……

Speaking of this, John Chambers shook his head, "Microsoft and Apple, two people who look like each other, are really a bit incomprehensible, spitting on each other in terms of operating systems, but working closely together in terms of office software." ”

"It's not that complicated, it's just about using each other and taking what you need." Tang Huan commented lightly.

Due to the emergence of Fangyuan computer and Zheru software, the ecological environment of the personal computer market is naturally very different from the original time and space, not long after entering the full take-off of the 1980s, there was a situation of stars holding the moon, this center that was surrounded, of course, is their respective focus on hardware and software in the field of Fangyuan computer and Zheru software.

Compared with Fangyuan Computer, Zheru Software is more low-key, but it is also aggressive, which makes people in the industry such as Steve Jobs and Gates have to curry favor with each other, and secretly guard against vigilance.

Even though the shares in his hands are constantly being diluted, until now, Jobs is still a minority shareholder of Zheru, and the reason for his reluctance to let go is obviously interests.

Because of this first-hand experience, Jobs has a deep understanding of the subtle penetration ability of Zheru software, such as the application platform of Apple II, which is not only ruled by it, but also the hardware design needs to listen to the opinions of this partner who provides the best office software.

Steve Jobs, who regarded the MAC as his own, did not want to see its product change in pedigree, so he did not seek application software support from Zheru, but reached a series of secret agreements with Gates' Microsoft at the time.

After triumphantly demonstrating some of the exciting features of the MAC, which was still in the development stage, Jobs "allowed" Microsoft to produce three programs: a spreadsheet software, a business graphics program, and a database, and Apple reserved the right to bundle or sell the three applications with the MAC.

Among them, in the previous model, Apple pays Microsoft $5 per application, up to a maximum of $1 million per year; In the latter mode, Microsoft gets $10 for every app sold, or ten percent of the retail price.

In addition, Microsoft must agree not to produce similar "mouse or tracking ball" applications for any non-Apple manufactured computer for 12 months after the original delivery date for the MAC.

It can be said that the conditions thrown out by the arrogant Jobs almost took the benefits by himself, and he was not very kind to Microsoft, but Gates still agreed.

The reason for this is nothing more than that it is very rare to get an exclusive office software order for the MAC platform in the shadow of a powerful software industry ruler like Zheru; What's more, Gates was a bit fascinated by the graphical user interface features of the MAC, hoping to do another "stealing" and reduce the over-reliance on IBM and its MS-DOS, which requires customization.

Realistically speaking, in terms of technology, Jobs is indeed far less knowledgeable and sophisticated than Gates.

Because software development projects are more special, they tend to take longer to complete than most people expect.

In other words, it is almost impossible for Microsoft to come up with similar software for other PC platforms, including IBM-PC, while developing software for the MAC and within the year after that.

IN THIS WAY, STEVE JOBS, WHO WAS PROUD TO HELP MAC GET CHEAP SOFTWARE, UNWITTINGLY PUT A FOX IN THE CHICKEN COOP - MICROSOFT RIGHTFULLY GOT THE PROTOTYPE OF THE MAC, AND THEN LEARNED MORE ABOUT GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE TECHNOLOGY.

There was no secret to what happened next, and the pursuit of perfection in the MAC was repeatedly postponed until Apple's board of directors couldn't wait enough to force Steve Jobs to release the product in January 1984.

On the other hand, the MAC R&D team, which was portrayed as a "pirate" by Jobs, did not have the skills of IBM, Fangyuan, and Zheru to plan a friendly third-party development platform.

So it's natural to have a situation where it's much more difficult to write programs for MAC than it is to develop software for IBM-PC, and Microsoft's R&D progress has been delayed again and again.

THE MAC WAS LAUNCHED MORE THAN A YEAR LATER THAN STEVE JOBS ONCE BOASTED OF COMPLETION, AND THE SOFTWARE THAT MICROSOFT PROMISED TO DEVELOP FOR THE MAC WAS MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER THAN ORIGINALLY PLANNED. The exclusivity clause that Jobs instituted. There is no room for any effectiveness at all, and it is simply redundant nonsense, which shows that Gates is cunning.

In stark contrast, Windows 1.0 came to the public with a limp one step earlier.

Seeing this situation, Jobs was almost so angry that he turned his back on it: my MAC advent time has been postponed, which can be regarded as accommodating the backward progress of Microsoft's office software development, but you actually launched Windows 1.0 first, and emotionally took our MAC prototype and specialized in the study of graphical user interfaces. This is too harboring evil intentions!

In a fit of rage, Jobs canceled the deal he had reached with Gates: everyone was free, Microsoft could develop applications with similar interfaces to whomever it wanted, and Apple could find another software developer.

It didn't end there, and Jobs set out to deal with Gates' theft of MAC's graphical user interface features, launching the infringement of Windows 1.0.

In this way, the war of words between Apple and Microsoft began, so that the secret transaction between Jobs and Gates before was also revealed to the world.

In fact, the faltering Windows 1.0 was not welcomed, except that Jobs thought it was a MAC in the guise of an IBM-PC, and it was very ugly, and more people in the industry realized that the launch of this product was nothing more than a market game.

By chance, MS-DOS cut off Hugari Kildare's CP/M and became the operating system of choice for IBM-PC; But this dominance was soon challenged when VisiCorp, which successfully ran the spreadsheet software VisiCalc, planned to launch VisiOn to replace MS-DOS, the operating system on IBM-PCs.

Because VisiOn, which has a graphical user interface function, caught other companies that are interested in making great achievements in this field by surprise at the point in time, Zheru, Apple, and Microsoft tacitly carried out a joint crackdown.

In the process, Gates learned a business strategy, that is, if the market leader falls behind in a new product, he does not have to rush, and can bluff against the opponent.

Specifically, after you announce that you are working on a new product that is intended to replace me, I can methodically unveil a more ambitious product development plan that includes features that you are proud of and promises a smooth upgrade from the existing product.

As early as the 1960s, in the face of the leading data control company, IBM put smoke bombs to stabilize its own new products such as customers and partners, and at the same time worked intensively to develop System/360, which won time and made competitors suffocated.

In order to snipe at the menacing VisiOn, Gates followed this routine and released the news to all IBM-PC manufacturers, Microsoft is also developing graphical user interface functions, and it is definitely more powerful than VisiOn, so you might as well wait patiently.

Under the blow of rogue tricks such as these, VisiOn tragically fell to its knees, and the product launch ended miserably; But Microsoft's side did not dare to take it lightly and stepped up the launch of Windows1.0,

Speaking of which, the development process of Windows 1.0 is also a bit legendary, after a series of failures, a 20-year-old programmer who has studied MAC thoroughly Neil Kongson accepted the challenge and completely rewrote Windows 1.0.

Jobs thinks that Windows 1.0 is a MAC in the guise of IBM-PC, and of course has its own reasons. The data structure and program format of Windows 1.0 are copied from MAC, and even include the same built-in small applications as MAC, such as a drawing program, a clock and a riddle software.

What Gates didn't expect was that IBM, Microsoft's most important partner, did not buy Windows 1.0, not only did not participate in related marketing campaigns, but also threatened to adopt VisiOn in the future.

The reason for the conflict between Microsoft and IBM over Windows 1.0 is the two deals for MS-DOS, including regular improvements and updates.

Because this is a contract programming job, IBM will pay for the programming time, but not royalties.

So, when the opportunity arose to make a new program that could generate royalties, for obvious reasons, Microsoft didn't have the best people to do the MS-DOS maintenance.

IBM is not stupid, it has been pondering for a while, knowing that Microsoft is dealing with itself in a bad way, and then the land is not satisfied.

Fortunately, Gates is pleased that IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers, which have purchased a large number of MS-DOS licenses, are quite enthusiastic about Windows 1.0. The reason is not difficult to understand,Graphical user interface is the general trend,MAC、Fangyuan computer have followed,And IBM itself intends to abandon the IBM-PC technical architecture,Start from scratch to launch a new product system with copyright protectionPS/2 situation,Windows1.0The emergence of IBM-PC compatible machine manufacturers with bad backgrounds has a new prospect。

With Steve Jobs losing ground at Apple and being swept away, Windows 1.0, which came out in the cracks, finally had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, and Gates tried to settle the copyright dispute between Windows 1.0 and MAC with Apple led by John Scully.

Jobs accused his former good friend John Scully of never understanding computer products, and the meaning of this is: in John Scully's eyes, personal computers and Pepsi are both commodities, and there is no difference, and then they are emotionally indifferent; JOBS, ON THE OTHER HAND, SAW MAC AS HIS OWN CHILD AND COULD ATTEST TO HIS INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD.

In this distinction, Jobs naturally did not allow Gates's Windows 1.0 to disgust himself by plagiarizing the MAC's ideas, but John Scully did not have so many fetters, and he was able to think about the problem entirely from the perspective of commercial interests, which was more in line with the taste of Apple's board of directors.

The shrewd Gates quickly recognized Apple's shift in style and took advantage of Steve Jobs' resignation. In a letter to John Scully, he suggested that instead of being alone and reeling from the rocks, Apple should license operating systems and hardware from other hardware manufacturers. This, in turn, creates a larger market for MAC to the benefit of all.

Not to mention, this idea, which would definitely be slapped back in the Jobs era, was really seen by John Scully and seriously discussed.

You know, the sales of the first generation of MAC are simply miserable, Jobs at the press conference proudly claimed that the annual sales will reach 750,000 units, which is simply a joke, after the media attention and consumer freshness have passed, the real monthly sales of the product are only 10,000 units.

When the R&D department worked hard to develop the second-generation MAC, increasing the memory to 512KB and providing optional hard disk support, it was the bare minimum to compete with other products on the market.

But the opportunity in the market waits for no one, and MAC, which has wasted an opportunity, wants to regain its disadvantage, which is not so simple.

At this point, Gates' proposal seemed feasible, and Apple was seriously considering whether to extend the influence of the MAC to IBM-PC. For example, the production of a MAC-to-IBM-PC conversion motherboard.

However, Apple ultimately rejected the proposal. Guy Fangyuan personal computer and IBM-PC fight too fiercely, and the IBM-PC camp internal compatible machine group and IBM are also full of contradictions, Apple does not dare to wade into this troubled water.

Although life is not easy now, MAC has not attracted the suppression of Fangyuan Computer Company, if it is really involved in this war, Apple will definitely not be able to die for long to be scum.

Even if you don't want to, you have to admit that at present, Apple is at ease in its subordinate position, and it is the most realistic and safest choice to play the role of a little brother in anti-monopoly prevention for the boss, and eat some leftovers.

Gates, who had been touched by the ashes, did not give up and began to target John Scully for a special public relations. After many contacts, an agreement was finally reached at a secret dinner, and Windows 1.0 was officially authorized by Apple - whitewashed; IN RETURN, MICROSOFT DEVELOPED AN ADDITIONAL WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE TO HELP MAC SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF LACK OF OFFICE SOFTWARE.

In this way, the relationship between Microsoft and Apple became what it is now - in a balance of mutual use and taking what it wants, and Gates is ready to use this good news to make Microsoft publicly available. (To be continued.) )