"Don? Estlic, there is a misunderstanding in your thinking, and you emphasize too much on the importance of the purely technical level, but the situation that includes the small IBM-PC/AT hard disk defects, and the large IBM-PC following behind the Fangyuan personal computer, is actually caused by poor management. ”

Another executive suddenly interjected, and almost said by name, "Your ability is at best a department manager who can manage the stall in front of you, and you are not qualified to be a feudal official who guards one side."

"Do you think you know a lot about the PC industry? Do you think that personal computers are really not worth mentioning in terms of technology? ”

The angry Don who was squeezed? Estlic sneered, "I just said that the personal computers of Fangyuan Computer Company are updated every two years, according to this trend, the fourth generation of Fangyuan personal computers will be released next year, what kind of product will it be?" I'm telling you, it's probably a 32-bit computer on par with our mainframe. ”

"Impossible, you are alarmist, if Fangyuan Computer Company really wants to do this, it will seriously affect the market layout of its own high-end product online servers and workstations." The other party swore in denial.

"Then why don't you reflect on what is wrong with your thinking?" Tang Dynasty? Estlic raised his voice, "Our mainframe, since System/360, has only been fully upgraded once in ten years; DEC's miniature VAX, on the other hand, will be updated every three years. Fangyuan Computer's servers and workstations are more flexible in configuration, and new models can be launched more detailed for the target customer group every year. In other words, Fangyuan Computer's product line is simply designed to change on demand, so how can you worry about low-end personal computers impacting high-end servers and workstations? ”

Tang Dynasty? Estlic's aggressive tone. immediately forced the other party into speechlessness.

"The technical aspect of software is really becoming more and more important, and I received a report from my subordinates who studied this field." Finally someone standing on the Don? Estlic's side spoke.

This report pays special attention to a kind of software design architecture called ZeroneApplicationProgrammingInterface - ZAPI of Zheru software, which belongs to a class of methods for more efficient organization of program functions and function reuse, and the most notable ZAPI-based product in recent times is the Zheru network suite that supports TCP/IP. Third-party developers can call on the features they have already implemented and quickly amass a following. ”

"The full impact of ZAPI needs to be further evaluated, but one thing is certain, the MC68000 series of Fangyuan personal computers and the Intel80286/8086 series, as well as the early MOS6502 series, as well as the Z80 series of Tangdi computers acquired by Tangdi Computers, have maintained consistency at the operating system level, and can even be carried over to the high-end Fangyuan server and workstation series."

"IBM's product line is much richer, if we can build a similar system. In particular, connecting IBM-PC to all mainframes at the operating system level will undoubtedly have an infinite number of positive effects. My subordinate calls this solution IBM ApplicationsArchitecture, or SAA. ”

"Although this idea is very good, the implementation must involve a wide range of projects, and I think further evaluation is needed." Another spoke conservatively.

"Okay, let's put these specific questions about personal computers to the departmental meeting." John. Opel impatiently interrupted the crowd's argument. "Also, in May. President Ronald Reagan will visit China and sign a series of business agreements that will bring new business opportunities. But the problem is that our mainframes, which in previous years were able to be unblocked only with low-end models, but recently. Even the most advanced models are selling weakly, and they are constrained by a variety of national and industry standards that pop up all at once. On the other hand, Fangyuan Computer's servers and workstations can be like fish in water. What are your best solutions to this situation? ”

"The development of the Chinese market is up to the Asian companies to find a way." For John. The business opportunities mentioned by Opel. There is always no shortage of indifferent people in the conservative IBM leadership.

"The current Chinese market will not have a group of local manufacturers like the Japanese market, and there is no fierce competition in the American market. With such a relaxed environment, it was handed over to Fangyuan Computer? Other visionaries immediately objected.

"You give me an investigative report on the current situation of Fangyuan Computer's operation in the Chinese market." John who couldn't get a definite answer. Ou Bao angrily pointed to a few people and ordered.

Then he turned to Don again? Estlic, "IBM-PC/AT hard drive defects, will Apple's just-released MAC take advantage of the loophole and steal market share?" ”

Although to Don? Estlic was a little upset, but the other person was the most familiar executive in the PC market among all the people. Opel had to continue to rely on it.

"No, it won't." Tang Dynasty? Estlic replied in the affirmative, "MAC is a flashy product, only equipped with 128KB of RAM, and does not support hard disks, which is obviously not enough power, which has become the biggest bottleneck of graphical user interface functionality." Moreover, there are very few applications on the MAC platform, only the drawing toolkit QuickDraw and the word processing software QuickWrite that Jobs advertises annual sales of 750,000 units, which is a joke at all. ”

"The memory capacity is low, just increase it; Without a hard drive, it shouldn't be difficult to add one. Such a simple problem, Apple would not know how to solve it? "Don? Estlic's opponents, as always, launched a taunt.

"Apple, you don't understand, those incredible actions, in their eyes, are just normal." Tang Dynasty? Estlic glanced at the other and replied lightly.

……

The ad "1984" made the nation remember the MAC. And the success of Macintosh's computer conference also made Jobs's reputation skyrocket.

Many people take it for granted that in the next personal computer market, MAC will emerge and become the third pole in addition to Fangyuan personal computers and IBM-PC.

Naturally, the power structure within Apple. A subtle change has taken place.

Jobs, who had gained greater control, decided to merge the two divisions, Lisa Computer and Macintosh Computer, in addition to building a state-of-the-art factory specifically for MAC, to unify management.

Standing in front of the Lisa team and the McIntosh team, Jobs condescendingly announced the merger plan, "All the senior positions after the merger will be filled by the leaders of the McIntosh department, and a quarter of the employees of the Lisa computer department will be laid off." ”

Glancing at the whispering, varied-looking crowd, Jobs continued coldly and frankly: "Obviously. Your Lisa computer has failed. You are a second-class team, a second-class player. Many of the people standing here are second- or third-class employees. So today I'm going to lay off some of you so that you can have the opportunity to work at other sister companies in Silicon Valley. ”

Shike can not be humiliated, and the Lisa team, which was already in conflict with the MAC team, blew up the temple at that time.

In this context, Bill Brown, the developer of QuickDraw for the MAC platform and a member of both the Lisa and McIntosh teams, is a member of the Bill Draw. Atkinson. Hurriedly pulled Jobs aside and whispered, "Steve." This approach to consolidation is not only ruthless, but also unfair. In fact, these people work very hard, and they are brilliant engineers. ”

"Nope." Jobs looked straight at Bill? Atkinson, with a firm attitude, replied, "I have a very important management experience from the McIntosh team. That is, if you want to build a team of first-class players, you have to be ruthless. The reason for this is very simple, when the team expands, if it absorbs several second-rate players. More second-rate players will be recruited. Soon, there will even be third-rate players in the team. ”

See Bill? Atkinson was still trying to persuade him, and Jobs waved his hand, "Don't say it." Macintosh's success has taught me that first-class players only like to work with the same team, in other words, first-class teams cannot tolerate second-rate players. ”

Jobs opened his mouth to say "second-rate player" and closed his mouth to "third-rate player", which completely angered the members of Lisa's team, and some people did not wait for the final layoff list to be announced, and then angrily threw off the employee card, "It's not a big deal, believe it or not, after I go out, I can find my next home when I turn around." ”

"What do you mean by that? Then I won't send it, anyway, there are a lot of obsolete products that we don't want here. Jobs sneered, "People who can only make a $10,000 graphical user interface system just come together." ”

……

EA has moved to Redwood City, and the headquarters of Fangyuan Computer in Mountain View City has also been completed, and it is about to be moved, and Cupertino is left alone with Zheru, so it is finally no longer as crowded as before.

John. Chambers & Louis. Gerstner is discussing his work on providing IT solutions for the Los Angeles Olympics. Simone came over and said: "Just now, an engineer who used to develop office software for the Lisa computer received a call from the Lisa team members at Apple, saying that they had been fired en masse, and asked if we were interested in hiring. ”

"What Tang said is really right, Apple, which is on the road to death, will make a mess internally every time it passes, otherwise it will be uncomfortable." Louis. Gerstner smiled and shook his head.

"No one knows these Apple freaks better than Don." John. Chambers also smiled, "From past experience, people who leave Apple are not necessarily incompetent. On the contrary, they often show a rare special quality, that is, after being destroyed by Apple, especially Jobs, they are very good at work under pressure. ”

"So like before, I hired on the basis of merit? Anyway, there are a lot of projects in hand that can be arranged. Maybe a group of people will be sent to the R&D center in Xiangjiang, and there will be no resistance, after all, they were hit hard by Jobs at Apple and were classified as second- and third-class employees. "Charles. Simeone confirmed.

"Remember to bring a lawyer with you." Louis. Gerstner reminded: "After the release of MAC, Apple has a bit of a hard wing, and we are drifting away, so be careful." ”

……

It has to be said that the rudeness and ruthlessness shown by Jobs in the process of merging the Lisa department and the Macintosh department frightened the members of the Lisa team.

The sales of Lisa computers are now almost negligible, and a large number of unsellable products are backlogged in the warehouse, and they are about to fall into a layer of dust.

The grand release of MAC further extinguished the hope of a comeback after the improvement of the Lisa computer, so the existence of the Lisa team is really unnecessary, whether it is disbanded or merged, it is beyond reproach.

But the problem is that, according to Jobs's merger plan, the leadership positions of the new department will not be the original Lisa team members at all, which makes those Lisa team members who are lucky not to be included in the layoff list inevitably suspicious and extremely pessimistic about career prospects.

So, when he heard that Zheru was willing to accept the dismissed Lisa team members, the Lisa department did not wait for the merger to be completed, and the trees fell to the ground and the building was empty.

So much so that Zheru specially sent a bus to stop at the door of Apple to greet the group.

All of a sudden, there was a strange scene, three by two people who were fired or voluntarily resigned, holding cardboard boxes, walked out of the gate of Apple, directly got on the bus of Zheru, and finally left in a mighty way.

Seeing this scenario, CEO John Brown. Scully felt a little uneasy. Even if the successful release of the MAC boosted Apple's morale, it couldn't stand such a ruinous heart.

John. Although the relationship between Scully and Jobs is still in the honeymoon period, he is still full of slander, how can an ordinary department merge be so made by Jobs.

So, John. Scully reached out to Fangyuan Computer CEO John Brown by phone. Chambers said straight to the point: "It's not appropriate for you to take our engineers in a car, right?" ”

The two Johns communicated directly. Chambers replied with a smile: "That's because you're not used to it, how big Cupertino can be, and we companies will inevitably be entangled." In fact, you can think about it from another angle, we are also helping our partner Apple to restore order. ”

"Order?" John. Scully put down the phone and muttered to himself, and he suddenly remembered that when he joined the company, Marcula had a deep conversation with himself, in which he repeatedly mentioned the need to establish order at Apple. But looking at the current situation, it is really not optimistic.

After a sigh, John. Scully personally went to Jobs, hoping that his work methods could be more relaxed, but he didn't expect the other party to be as unconcerned as ever, "These second-rate employees, let them go, it's not a big deal." ”

Speaking of this, Jobs looked at the time, "I'm going to pick up Jennifer, she is so curious that she wants me to accompany her to watch the movie "Protecting Flowers" starring Tang Huan. ”

Jennifer? Egan is Jobs' new girlfriend, and soon after the MAC press conference, Jobs personally ran to someone's bedroom and installed a MAC, which shows how the two are mixing oil at this stage.

John. Scully couldn't do bad things, so he had to nod helplessly and let Jobs go. (To be continued.) )