With the blowout development year after year, the commercial value of personal computers has become more and more obvious, and now it has formed a huge sunrise industry with an output value of tens of billions of dollars.

Fangyuan Computer and IBM, one is the emerging overlord of microcomputers, and the other is the old king of traditional computers, both have achieved great success in the personal computer market.

In terms of market capitalization alone, the latter reached a high of $60 billion, while the former caught up, impressively reaching the $50 billion level, and even overtook the US tobacco company to be included in the top 30 constituents of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

What makes investors crazy the most is that the combined market capitalization of Fangyuan Computer and IBM has accounted for more than one-third of the market value of all stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

What this means, is self-explanatory. The battle between Fangyuan Computer and IBM also made the onlookers feel excited to witness the changes of the times that "talented people from generation to generation have come out, each leading for hundreds of years".

In fact, the wave of microcomputers led by Fangyuan Computer has not only affected IBM, but has launched a comprehensive impact on the entire traditional computer industry.

Fangyuan supercomputer, Fangyuan server, and Fangyuan workstation have used repeatable successful cases again and again to prove the feasibility of IT products with microprocessor architecture in high-end application fields.

The personal computer has popularized computer technology, making it no longer the exclusive privilege of large enterprises and government agencies.

At this stage, various computer companies are in different forms of layout to meet this industrial revolution.

For example, HP, which has obtained the standard authorization of Fangyuan's personal computers, has not yet directly entered the consumer market, but still launched its own brand of personal computers. Combined with the accumulation of technology in the field of traditional computers, it is connected to a minicomputer and becomes a very attractive and inexpensive terminal.

Even DEC, which is stubbornly dismissive of personal computers, is constantly reinventing its flagship product, the 32-bit minicomputer VAX, to counter the growing threat of Fangyuan servers and Fangyuan workstations.

However, these high-end areas and the competition of the enterprise market. Although it is intriguing and thrilling, it is not as vigorous and hearty as the competition for the mass-market PC is more than superficial.

In recent months, IBM-PC and Fangyuan personal computers have indeed fought very fiercely, the former bought out Intel's Intel80286, trying to make its latest model IBM-PC/AT latecomer seize market share, and defeat the first-mover advantage of the opponent's third-generation Fangyuan personal computers; The former, on the other hand, did not hesitate to adjust its marketing strategy and reduced the price of MC68000 PCs, which originally belonged to the high-end product line, to promote them.

The two sides even fought an advertising war and sneered at each other. It almost reached the point of spitting on each other, which can be said to have no grace to talk about, but it has also formed a situation of both supply and sales, and Wall Street has also praised it.

In short, those who have earned enough popularity, whether it is an industry or an enterprise, have become a star-like existence.

At a time when the battle is in a stalemate, MAC with a graphical user interface. In the midst of thousands of calls, it made a shining debut, a press conference. It attracted the attention of the whole United States.

Jobs even made a bold statement that Apple will sell 750,000 MACs this year.

As a result, industry commentators generally believe that the competition in the personal computer market will become more fierce. Especially with AMD's announcement. The company has successfully mass-produced AM286, which is fully compatible with Intel's Intel80286, and has the ability to supply to computer manufacturers, and Fangyuan Computer Company immediately announced that some out-of-stock models of the third-generation Fangyuan personal computer began to resume sales.

But what happened next tells people what it means to be in turn and impermanence. The IBM-PC/AT, which was produced and marketed at full capacity, was exposed by the media to have product design flaws.

In fact, after IBM-PC/AT was listed in large quantities, complaints about downtime were not uncommon, but even IBM, which has a very mature and stable technology development and production process system, did not find the exact root cause, so it had to vaguely pull over a scapegoat, deducing that Microsoft's operating system MS-DOS3.0 has a bug, and this problem can be solved after modification and improvement.

This reason can't help but be believed by the industry and consumers, and even Gates himself thinks that it should be like this, who let this opportunistic copycat operating system have many problems in the first place.

This has been a pain for Microsoft programmers, and several MS-DOS3.0+ versions have been delivered one after another, but nothing has been done.

Gates is not only thunderous, but also on pins and needles, Guy is still ridiculed by Microsoft, IBM has clearly shown distrust and even disgust with MS-DOS.

Although Microsoft has been adding various new features to MS-DOS day and night, such as support for floppy disks of more specifications. Hard disks, as well as the network, etc., but there is a technological gap that has never been bridged, that is, the operating system FreeDOS used by Fangyuan personal computers, which makes full use of the processor characteristics of MC68000 and Intel80286, and then has the ability to multitask.

Seeing that the IBM-PC/AT was completely restrained by the three generations of Fangyuan personal computers at this point, the blue giant was so annoyed that he revealed a message, that is, he planned to develop a completely new operating system.

What can Gates say, his skills are not as good as others, so he had to swallow his anger and promise that he would actively cooperate, otherwise he would be kicked away by IBM, and he would not even have to eat the meat now.

Therefore, the black pot of IBM-PC/AT irregular downtime, whether Microsoft wants it or not, has to be carried out.

Fortunately, at this time, the Angel of Justice appeared.

PCMagazine, the IT magazine that was the first to discover the quality door of three generations of Fangyuan personal computers, once again gained momentum, publishing a special report pointing out that by tracking the experience of hundreds of IBM-PC/AT users, it was found that as long as the 20MB hard disk equipped with this product was removed, the downtime phenomenon disappeared.

IBM naturally has to respond to this, and everyone has set an example before. You can't smash the sign yourself, no.

As a result, IBM confirmed that the findings of PCMagazine were correct, and that the root cause of the irregular downtime of IBM-PC/AT was the hard disk it was equipped with. As for more details, IBM did not disclose further.

The news alone was enough, and Microsoft's engineers burst into tears. It's not easy, it's finally settled, and it seems that IBM is not technically omnipotent.

Invisibly, the technical teams of Microsoft and IBM have also increased the estrangement.

……

This mess put Don? Estlic was in a hurry, the false fire was rising, and the Gain hard drive was not a bargain, and the resulting losses could not be ignored.

The physical structure of a hard disk is generally composed of a magnetic head, a disk, an electric motor, a main control chip and other components. At this stage, the use of 5.25-inch personal computer hard disks is usually that the manufacturer packages the magnetic head, the disc and the motor, and the main control chip is connected in the form of a bus expansion board.

This practice caused a lot of trouble for PC assembly, and the most obvious disadvantage was that it took up a valuable motherboard expansion slot.

As a result, IBM also began to integrate the main control chip directly into the hard disk after adopting the same memory module design as Fangyuan Computer.

The slight difference is that Fangyuan Computer and Seagate jointly developed the main control chip, while IBM, which is the inventor of the hard disk. It is only to purchase Seagate's hard disk body, and then equip it with its own main control chip.

After investigation. It is these main control chips that have fallen off the chain, but the more detailed reasons are still unclear, and they need to be shortened step by step.

But in the Don? In Estlic's view, this work is no longer important, and the personal computer is a product of limited value, many times. Things should be done in pursuit of the final result and cost reduction, and a full set of Seagate hard disk and main control chip will be used in the future.

But how to deal with the aftermath is very tricky, you know, IBM is located in Boca Raton's personal computer manufacturing base, and the production capacity is amazing. If you drive at full capacity, 10,000 units per day will not be a problem.

It is not difficult to imagine how large the number of problematic hard drives is.

Finally, Don? Estlic took the plunge and dumped the hard drive, which was the size of a tugboat, into the sea, and dealt with the trouble.

Of course, the media will not miss such a good show, catch a positive one, and then make a big book.

No matter how big IBM is, it can't be so wasteful, and the anxious Don? Estlic also had to report to the headquarters on the causes and consequences of this quality accident.

The current IBM-PC department contributes nearly 20% of the annual sales to the blue giant, so it is quite valued by the headquarters, and then a large number of middle-level managers are sent to improve the management structure to be incorporated into IBM's huge bureaucratic system, and the scale has swelled to more than 10,000 people. Estlic was also promoted to vice president. But this time I have to go to the headquarters for training, and I have to say that it is really difficult to get by on the face.

After entering the conference room, Don? Estlic glanced at the huge seat, couldn't help but sink in his heart, and muttered to himself, is this going to hold a public trial meeting for himself?

Find Bill. After Lovo, Don? Estlic muttered seemingly unintentionally, "There seem to be a lot of people coming to the meeting today." ”

"Isn't that good, it means that everyone is concerned about your PC department." Brilliant Bill. Lovo, of course understand Don? Estlic's true mood, so he quipped.

"The scenery is infinite on the outside, but in fact, it is like walking on thin ice." Tang Dynasty? Estlic smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Don't look at the fact that I am in charge of more than 10,000 people now, but I don't know why, I am not as handy as before." ”

"The company's stock price has skyrocketed, and the huge cash flow from the PC division has a lot to do with it. Therefore, the headquarters must no longer allow the personal computer department to be separated from the system and run wherever it wants, as it did before. "Bill. Lovo was nodding at Don? Estlic.

……

With IBM CEO John Brown. Opel took a seat and the meeting officially began.

Follow the flow, and soon it's Don's turn? Estlic made a report, so he reviewed his mistakes with great sincerity.

Seriously, there's nothing to cry out about, Don? Estlic is responsible for the quality accident at IBM-PC/AT.

Fortunately, most of the members of the management committee looked at the problem very rationally and still affirmed Tang? Estlic's achievements, after all, IBM-PC sold more than 1 million units in 1983.

But criticism is not without it, and someone said: "Don? In order to quickly promote IBM-PC/AT, you prematurely announced that you would abandon IBM-PC and IBM-PC/XT using Intel8088, but Compaq took the opportunity to pick up the leak and took a big advantage. In fact, there is still a considerable market demand for personal computers using the Intel 8088. ”

"Fangyuan Computer Co., Ltd. launched the 8-bit first-generation Fangyuan personal computer in 1979, the second-generation Fangyuan personal computer with 16-bit in 1981, and last year, that is, in 1983, launched the third-generation Fangyuan personal computer that supports multitasking. Every time the product is updated, Fangyuan Computer Company will firmly control the mid-to-high-end market with greater profits, and let compatible machine manufacturers compete for the low-end market. This business strategy proved to be very successful. "Don? Estlic argued.

"Is this comparable?" The other party immediately ridiculed each other, "Fangyuan's personal computer compatible machine manufacturers are licensed, but you have disclosed the technical standards of IBM-PC for free, and the so-called compatible machine manufacturers represented by Compaq are eating our interests at a visible growth rate." ”

"IBM-PC was released later than the second-generation Fangyuan personal computer, and if I don't choose to open technical standards, then I can't recover the disadvantage." Tang Dynasty? Estlic blushed and argued vigorously, he didn't expect that what seemed to be the right decision at the beginning would now become a bad move, and then provoke attacks from his colleagues.

"Well, there's no point in arguing about this fait accompli." John. Opel coughed lightly, "The backwardness of IBM-PC at this stage may be related to our previous attitude not paying enough attention." I have a survey report here, in addition to the United States, Japan, China in Asia, the United Kingdom, France in Europe, are all clearly promoting computer education in schools, but Japan, China, Britain, and France are almost all eaten by Fangyuan personal computers alone, I need to have an explanation for this. Tang Dynasty? Estlic, tell us what you think. ”

"In addition to the extraordinary scalability of the hardware architecture to meet various customer needs, the more important point is that it has a strong Zheru software as the backing."

Tang Dynasty? Estlic replied with a deep groan, "On our side, only the Lotus software in the spreadsheet field can be used, and Microsoft is good for nothing but BASIC." I suggest that if you want to stay competitive for a long time, you must grasp the software, especially the operating system. In this way, it can even restrain those compatible machine manufacturers who do not listen to discipline. ”

Listen to Don? Estlic said that Microsoft was so unbearable that John Esteritch said that John Esteritch was so bad. Opel's face couldn't help but be a little gloomy, because when he was discussing whether to trust Gates, he looked at the other party's mother's face, and he betrayed favors and said good things. (To be continued.) )