The August issue of Computer Enthusiast magazine.

"Half a month ago, I received an invitation to a personal computer campus exhibition from Aikang Computer Company, which was held at Pasadena High School not far from my residence, so I decided to go and see it with a relaxed mood!

……

The new ABC computer from Akon is by no means an epoch-making invention, at least in the author's opinion, it is just a British copy of the Apple 2 computer. The technical brilliance of this new computer that Aikang emphasized, in the author's opinion, is not new.

For example, in the propaganda of Aikang computer, it is believed that the dual CPU design that can greatly improve the computing performance of the computer, which has long been a rotten street thing in the United States, which Apple does not install a Z80 card? The Z80 processor on the Z80 card is actually a second CPU.

Another example is the networking solution designed for school computer teaching in the on-site teaching class of the exhibition. It is said that this LAN technology was invented by Aikang, a researcher who studied for a doctorate at Cambridge University, and the founder and inventor officially named it Cambridge Ring.

But in fact, this kind of LAN is not a unique thing, there are dozens of similar technologies in the United States, among which the more famous ones are the MCA network of Jù General Motors, the Hyperchannel network of Network Systems Company, and the invention of Ethernet by Xerox Palo Alto Institute. The first version of the Blue Book of open technology standards for Ethernet is being developed by Intel, DEC and Xerox.

……”

After attending the presentation presented by Iconon at Pasadena High School, Thomas went home with some excitement and spent two days writing a feature about the event.

Of course, as a proud American, Thomas is absolutely unwilling to admit that John Bull's technology will be more advanced than that of the United States, the world's number one power. So he began by saying that ABC, a new computer from a British company, was technically worthless.

However, this "but" is important, and Thomas has to admit that the Brits really made a very good product this time, he continued to write in the article.

“……

At that time, we invented the Z80 card because Apple's Apple computers were not compatible with the CP/M operating system, so in order to make many PC/M software run on Apple computers, we made the Z80 conversion card.

But that's only a passive compromise, and the reason why the conversion card uses the Z80 processor instead of the MOS6502 processor is also for cost reduction reasons, at the expense of some performance.

The dual CPU mode of ABC computer, although the principle and function of the second processor are similar to those of Z80 card, is an innovative design of Aikang company in order to improve the performance of ABC computer and better run on the computer, their own East-DOS operating system and various application software.

……

Speaking of LAN systems, Aikang's technology is not much more powerful than similar technologies from other companies in the United States, but they are the first companies to apply it to microcomputer networking.

Although the performance of microcomputers known as personal computers is far inferior to minicomputers, the high price of minicomputers and expensive after-sales maintenance costs are unaffordable for most small and medium-sized enterprises, compared to microcomputers, which have the advantage of being cheap.

In the author's opinion, Aikang company is keenly aware of this opportunity, and the campus computer networking teaching solution they launched this time is just a test of the waters, and the business office field is broader than the school market.

This can also be seen from the software catalog provided by Aikang, which can also detect the company's great ambitions. Their software supply catalog includes the word processing software East-Word, the form processing software East-Table, and the number library software East-dbase. Regarding the functional evaluation of these three software, the author will write another analysis article in the next issue......"

In the August issue of Computer Enthusiast magazine, Thomas devoted a lot of space to Iconon and its ABC computer. Although he was a little unimpressed with a series of new technologies of ABC computers, he still recognized the overall evaluation of ABC computers.

Li Xuan hadn't seen the columnist's article in Computer Enthusiast, but Thomas's assessment was actually quite pertinent, and the ABC computer was actually a hasty work. In Dongfang Electronics' initial plan, the first personal computer product will be a 32-bit computer with the ERM architecture processor being developed by Zhao Weiming's team in Dongfang Semiconductor's real room.

But even if the development of ERM processors goes well, the new computers will not be available until the second half of next year at the earliest, and IBM's PCs, which have changed the era of personal computers, will be available in October next year. In this way, the newly launched ERM computer will have a tragic battle with IBM's PC.

Who is the most powerful computer company in the world? IBM deserves it! The reason why IBM has developed slowly in recent years is not only because of its bloated internal organization, its superficial personnel, and the prevalence of bureaucratic style, but also because the US Department of Justice has been keeping an eye on it in the past few years and has filed an antitrust lawsuit against it.

But the Justice Department's antitrust investigation is nearing completion, and IBM will soon be able to take off the shackles on its head. Next year, Dongfang Electronics' ERM computers may be a few months ahead of IBM's PCs. But it wants to directly confront the blue giant beast of IBM, although Li Xuan, as a reborn person, knows the number of PCs well, but he doesn't dare to say that he has a 100% chance of winning. After all, IBM's influence in the United States is simply too great.

This is why Dongfang Electronics acquired the British Aikang company, based on the Atom computer of the Aikang company, combined with the achievements of the Hong Kong R&D department, launched the ABC computer with 6502 processor as the CPU, and began to enter the layout one year earlier. If Dongfang Electronics can seize this year and lay a solid foundation in the personal computer market, the pressure will be much lighter when competing with IBM next year.

Thirty years later, Apple is indeed qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with IBM, but Apple in 1980 was only an emerging company that had only been established for three or four years.

Li Xuan may be afraid of IBM's hidden influence under the water, but he does not have much pressure on Apple to compete. The Apple2 computer can be said to be the first peak of Apple's career, and the next Apple3 and Lisa machines are relatively failed works.

It wasn't until the launch of the Macintosh in 1984 that Apple regained its success, but at that time Apple could no match the limelight of the Apple 2 era. After that, Apple entered a long period of recession, until Boss Qiao returned to Apple and turned into a comeback of Warren.

Aikang's ABC computer, and Apple's Apple computer also use 6502 processor, Li Xuan did not consider defeating his opponent in hardware from the beginning, but will work hard from other aspects.

For example, in Apple's rapidly expanding educational computer market, Li Xuan ingeniously adopted the new technology of local area network, so that the computer classroom can be networked, making the teaching of computer teachers easier. The products sold by Li Xuan are not just a single computer, but a set of systematic teaching solutions, which undoubtedly has a fatal attraction to school customers.