"How can there be such a perfect solution?" Benjamin. Rosen's eyes lit up, he has been on Wall Street for 20 years, and he has too much understanding of the harshness of the conditions required for speculation, so it is really a great opportunity in front of him.

"Of course." Rod. Kenyon replied firmly, "And there is an added benefit to this, that is, until now, the IBM-PC platform still has no compatible machines, but various products of the Fangyuan computer standard have blossomed everywhere in the market." After we became the first IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturer, it is likely that IBM's attitude will be more relaxed as a result. ”

"It makes sense." Benjamin. Rosen asked with some eagerness, "What are your plans for specific products?" ”

"The strategy is simple, still do the IBM-PC platform first. Portable PCs are very popular now, starting with Osborne1, then jumping out of a competitor, Kaypro2, and even Fangyuan Computer has launched such products, and we design and manufacture IBM-PC standard portable PCs. "Rhodes. Kenyon introduced as he took out a report and handed it to the bright-eyed Benjamin. Rosen.

Compaq, a small entrepreneurial team, has a lot of experience in the workplace, and there are traces to follow, but it is not comparable to Steve Jobs, who didn't even know what the plan was and pulled investment everywhere for Apple.

After reading the documents, Benjamin. Rosen pondered for a moment, "Now that Fangyuan Computer is leading almost everywhere, what do you think of the future of the IBM-PC platform?" ”

Rod. Kenyon seems to have thought about this a long time ago. Answer without thinking. "In terms of IBM's strength. Even if IBM-PC is at a disadvantage in the market, it will not be defeated quickly, and it will be no problem to hold on for a few years. ”

Speaking of which, Rhodes. Kenyon looked around at the crowd and smiled playfully, "IBM has always had a problem, that is, the cost of doing things is high and the turn is slow, and the delay in seeing the portable products of IBM-PC is a proof of this. We just need to get ahead of IBM. Just launch a compatible product that has an advantage over it in terms of cost and performance. As for other issues, the sky has its own tall top. ”

The others laughed heartily and said one after another: "As long as we take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime gap to develop, even if we embrace the Fangyuan computer standard platform in the future, we will have the capital to bargain, at least the licensing fee will be discussed." ”

Benjamin. Rosen picked up the document in front of him again, quickly skimmed through it, deliberated on a few important links, and then said, "Now that you have a clear goal, let's let it go." By the way, do you need any more help from me? ”

"We need a senior IP lawyer." Rod. Kenyon made a request. "We will use a 'black box' approach to mimic all the BIOS functions of IBM-PC. Every step you complete, you have to ask your lawyer to confirm it. ”

"No problem." Benjamin. Rosen readily agreed, "I will raise targeted funds to deal with possible intellectual property disputes with IBM." ”

As can be seen from this statement, Benjamin. Lawson's support for Compaq's entrepreneurial team can be described as sparing no effort.

"How long will it take you to come up with a prototype?" Benjamin. Rosen asked again.

"We have made sufficient technical preparations to make CompaqPortable, Compaq's portable personal computer, ready to meet users in time for COMDEX at the end of November." Rod. Kenyon's tone was full of confidence.

"I'm looking forward to a great performance from Compaq." Benjamin. Lawson was very satisfied, "Let's do it first, I still have something to do, so I won't stay longer." ”

……

As a venture capitalist, Benjamin. Rosen has more than one project to keep his eyes on, and his next stop is Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Follow the address, Benjamin. Lawson managed to find the room with the words "LotusDevelopmentCorp." Before entering the door, he deliberately bent down to wipe the dust on his shoes with a tissue.

However, Benjamin. Rosen soon found that he didn't need to be so particular, and that there were only two people in the office, but it was a mess, and he looked like an engineer in a rough style.

Two people sitting in front of an IBM-PC: MitchKapor -- Mitch Kapor. Kapole and Jonathan Sachs - Jonathan. Thatch, the founder of the Lotus software company, was founded this year, just like Compaq.

The leader of the entrepreneurial team of Compaq Computer is Rod Brown, who was born in 1945. Kenyon, the leading figure of Lotus Software, was Mitchell in 1950. Kapole.

Mitchell. His father was a small business owner who enrolled at Yale University in 1967, where he majored in psychology, linguistics and computer science.

Like his peers at the time, Mitchell. Kapole belongs to the typical "Beat Generation", and he has not failed to do any tricks that should be tried.

After graduating from Yale University in 1971, Mitchell. Kapol has worked as a music host on the radio and as a comic actor, but his work is uncertain and his life is aimless.

Mitchell at this stage. Kapole, who was very interested in nothingness, so after wandering for four years, he always felt that he was still short of something, and he went to Switzerland to participate in a training called "transcendental meditation".

The course includes 14 hours of meditation per day and the ability to float into the air. Of course, this special function was not successfully cultivated in the end.

After returning to the United States, Mitchell. Desperate to find out who he was, Kapole enrolled at Beacon University for a master's degree in psychology, graduating in 1978 with a degree.

Next, Mitchell. Kapole went to work in a psychiatric institution as a waiter, and the nature of his work was mentally comparable to that of "pouring the potty".

This period is naturally boring. Fortunately, his interest in computers helped Mitchell. Kapole spent most of his time. And his programming skills have come a long way. This in turn led him to work at VisiCorp.

Tang Dynasty? Following Tang Huan's successful trajectory, Estlic created a "troika" of business software for IBM-PC for spreadsheets, word processing, and databases, among which the spreadsheet chose VisiCorp's spreadsheet software VisiCalc.

IBM and VisiCorp reached an agreement, just like Tang Huan's CGrid was pre-installed on Apple II, Dan? Brickering's VisiCalc is pre-installed on IBM-PCs.

It's clear that VisiCorp, like Microsoft, has embraced the lap of the blue giant, and the company's performance has improved significantly.

Mitchell figured out the philosophical question of "who he is". Kapole. The work at VisiCorp has been excellent.

He has compiled two sets of software, Visiplot and Visitrend, which are very popular and are agreed to receive a 33 percent commission on sales.

However, VisiCorp wanted to change the contract and decided to buy the entire rights to both sets of software.

After consultation, Mitchell. Kapole received a $1.2 million buyout fee and left VisiCorp to start his own company as his own boss.

As an investor in VisiCorp, Benjamin . Rosen naturally noticed this dynamic. And Mitchell. Kapole also needed external help, so the two sides hit it off.

In fact. Benjamin. Rosen's vision is indeed not wrong, Mitchell. Kapole belongs to the type of talent of Jobs, although he has been a hanger for so many years, he has not really "collapsed", and is beginning to emerge in the field of personal computers.

Now, Benjamin. Lawson in Mitchell. On Kapole's IBM-PC, he saw the result he was expecting - a new spreadsheet software that could visualize data in graphs and graphs in addition to the general electronic trial design, and support the functions of the database.

"Because this software integrates the three functions of electronic calculation, drawing, and database, I named it Lotus1-2-3." Mitchell. Kapole proudly introduced.

Due to the experience of previous years, Mitchell, who is still obsessed with nothingness. Kapole used Lotus, a thing with a special meaning in religion, as the name of the company and its products.

"This kind of design is original." Benjamin. Rosen asked with interest.

"Not exactly." Mitchell. A hint of embarrassment flashed on Kapole's face, but he still chose to tell the truth, "Zheru's CGrid, has long had these features, but this version of the software, only those big customers who can afford to pay the price will buy it out of their pockets, and it is rare to see it on ordinary personal computers. ”

"In this way, wouldn't it be a big loss of selling points in the market in the future." Benjamin. Rosenxing was slightly disappointed.

"Of course not." Mitchell. Kapole resolutely corrected, "Although there are quite a few spreadsheet software on the IBM-PC platform, none of them can achieve such a function. As for the CGrid of the IBM-PC platform version of Zheru, it is just a sign of existence, and its function cannot be compared with the CGrid version of the Fangyuan computer platform at all. ”

Speaking of which, Mitchell. "So, on the IBM-PC platform, Lotus1-2-3 is the first software to have such a feature set, and it's definitely a big selling point." ”

"It's the first ...... on the IBM-PC platform again," recalls Compaq's Benjamin Brown. Lawson couldn't help but smile.

"Now software companies such as Gary. Kildare's digital research company, Bill. Gates' Microsoft Corporation, Dan? Brickering's VisiCorp, Seymour? Rubinstein's MicroPro International, among others, are doing their best to support as many hardware platforms as possible, and even the leftovers that Zheru eats on the Fangyuan computer platform will become their target for entry. ”

Mitchell. Kapol is not like Rod of Compaq's startup team. Kenyon that way, offered to Benjamin. Rosen's various documents, including business plans, are only three inches of his tongue.

"But my Lotus software has to do the opposite, focusing on only supporting the IBM-PC platform."

Not waiting for Benjamin. Rosen asked why he had chosen this, and Mitchell. "The most immediate benefit of this is that the code doesn't have to think too much about cross-hardware compatibility and uses high-level programming languages such as C. Lotus1-2-3 is programmed in assembly language and is far more efficient than comparable products on the IBM-PC platform, even with a large number of complex features. ”

Mitchell. "More importantly, I've noticed a general trend in the development of PC hardware specifications now—the memory capacity is constantly increasing, and it's not unusual for commercial microcomputers to have memory capacities of 256KB or higher. ”

Speaking of which, Mitchell. Kapole laughed out loud as he seemed to have some idea of Coke, "but a lot of software companies don't seem to notice that, and they don't optimize the code." This is the case with support for the three major spreadsheet software on the IBM-PC platform: VisiCalc, SuperCalc, and MultiPlan. The funniest thing is that Microsoft's MultiPlan actually took the initiative to limit the memory of the program to a maximum of 256KB. What's going on in Gates' head. ”

"In this way, compared to other similar products on the IBM-PC platform, the Lotus 1-2-3 is not only powerful and fast, but also performs better on a personal computer with a large memory of 256KB." Benjamin. Rosen confirms with interest these attractive product features.

"That's it, Lotus1-2-3 can be said to be a combination of all in one, VisiCalc, SuperCalc, MultiPlan, I have all the functions, and the running speed can't compare to me, how can you compete with me?" Mitchell. Kapole made a heroic gesture. (To be continued......)