"Dragging, still shadowing, are you asking me to demonstrate at the press conference how good Apple's vaunted Macman Shadow is?"

Steve Jobs threw away the mouse in disgust, there were more than a dozen LCD panels of all sizes in front of him, all showing the same content, any operation of Jobs, more than a dozen panels will react at the same time, so that it can objectively compare the display effect of each panel.

"Steve, this is all the LCD panels that can be purchased on the market. Among them, the best performing LG LCD panel has a response time of at least 8ms, and you can't expect the response time of the LCD to be the same as that of CRT, which is unrealistic. Apple's new vice president of R&D, Jon Rubinstein, argued.

Jobs's sharp-eyed development of the new Macintosh was not going to be easy, as he had anticipated. He's a perfectionist, but not a madman, and he doesn't stand up for himself if there are really insurmountable technical hurdles or unaffordable cost pressures caused by adopting new technologies.

The reason why he is dissatisfied is because he is not satisfied with the work attitude and philosophy shown by various departments of Apple.

A month and a half ago, Apple launched the Mac OS8 operating system. In two weeks, the $99 OS8 sold more than 1.2 million units, and sold more than 2 million units in the first month, successfully renewing Apple's life.

This system has nothing to do with Jobs' NeXT Step system, which is a system called Kaplan that Apple has been working on since 94 years, although there are no highlights, it is also decent.

If Amelio had brought Kaplan to market early as Apple's next-generation operating system, he probably wouldn't have lost so quickly. But in order to grasp the power of the R&D department, Alan Hancock, a henchman he brought from the national semiconductor, stopped Kaplan's research and development, and strongly advocated the purchase of Apple's next-generation operating system, which led to Apple's acquisition of NeXT and Jobs' return to Apple's reintake of power.

The NeXT Step system is not mature, and it takes a lot of work to combine the NeXT kernel with Apple's OS system, and it will not be officially put into commercial use in two or three years.

Therefore, Jobs could only restart the Kaplan system, name the system OS8, and introduce it to the market, so as to deal with the eagerly awaited Apple fans first.

Although Jobs didn't do anything for OS8, I have to say that the biggest contributor to the success of OS8 is this man with eyes as sharp as an eagle.

Before Jobs did any substantive work, Jobs' return brought in more than $200 million in revenue for Apple, and Amelio literally cried and fainted in the toilet.

No way, who made his opponent Jobs?

It is precisely because he is Steve Jobs that Apple supporters are interested in buying this lackluster new system. It is precisely because he is Steve Jobs that the world's largest cracking organization will announce that it will not crack OS8, but instead persuade consumers to buy genuine OS8 systems to support Apple's revival.

Technology enthusiasts almost all over the world are looking forward to the return of this miracle-winning genius king to lead Apple out of trouble and re-emerge as the computer company that can change the world.

Jobs himself thought so.

He recruited the genius designer Goto from Sony, and he admired the genius design of the new Mac. Despite the resistance of the R&D department, he insisted that the R&D department use Goto's design as the first choice to move forward to the next part.

"Steve, I have to remind you that the production cycle for a Mac takes at least four months, and if you want to release the Macman in May and officially launch it in August, you have to place orders with all suppliers by the end of February next year. We have less than five months to go, if we don't come up with a viable plan. At the Worldwide Developers Conference in May, you'll have to take the '93 Macintosh 601 to demonstrate your grand idea. ”

As soon as Jobs heard the voice, he knew that it was Jon Rubinstein, who had just returned to Apple, and Jon Rubinstein was his descendant, and the two had worked together a few years ago. But as geniuses, the two can create both a spark of inspiration and a spark of dispute.

Philip Schiller, who is also a descendant of Jobs and is in charge of Apple's marketing business, saw Jobs' expression and rushed to the front: "Jon, Steve is the soul of Apple, no one knows Apple better than him, and no one knows the market better than him." ”

Rubinstein looked down on Philip Schiller, a chief eunuch, and couldn't help but have a trace of contempt on the corner of his mouth: "If you can build a new Mac, you should really transfer to the supply chain." ”

Philip Schiller stood on the spot, his face swollen red, "What are you talking about, you bastard!?"

Rubinstein pouted, "It turns out that Sankoh also gets angry, hehe, did you see Monsieur Don Quixote at the scene, so you became bolder?"

In Cervantes's classic "Don Quixote", the protagonist Don Quixote has a fat servant, serving Don Quixote before and after the saddle, Philip Schiller likes to pat Jobs on the back very much, and someone in the company nicknamed him Sankoh, satirizing his ordinary sycophant behavior. It didn't take long for the entire company to know about his new nickname.

But everyone was talking behind their backs, and it was the first time that Philip Schiller was sarcastically ridiculed in front of him like this, and he was stunned for a moment, and threw himself at Rubinstein in annoyance.

Everyone hurriedly pulled the two apart, and after a while of appeasement, they were all a little strange, with Jobs's temper, he should have been angry a long time ago, why didn't there be any movement at all, and they couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Jobs.

Jobs looked as usual, "Look at what I'm doing? If they're willing to fight, let them fight." Well, isn't it a little bit small here? Do you need to go to the roof?"

Rubinstein just hated Philip Schiller's personality, and was a little tired of Steve Jobs's wanton meddling in R&D and always making unrealistic demands, and after some venting, there was basically nothing to do. And Philip Schiller has only been Jobs since the 80s, and when he saw that Jobs was angry, he didn't dare to make trouble again. For a while, the conference room of the R&D center was quiet.

Still unshoeed, Jobs walked up to Rubinstein: "Jon, I want to know, why does Macman need a four-month production cycle? Thirteen years ago, Macintosh only needed six months, isn't Apple's supply chain management improving for so many years?"

Rubinstein, who is not in charge of supply chain management, shrugged his shoulders: "Who knows, you have to ask Crouch about this." As far as I know, Matrix's iCom cycle time is less than 20 days, and I don't understand why the supply chain gives us an estimated cycle time of 120 days. ”

Jobs commanded with a blank face: "Call Crouch to me, right away!"

Not long after, Adam Crouch, who is in charge of supply chain management, appeared in front of Jobs with a worried expression.

"Mr. Crouch, I've heard that you're running a 120-day production cycle for your new Mac, is that true?" asked Jobs, slowly.

Adam Crouch chuckled in his heart, and quickly explained: "There is no specific plan for the new Mac yet, this is just a speculation. After the quasi-demand plan is determined, we can calculate a relatively accurate delivery cycle after docking with R&D. ”

Jobs sighed, still unable to see any expression on his face, "This is very reasonable, Mr. Crouch, I still have a question, I need you to control the lead time of the new Mac to 20 days now, can you do it?"

Adam Crouch thought he had misheard: "Steve, how many days do you say?"

Jobs said calmly: "Twenty days, look at the shape of my mouth, two ~ ten ~ days." ”

Adam Crouch exclaimed, "We have 197 suppliers, and it takes a long time to confirm the technical specifications with them one by one, Steve, it's completely unrealistic." ”

Jobs nodded: "Okay, how many days can you have the confidence to shorten?"

Adam Crouch thought for a moment: "The minimum is 100 days, and it can't be lower, otherwise there will be big problems in the supply chain." ”

Jobs sneered: "Well, Mr. Crouch, I officially inform you that you have been fired. ”

Adam Crouch was stunned for a moment, after Jobs returned, he did take away a lot of people, but this was the first time he was dismissed in person. Even Ms. Alan Hancock, who was ridiculed by Jobs as a silly X, got a relatively decent ending.

"Why? Steve? I need a reason. Adam Crouch asked incoherently.

Jobs didn't look at him, "Notify personnel and go through the resignation procedures for him, on the grounds that his ability is too poor to meet Apple's requirements." ”

Adam Crouch's forehead was bruised: "Jobs! You madman! I don't agree! You are breaking the law! I will sue you!"

Jobs waved his hand disdainfully: "Whatever you want, the efficiency of Apple's supply chain has spoken of your capabilities." Anita, by the way, inform the security guard, I don't want to see him again!"

With Adam Crouch's unwilling roar, Jobs put his legs on the desk, "OK, now let's discuss how to solve the problem of LCD response time." ”

The conference room was silent, and everyone knew that Steve Jobs was making an example of the monkey, but who made himself really a monkey, he should be afraid or would be afraid.

"Can you give the plasma panel a try?" said a middle-aged man in his fifties with a bushy beard on his upper lip, who was probably the oldest in the room.

Jobs smiled: "This is a constructive plan, Esslinger, it is still up to you at the critical moment." ”

Esslinger was the designer of Macintosh, and although he was not an employee of Apple, he was Jobs' most trusted expert in the field of industrial design.

"OK, Jon, I need you to come up with a solution using plasma panels this week, before three o'clock this Friday afternoon, don't forget. Jobs walked out of the conference room barefoot, "You have to understand one thing, this product will only succeed if we make a product that we all want to buy." ”

(End of chapter)