"Needless to say, our graphical user interface system, FreeDesktopEnvironment, is the most perfect, and things like VisiOn are all commercial hype farces at the moment." Charles. Simeone replied proudly, of course, "In the case of VisiCorp, why didn't it deliver VisiOn right away, but launch a Visi kit?" ”

"This has already achieved the purpose of hype, and VisiCorp wants to expand its market share." People who are engaged in technology research and development and those who are engaged in market operations have a naturally different mindset. Charles. Simeone clearly saw the truth of the matter, but the assessment results were only based on the advanced technology, which made Louis . Gerstner was helpless.

"We're a high-tech industry, and it's a waste of time to do all that tricks in the air." Charles. Simeone's threat to VisiOn remains nonchalant.

Lucis. Gerstner didn't want to talk to Charles. Simeone, a stubborn guy, argued about which was more important than technology and marketing, and said directly with a light cough: "VisiCorp's move may affect the market pattern of Fangyuan personal computers and IBM-PCs like Lotus 1-2-3." Now I just want to know exactly where our FDE is stronger than VisiOn, so that we can take countermeasures. ”

"Before a fully graphical user interface system can be marketed, we need to define a standard for its usability, such as multitasking, bitmap icons, drag-and-drop operations, and so on. Apple's Lisa computer has done a good job in this regard. But it lacks a powertrain that is strong enough. Even the most basic system operating efficiency is not up to standard. As a result, it is fundamentally difficult to please users. ”

Speaking of which. Charles. Simeone held up three fingers, "The cold response to the market of the Lisa computer just shows that a truly practical graphical user interface system must run on a hardware platform that meets the performance standards, and the CPU, memory, and hard disk are all indispensable." ”

Charles. Simeone smiled playfully, "Although Jobs's MAC project has been holding on, we are sure that it is not equipped with a hard drive. Not to mention the ability to multitask. ”

According to Don's prediction, the popularization of graphical user interface systems will require the advent of the 32-bit microprocessor era. This is represented by the improved MC68010 of the MC68000, as well as the MC68020 under development, as well as our RISC-based processor Holder. Therefore, the graphical user interface system that is now in a hurry will fall halfway due to technical limitations, hardware costs and other factors, and become fertilizer for latecomers to learn from experience. "Charles. Simeone made a powerful gesture at the end. So concluded.

Lucis. Gerstner listened to Charles. Simone nodded after a lot of talking. Then he picked up the pen and calculated, "VisiOn $495, mouse $250, VisiCalc $395, VisiGraph $250, VisiWord $375, a total of $1,765, that's the price of the most full-featured application suite that could be found on the IBM-PC platform, at least a third cheaper than Zheru software, and the threat cannot be underestimated." ”

"It also needs VisiOn to be able to run, at least the hard drive is essential, and it needs at least 512KB of memory. In addition, running software such as VisiCalc and VisiWord in this environment will definitely require more memory. ”

Charles. Simeone picked up another pen in Lucis. Gerstner wrote a number after the calculation, and then explained: "IBM-PC is not as scalable as Fangyuan personal computers, and it is very troublesome to add content, for example. VisiOn is destined to run only on IBM-PC/XT with hard disks, and with more than 512KB of memory, the combined cost of the entire system is close to $10,000. ”

"The Lisa computer, which costs $9,995, is sniped by the MAC that Jobs claimed to be only a quarter of the price, and you don't know what it looks like." Charles. Simeone smiled and shrugged, "In a high-end microcomputer system under $20,000, no one can match our advantage. ”

"Although we do the best job in terms of technology and cost balance, we can't ignore unexpected marketing, which may catch us off guard." Lucis. Gerstner stared at Charles. Simeone, said slowly: "I want to take the initiative, how about you arrange a demo of FDE?" ”

"What Don means is that when Jobs' MAC is done in the market, we will pick up a ready-made cheap that has a deep concept and follow up moderately." Charles. Simone hesitated.

"Tang gave us the affairs of Silicon Valley because he trusted us in our ability to judge the situation." Lucis. Gerstner smiled slightly, "Don't tell me, you don't want to trample these beam-jumping clowns under your feet and tell them who is the king of technology." ”

"You marketing people, you're so demagogic." Charles. Simone shook his head with a smirk.

……

Tang Dynasty? Estlic was promoted to vice president of the personal computer business at IBM headquarters, but he didn't know if he was to be happy.

IBM's Board of Management, to Don? Estlic's work at IBM-PC is still very positive, and Guy proves that the relatively low-tech personal computer business can indeed be profitable.

After the launch of IBM-PC, the blue giant benefited a lot, attracted great public attention, and at the same time, the company's cash flow statement also underwent a welcome change, and the stock price has been rising.

But IBM's executives are not very satisfied with the market performance of IBM-PC, because its profits are not as lucrative as the mainframe business, which makes the blue giant, which has been in a state of "making a lot of money", a little unaccustomed.

More importantly, IBM-PC has always been subordinated to Fangyuan personal computers, becoming the second in the millennium. That's for the blue giant. It's a shame.

After the so-called research. IBM's management board came to the conclusion that in order to keep up with Fangyuan's personal computer and counter Fangyuan's aggressiveness in the high-end product field, it was necessary to further strengthen the IBM-PC division.

As a result, a large number of middle-level managers in suits and leather shoes were stationed in the personal computer department in Boca Raton, and their size and status were rapidly expanded. Tang Dynasty? It makes sense that Estlic was promoted to vice president.

In the beginning, Don? Estlic is quite happy, after all, in addition to taking a step forward in his career, he can also ensure that he can achieve the goal of exceeding one million IBM-PC sales this year.

But it didn't take long, Don? Estlic began to frustrate, this feeling of promotion did not seem to be good, and there was a tendency to be elevated.

In the past, a directive was given to the subordinates at the bottom, that is, a one-sentence thing, but now, it is okay to go through several links in the middle. Work efficiency has dropped significantly.

Don feeling more and more constrained? Estlic suddenly woke up. Today's personal computer department is no longer the supernumerary organization that broke away from the bureaucratic system of the IBM headquarters and carried out the "chess plan" on its own.

Tang Dynasty? Estlic couldn't decide whether the return of the personal computer department to IBM headquarters was a good thing or a bad thing, and he only felt a heavy weight in his heart.

Fortunately, at this time, VisiCorp's VisiOn brought the first graphical user interface system to the IBM-PC platform, which attracted a lot of attention from inside and outside the industry, which made him feel a lot happier.

Regardless of whether VisiCorp's VisiOn is practical at the moment, at least it shows the infinite possibilities of IBM-PC in this area in the future, and I just hope that the headquarters will not think that this feature will affect traditional high-end business.

So, Don? Estlic decided to support VisiOn, after all, he also felt a little guilty in his heart, the spreadsheet software that IBM-PC chose to pre-install was VisiCalc, and now it has been changed to the more advanced Lotus 1-2-3, which really hit VisiCorp, which has a good relationship.

Just Don? Estlic pondered what specific measures to take to maximize the "compensation" of the motivated VisiCorp, but Gates suddenly jumped out and announced that Microsoft would launch Windows 1.0 priced at $250 at COMDEX in the fall before the end of the year when VisiCorp delivered VisiOn.

Note that Windows 1.0 is half as cheap as VisiOn's $495.

Seeing this, Don? Estlic's nose was almost crooked, how could this narrow-minded Gates be so visionless and destroy IBM-PC's great opportunity to further win customers?

After a second thought, Don? Estlic immediately understood that Gates was afraid that VisiOn would encroach on MS-DOS's territory in the field of operating systems.

"Bastard!" Tang Dynasty? Estlic was depressed, but he couldn't reconcile the conflict of interest within the IBM-PC camp, just as Microsoft had been competing with VisiCalc in the spreadsheet space with MultiPlan.

Given Microsoft's poor performance in developing MS-DOS1.0 for IBM-PC, and the ongoing struggle to develop MS-DOS3.0 for the next generation of personal computers, IBM-PC/AT, Don? Estlic had every reason to suspect that Gates didn't have the resources to make a difference in the field of graphical user interfaces, but jealous of VisiOn's lead, he vilely unleashed smoke bombs to confuse users.

Besides, why didn't Microsoft report to IBM in advance for the development of the operating system for the graphical user interface, don't you know who your current industry status depends on?

Tang Dynasty? Estrich was just about to call Gates over and negotiate seriously, and Jobs began to make a public statement again, "The epoch-making MAC that is suitable for all users to use will only cost $2,000 after its launch, I don't know VisiOn on IBM-PC, the whole system is calculated, how much is the price?" ”

Don who roughly counted it? Estlic, dumbfounded. Software plus hardware. The price is close to $10,000. This can collide head-on with the commercial system provided by the combination of Fangyuan Computer and Zheru Software.

You know, this solution is currently in full swing, dominating the enterprise market below $20,000.

Don who feels like he's stuck in a dead end? Estlic hurriedly called Liu. Ogurblecht's successor, the current chief designer of IBM-PC, Bill Brown. Sidneys asked him if IBM-PC/XT could further reduce costs in order to cooperate with VisiOn.

Bill. Sidneys is busy developing an IBM-PC/AT with the Intel 80286 and seeing the popularity of Compaq's portable IBM-PC compatible machine. It is also intended to follow the launch of similar products IBM-PC/JR.

See Don? Estlic was enthusiastic about VisiOn, and Bill. Sydneys said bluntly: "I think the so-called graphical user interface is all flashy stuff now, and it's not worth our waste. ”

"However, it can help IBM-PC attract wider public attention and is an opportunity to lead the way in personal computers." Tang Dynasty? Estlic muttered unrelentingly.

……

Still, Don? Estlic soon had no choice.

The IT media, which had been enthusiastically pursuing VisiOn, suddenly took a big turn in attitude and began to rationally analyze the usefulness of the graphical user interface. And against a few demonstration pictures taken on the spot, he asserted it as flatteringly as possible. Zheru's FDE is the real graphical user interface, and other products are scum.

It turned out that Lucis. Gerstner organized a visit to the FDE at the Zheru R&D Center with 50 invitees, which means the 50 states of the United States. These include heavyweight IT media across the United States, such as Bit, as well as well-known names in professional fields such as desktop publishing, graphic design, and computer-aided design.

The outside world has long heard about the strength of the Zheru R&D Center, and everyone almost rushed here with the mentality of pilgrimage, but after seeing the actual performance of FDE, their saliva almost flowed.

FDE can be run on the high-end operating system Vientiane for workstations/servers, and FreeDOS for PCs, and the demo computer uses Fangyuan Personal Work and Fangyuan PC Ultra.

Both systems are equipped with hard disks, with a memory capacity of more than 1MB, and the CPU runs at an extraordinary frequency, with the RISC architecture Holder reaching 50MHz and the CISC architecture MC68010 reaching 20MHz.

This hardware configuration invisibly illustrates that the hardware platform required for the graphical user interface system must have sufficient power.

Specifically, the content of the demonstration is to use the desktop publishing system software PageMaker and Illustrator, the graphic design software Photoshop, the computer-aided design software AutoCAD, the spreadsheet software CGrid, and the word processing program WordEasy in the FDE environment.

When the visitors finally said goodbye to the Zheru R&D Center, an editor from the Los Angeles Times wrote: "We had a dream of a science fiction trip, but unfortunately it was too short." ”

Almost all of the invited visitors were simple users - I can't say why FDE is technical, but because of this, I can better appreciate the true charm of the graphical user interface.

During the experience, the computer used in the demonstration was playing at the same time as a well-known Asian female singer Talissa. Deng's laser discography. According to the technicians, this is to demonstrate the multitasking capabilities of the system.

The gentle singing voice unique to oriental women slowly calmed down the excitement caused by the over-amazement caused by the first meeting of FDE.

In Xerox Star, Lisa Computer, VisiOn and other graphical user interface systems, the smooth scrolling display of text content has been implemented to varying degrees, and FDE is of course no exception, and it is better done.

I don't want to praise this point, but I just want to emphasize that Adobe's OpenType font can be said to be a big boon for the emerging desktop publishing industry.

FDE provides a Start menu in the bottom left corner of the screen, from which you can find all the actions that control the computer, which is where the meaning of "Start" comes from.

In FDE, almost all operands are represented by a corresponding bitmap icon and can be dragged to produce fantastic results.

For example, dragging the icon of a text file onto a paper basket icon called the trash bin means that the file is deleted; If you drag it onto an email program, launch it and get ready to send an email.

I sent an e-mail to another visitor who had come with me.

That level of natural fluidity, like the logic of what you do in real life, requires almost nothing from the computer operator.

Well, that's all I can say. We, the visitors, have agreed with Zheru in advance that we should not divulge too many FDE details.

In short, my feeling is that after using FDE, the current computer operation mode, and other similar products, suddenly become boring.

However, FDE has strict basic requirements for hardware configuration, including a CPU running at a frequency of more than 10MHz and a memory of more than 1MB.

As a result, it is not yet able to push the open public market at a price that is acceptable to the average consumer.

Even if you are a wealthy technology enthusiast, you don't have the opportunity to kiss Fangze, because Zheru has to consider technical secrecy.

Of course, FDE is not always in the list, there are two types of users who can officially experience its functions, one is Boeing aircraft, Ford Motor and other large customers with strong capital and special needs, and the other is some application environment of the Los Angeles Olympics.

……

After seeing these enthusiastic reports, Don? Estlic's heart cooled completely.

Under VisiOn, Microsoft and Apple use price wars to dig into the wall, and Zheru uses technology war to block, which is destined to die thoroughly, and I am afraid that even the survival of VisiCorp has become a problem. (To be continued......)