……

"I believe that just by taking it into words, you can understand what kind of product Network_Computer is. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Larry Ellison used all his speech skills and said in a frustrated voice, "Then you must want to ask, the sensational advertising has been launched, what about the product?"

Seeing everyone nodding their heads, Larry Ellison smiled slightly, "I have set up a special company to run NC, and it is going very well. According to the roadmap, starting this month, partners, including professional media, will be able to get NC's products, conduct evaluations, and use them initially, and by this year's COMDEX Fall Las Vegas show, NC will be officially released and fully shipped. ”

A reporter inquired curiously, "I haven't heard any rumors about NC before, may I ask, is it a secret project? Which companies are involved in the research and development work?"

"For such an important product, of course, trade secrets must be strictly guarded. Larry Ellison, who nodded affirmatively, had a proud look on his face, "The research and development of NC is done by Oracle independently. However, we do not intend to monopolize this brainchild, but are ready to share the relevant specifications for free and promote the development of NC with our peers. ”

The next question began to sharpen, "NC's marketing is very targeted, is it trying to replace the PC, or more accurately, represents the Fangyuan personal computer in the personal computer industry? If so, what is unique about NC compared to the PC that has been developed for nearly 20 years, especially the Fangyuan personal computer that has been developed for more than 10 years?"

"Metabolism is a regularity, what's wrong with that?" Larry Ellison asked rhetorically, "As for the uniqueness of NC, it is obvious that it is in line with the prospects of Internet applications, and you can see it at a glance when you see the physical products of NC, or get the technical white paper of NC." ”

"As we all know, the first person to promote the development of the Internet was Don. It was he who developed the Fangyuan personal computer and single-handedly created the current microcomputer industry pattern. Tang has done so much for the development of the Internet, but he has not designed a specific computer specifically for the Internet, so NC really has to exist? In addition, NC suddenly came out to kill the PC after Tang brought the Internet to high popularity, could it be for speculation?

It has to be said that the unexpected scale of the media present has also caused the "order" to be out of control - the reporter's questions do not take into account whether the person concerned will be embarrassed.

Larry Ellison, who originally had a wide heart in his heart, was suddenly provoked out of anger.

You know, he's not a good guy. In recent years, Oracle and Sybase have become mortal enemies on the Unix platform, which has directly triggered a scolding war between the executives of the two companies, which has become a major scenery in Silicon Valley.

Hearing the reporter belittle himself so much, Larry Ellison forgot his demeanor at that time, and sneered: "It seems that you are a supporter of Don, but I don't know, what position did he give you and how much salary did you make you speak for him so much?"

Whether this reporter is a fan of Tang Huan or not, others do not know, but a hot topic is about to jump out, but everyone can see it, and they are immediately ready to capture the most wonderful moments.

The ridiculed reporter, of course, refused to show weakness, looked directly at Larry Ellison and said, "I have my own professional qualities, but are you going to avoid my question?"

"Why should I avoid it?" Larry Ellison smiled coldly, "Could it be that the development of the Internet is the credit of Don alone, and everyone else is a decoration? When I entered the industry, Don didn't know where it was!"

"But now, Don is the richest man in the world......" The reporter deliberately said half of his words, but even if he didn't say the following meaning, others could guess it.

The host of the press conference saw that his boss was so irritated that even his favorite hairstyle was messy, and quickly said with experience: "The next question." ”

"I'm not done with my question. The man was reluctantly forced back into his seat by the staff.

Larry Ellison suppressed his anger and said slowly, "I think there is one thing that you should not object. That is, Don now belongs to the vested interests of the PC. ”

Glancing at everyone in the audience, Larry Ellison accentuated his tone, "In this case, is it difficult for Don to ignore the Internet's call to NC?"

The outside world only sees the scenery of Silicon Valley, but this mecca of high-tech entrepreneurship does not know how many people's dreams are shattered and companies go bankrupt every day.

Larry Ellison has been able to fight to this day, ranking among the ranks of successful people, and of course he is not an idle person—after these words, many people nodded thoughtfully.

However, Larry Ellison didn't dare to be too mysterious, so he took the initiative to lead the topic and revealed: "The minimum requirements for NC in terms of hardware are to have pointer devices including mouse, display to reach 640x480 resolution, support text input, audio output, etc., and the minimum requirements for software are to be able to support TCP/IP-based communication protocols, as well as a series of standards for WWW, e-mail, multimedia, security, etc." ”

"All in all, NC was born for the Internet, which can not only significantly reduce the cost of purchasing IT hardware for enterprises, but also greatly reduce the burden of daily maintenance of IT systems. ”

"Because the most complex and important data processing is already done by Oracle servers, NC's task is to present the results to the end user in the best possible way. ”

……

Larry Ellison and Oracle's ambition to challenge the rules of the game in the existing IT industry is on full display.

The media, which are scrambling to report and hype, naturally have to ask the targeted companies such as Fang Yuan and Zheru Software what their reaction will be.

It just so happened that Tang Huan held the first official media briefing for Zheru Software Company to go public, giving reporters the opportunity to get to the bottom of it, "Tang, what do you think of Oracle's 'PC is dead NC standing' advertisement?"

"Hehe...... "The richest man waved his hand, "that's how I see it." ”

The questioner didn't react for a moment, subconsciously rubbed his ears, and said in his heart, "Could it be that I'm too tired from traveling these days and temporarily deaf, so much so that I missed Tang's answer?"

It wasn't until he heard the laughter of his peers next to him that he reacted - it turned out that the modal word was Don's reaction.

This person hurriedly asked: "Tang, if NC replaces Fangyuan's personal computer, then the living environment of most of Zheru Software Company's products will cease to exist. Do you have a solution to this great threat?"

"It seems that if I don't say a few more words, this media briefing is likely to make people doubt the future direction of the industry, and there will be no way to talk about investment. Tang Huan shrugged, "Okay, let's take the time to discuss technology." ”

"This NC that popped up out of nowhere should have originated from an old concept - 'thin client'. The idea is to hand over all data processing over the network to a server or, more precisely, an Oracle database system. ”

"I think that my level of understanding of NC, at least an 'A-' score, is not a problem. ”

"Based on this, I would like to ask you the following questions for your consideration. ”

"First, all data processing is uploaded to the Oracle server through the network, and the results are then downloaded to NC, which is an ideal model with the lowest system maintenance, but what is the resulting network data throughput?"

"After years of hard work, the access speed of commercial Internet in the United States is now about 28.8kbps. ”

"I believe that as more and more people understand and use the Internet, this indicator will be greatly improved, but to what extent can it fit in with the pressure on the network formed by NC?"

"Second, the NC is the equivalent of a subset of the functions of a personal computer without a hard disk in terms of hardware, and the price can be reduced to $400 — the equivalent of the price of a home TV game console. But as a general-purpose computer, how much more attractive is it than a video game console? How much better is it than a full-featured personal computer that costs about $1,500?"

"The history of personal computers, counting from the generation of Cowherd Xing, has been almost 20 years, and Fangyuan personal computers have also evolved by 5.5 eras. Although they have replaced traditional minicomputers and mainframes in many application areas, they have so far not seen any signs of completely replacing each other. ”

"It has been a common opinion for more than a decade that the PC has innovated compared to its predecessors such as minicomputers and mainframes, and it remains to be seen how much NC will take the life of the PC while absorbing the nutrients provided by the PC. ”

"I can't say how long I have been in the computer industry, but I personally have good reason to think that in many fields, NC is not realistic to replace the PC. For example, in application scenarios that require very high real-time performance, such as factories, and application scenarios that require very high computing burst capabilities, such as entertainment, will not be listed one by one. ”

To sum up, it is not difficult to see that the conceptual significance of NC is greater than the practical significance, the PC will still live nourishingly, and the ecology of the software industry remains stable. ”

Of course, Zheru Software's pursuit of innovation has never stopped, and it is also open to the various application changes brought about by the development of the Internet, and investors do not need to worry about this. ”

……

From the richest man's eagerly answers, the media unearthed countless information to play on - as reflected in the flood of reports.

Ellison said - when I entered the industry, Don didn't know where it was, and Don replied - I can't say how long I have been in the computer industry, but I understand it deep enough. ”

Don sarcastically said that NC was just a flashy hype gimmick, and its real purpose was to promote its own Oracle database system. ”

Don hinted that the $400 NC is not really competing against PCs, but home TV game consoles — and that's a lot of fun, as Sony has just entered the market with the launch of a Playstation. ”

Trammell, a manufacturer of compatible PCs for the budget computer market, has just sent a new $800 home computer to PC_Magazine magazine for evaluation along with the NC prototype, and the Norton computer test system has scored an interesting one, with the former more than three times the better. ”

……

Various interpretations, full of tricks, invisibly, show the impetuousness and anger accumulated in Silicon Valley in the process of chasing capital over the years.

Like a Spanish bull driven mad by a red cloth, Larry Ellison bars his horns and pursues Tang Huan - I can understand Tang's hostility and disdain for NC, because NC threatens his Fangyuan personal computer and Zheru software.

The richest man who cherishes his feathers didn't take care of this stubble anymore, because the other party was not at the same level as himself, and he had several vice presidents under him, and he spat on him.

However, Tang Huan still took measures against the NC that was gradually becoming clearer.

So far, companies including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Compaq, Apple, Netscape Communications and others have expressed a clear interest in Larry Ellison and Oracle's NC specification.

In terms of hardware implementation, NC is also divided into the Sun Microsystem School, the IBM-PC Compatible Machine School, the Apple Computer School, and Oracle's own authentic school of ARM-based processors.

I have to say that in today's eyeball era, the scolding war is also a very good advertisement - NC has become famous.

At the high-level meeting, Tang Huan clearly instructed John Chambers, "Don't really underestimate NC, which looks flashy - Fangyuan's cash reserves are to deal with such unsubordinate market changes." ”

John Chambers replied knowingly: "I will secretly increase the subsidy to the manufacturers of Fangyuan personal computer compatible machines such as Trammell, and step on the NC in the low-end market." ”

Tang Huan laughed, "It's too important to be too focused on the traces when you step on it, it's better not to die and become a burden for those guys." ”

Their conversation and laughter are lively, which truly reflects the ability of Fangyuan Company, which is taking precautions.

But the world is changing, and nothing is absolutely foolproof.

Intel's hot-selling microprocessor, Pentium, was suddenly exposed to a bug, which triggered a crisis, causing the richest man to coordinate hundreds of millions of dollars in resources to help him wipe his ass, so that it attracted the media to talk about "good partiality".