. What's more, if the problem of computing data transmission is solved according to this advertisement, the large-scale server market will definitely usher in a new flashpoint, which is a good thing for IBM. ”

IB's biggest business has always been in the mainframe and server space, and this aspect has always been IBM's main business direction.

Starting from the "conception" of the Leonards, it is indeed a good thing for IBM. Because if you build a computer system by renting computing resources, the demand for servers will grow rapidly.

And in the server market, no one is a match for IBM.

Well, at least for the time being, no one is their opponent.

"Gentlemen, we can't just set our sights on the server market!" Dave slapped the table and stood up: "IBM is the blue giant, we must be responsible for the entire computer industry!"

Dave's words made the people present slightly stunned, what kind of high-pitched are you singing when you have a meeting behind closed doors. IBM is the computer industry hegemon, but its only mission is to make more money for shareholders, and it's not a hell of an industry responsibility.

A dreamer and virgin little fresh can not sit in the position of president of IBM.

"I ask you to think about what would happen if the computer market really worked as the way the Leonards envisioned?"

"At least one thing they're right about is that there's no problem with the PC market getting rid of a third of its machines every three years. Because software is always evolving, the hardware of a PC must keep pace with the software. In other words, it's a gold mine that can never be mined. If you look at our mainframe, jumbo and server markets, the vast majority of commercial machines will run to the end of their lifespan. Because it can be optimized in a targeted manner, the software can tap the potential of the hardware, which is much more powerful than the vitality of PC software without optimization. ”

Everyone nodded unconsciously when they heard his words, even in the United States in the eighties, there were still many companies operating IB360 computers. It's not surprising that mainframes have been in operation for 10 or 20 years, because users just need to think that the function is working, and there is no incentive to upgrade the hardware.

It's like the Xbox console developed by Microsoft in the future, because all the games are optimized for Xbox, so even if it is a Pentium III processor, the display effect will still have a place in the market ten years later.

Since software optimization can exploit the potential of hardware, there is no need to upgrade the hardware. As a result, IBM often has to meet the high after-sales costs to meet the continuous profitability, otherwise it becomes a one-shot deal. However, after-sales problems gradually compress the patience of users, which has somewhat affected IBM's reputation.

PC business, which gave Dave an opportunity to end this endless loop.

This idea of the Leonards is certainly good for the server market in the short term. But in the long run, this will severely hinder the speed of replacement of electronic enterprises. Colleagues, let us take a long-term view, this kind of budget-conscious computer system will curb our development speed, and guide our capital turnover from a predictable three-year generation to a five- to ten-year generation, and such a result is absolutely unacceptable. ”

From the perspective of IB's existing business, I think there is nothing wrong with such a system.

However, if we jump out of their respective interests and start from the perspective of the boss of the IBM industry, we will find that this system is clearly stifling the development of the computer industry.

The most lethal is the PC feast once every two or three years, which turns into a five- to ten-year server replacement, which is not entirely rational for IB, after all, it is an individual consumer. When a company buys a server, it is often much more difficult to sell than a personal computer, and it is more calculating.

With the same input, it is clear that the profits that personal computers can generate are far greater than the volume of commercial purchases. Even if the money earned is the same, any company will choose a shorter capital turnover cycle.

If you do it like this, maybe even Moore's Law can be thrown in the garbage. The process replacement speed of the computer industry will change from two years to five years, because you may have the need for replacement in five years.

IBM is not going to sit idly by and watch this happen.

"Can I say a word?"

IBM also has a department responsible for network technology development, and Carter is the head of the network technology development department, and he was specifically asked to attend this meeting.

"I don't think we need to worry too much about it for the time being, because the technology for this system is not available yet. The mainframe server used was cumbersome to customize, the terminal-to-server data transfer was immature, and there was no mature solution available in terms of software. The most important thing is that it takes a lot of capital to build a service network with this kind of computer system, and the Leonards' Cisco company should not have this capital, right?"

"Oh, the information I have shows that Cisco's profit from last year to now is only a pitiful $100,000. Karen of the PR department took out a few jù and supported Carter's claim.

"So this should be a self-hype by Cisco, playing the sad card against the industry leader?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out. Karen nodded.

According to the ABC television network, the ad was placed by the Kelkelfe advertising agency. They used the "Chinese Day" documentary in their hands as a bargaining chip in exchange for the consent of ABC TV Network. ”

"A day in the life of a Chinese? What does this have to do with the Chinese?"

Someone in the conference room who was not a brainer blurted out: "The conspiracy of the Chinese?"

"Hahahaha-"

Everyone in the audience laughed in unison, and even the person who said this lowered his head in shame.

Just by the Chinese, how is it possible!

Now is the honeymoon period between China and the United States, but the Chinese dare to do this kind of thing to give capital eye medicine, are they tired of living?

Besides, with Chinese's technology, even if the Cisco system is launched, what benefits will it do to them? Even if the entire market turns to Cisco, it will be a reshuffle within American enterprises, and there will be no opportunity for Chinese companies to participate. Such a thankless thing, the Chinese eat too much to survive, and set up enemies for themselves?

"I think it should have something to do with Cisco's Chinese investors. Karen stepped forward to answer everyone's questions.

"I looked into Cisco's shareholding structure, and at least a significant portion of the stake is now in the hands of a Chinese named wenhaihu. This person is very mysterious, it is reported that he may be involved in the project of introducing F-14 from China, and he also has considerable achievements in the secondary battery market. According to the information, he bought the patents for 50 percent of the switches and routers that Stanford University shared with the Leonards. ”

"Cyber technology is likely to have considerable military uses, and we can consider this to be an attempt by the Chinese side to acquire technology. It was at this time that the Chinese Zhou and the Leonards got on the line. ”

"Please pay attention to the recent military news that Iraq and China have signed a contract worth $7 billion for the construction of Iraq's military communications network. ”

So I think it can be understood that the Leonards were worried that the ABC television network would be interfered with by other computer companies, so they used the power of the Chinese to protect themselves. ”

Dave mused, "Well, there's some truth to that speculation. So can we also get through the relationship between the Chinese and ask the ABC TV network to withdraw the broadcast of this advertisement?"

Karen put away the information in her hand, shook her head and said, "Our public relations department is working hard in this regard, but there is no result for the time being." ”

"Keep in touch and don't relax. ”

"Okay, Dave. Karen nodded.

"Let's first get in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Leonard, and see if they are victims of paranoia, or arrogant businessmen. ”

"What if it's the latter?" asked Joey, the head of the business department in charge of business contacts.

"Hmm-"

Dave pondered for a moment and said lightly: "For the sake of this advertisement, if their technology is still meritorious, you can quote a good price and buy Cisco." ”

Joey laughed and shook her head, "Then they're so lucky." ”

Oh, yes.

If they accidentally implement this system, it will really be a big problem.

Dave thought so, just buy insurance. (To be continued.) )