MITS has been on a rollback lately, and its first personal computer, Altai, has gained the attention of the entire American IT industry since it was promoted through Popular Electronics magazine. As soon as "Altai" came out of the laboratory, producers and sellers came to the door one after another, asking to cooperate with MTIS.

After the "Altai" advertisement was published in the magazine, it also attracted two university students, that is, the future founder of Microsoft, Bill Brown. Gates and Paul. Allan. Two guys took the initiative to come to the door and say hello to Henry. Roberts said that they could write a language for "Altai" - at this time they had only a preliminary idea, and nothing had come of it.

More than two months later, Bill Gates and Paul Allen came to the door again, and they finally had a result.

"Hello, Mr. Roberts, I think we can show you a demonstration now." Bill. Gates is very confident in the work he and his high school friend Allen have come up with.

Henry. Roberts asked, "Are you sure you've succeeded?" ”

"Yes, sir." Paul. Alan said.

Henry. Roberts said, "Then wait, there's another person coming." You two can prepare first. ”

Bill Gates and Paul Allen looked at each other, both guessing who they were waiting for.

After more than ten minutes, the secretary knocked on the door and said, "Boss, Mr. Wang is here." ”

Henry. Roberts ran out to greet him with a smile, and when he saw Wang Zijun, he hugged him and said, "Oh, Wang, you're finally here." Come in and see, this is the little guy we drew on the paper. ”

Wang Zijun was dragged into an independent office, but saw two young people about 20 years old doing something there, and Wang Zijun was dazzled by the string of characters. Around the two young people, there were many MITS employees who were watching, and there were bursts of exclamations from time to time.

Wang Zijun doesn't know programming languages, and he pays more attention to computers and two young people.

The "Altai" computer in front of him, due to Wang Zijun's participation, has been very different from the computer in history, and is closer to the appearance of the computer of later generations.

And the two young men were sitting there typing in the operation. Allan. Wang Zijun was familiar with him first because he was a shareholder of DreamWorks, and later learned that he was the founder of Microsoft. And in Paul. Alan operated at the same time next to Bill. Gates was constantly explaining the details and his work to the onlookers.

The two young men were busy for a while, and one of the employees turned around excitedly to Henry. Roberts said: "Boss, their BASIC is very good, I don't think it's a problem at all. ”

Bill. Gates and Paul. Alan also turned his head and looked at Roberts with a look of hope.

Henry. Roberts smiled and asked Wang Zijun, "Wang, what do you think?" ”

There were only a few people who knew that Wang Zijun was the largest shareholder of MITS, and it was not until Robert asked Wang Zijun that people turned their attention from computer language to Wang Zijun.

"Isn't that Zachary?" An employee recognized Wang Zijun.

"It's really him, I heard that he won the Golden Globe Award, why did he come to our company?"

"He seems to have been here last year."

"Is there one?".

Wang Zijun smiled at Roberts: "You know, I don't know anything about this thing, let's let the professionals make the decision." ”

"That's good." Henry. Roberts said to the two young men, "Come to my office and the others will check if there are any vulnerabilities in the system." ”

Bill Gates and Paul Allen followed Roberts to the office, and to their surprise, the Hollywood star from Asia followed.

"This is Bill. Gates, this is Woody. Allen, two great lads who wrote BASIC in just eight weeks. Roberts introduced Wang Zijun and said to the two young men, "This is Zachary. Wang, I don't think I need to introduce it. He is also a shareholder of the Company. ”…,

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." When they heard that Wang Zijun was also a shareholder of this company, the two were very surprised and came over to shake hands.

Wait until everybody is seated, Paul. Alan couldn't wait to say: "Two bosses, as you saw just now, our BASIC can fully meet the needs of 'Altai'. ”

Bill. Gates chimed in: "Yes, the 'Altai' is an amazing masterpiece, and our BASIC allows it to plug in strong wings and let it fly higher." ”

Roberts had already decided that he wanted to use the work of the two men, and he had the idea of recruiting two talented young people into MITS. He symbolically asked Wang Zijun: "Wang, what do you think?" ”

Wang Zijun asked: "I take the liberty of asking, I think you have already obtained a patent." ”

"Of course, I dare God swear that BASIC was definitely done by me and Allen independently, without plagiarizing anyone's work." Bill Gates didn't know why Wang Zijun asked this, and thought that Wang Zijun was questioning the ability of the two, so he hurriedly opened his mouth to clarify.

"So how are you going to work with MITS?" Wang Zijun asked.

"Selling software, of course." Bill Gates said.

Wang Zijun nodded, indicating that he understood, and then he didn't say anything more, and asked Roberts to talk about the details with the two.

Roberts had long wanted his personal computer to be on the market as soon as possible, and he urgently needed the results of the two; And the two young people want to sell their works as soon as possible, so that they can dig the first pot of gold and prove their ability.

The three quickly negotiated the deal, and Roberts finally sent out an invitation: "Both of them are very talented young people, I wonder if they are interested in staying at MITS and taking charge of the company's technology research and development?" ”

The two looked at each other, Paul. Alan said, "We can try." ”

Bill Gates said: "The fact that I'm still in college and probably doesn't have a lot of time. ”

True history, Bill. Gates didn't really want to drop out of school at first, but was replaced by Paul, who was older than him. Alan flickered and instigated dropping out of school halfway to start a business. The main reason why he dropped out of school was that he dug the first pot of gold in MTIS and had the capital to start Microsoft.

Seeing that the three of them were almost settled, Wang Zijun suddenly interjected: "Is it possible for the two of you to transfer the patent of BASIC?" ”

"Transfer of patents? Mr. Wang, you're not kidding. "Paul. Alan laughed.

Henry. Roberts was also puzzled and asked, "Wang, we don't need to buy the patent." ”

"No, I'm serious." Wang Zijun said to Roberts, "Have you forgotten your calculator business? You started your first computer company, but you were quickly pushed to the margins of the market by the electronics giants that followed suit. When our company's personal computer sales are doing well, will guys like IBM not come to take a bite of the cake? I think that the two young gentlemen will be very interested in providing BASIC to IBM. At that time, we didn't have patent rights in our hands, even if we had occupied a part of the market, but were you sure that you could withstand the suppression of a few giants? ”

Henry. Roberts' face changed, apparently thinking of what had happened to him unhappily. And historically, Henry. Two years later, Roberts went to court with Bill Gates because of their private sale of BASIC. After losing the lawsuit, Henry Brown, the head of the world's largest personal computer company. Roberts was disheartened, and with all kinds of pressure from inside and outside the company, he just shook off and sold the company.

Bill. Gates is only 19 years old today, which is more than Paul. Allen was even more straightforward and said, "Mr. Wang, do you want to keep this software in your hands all the time and not let other companies use it?" In fact, even if we don't sell it, someone else will rewrite it, and you can't monopolize the market. ”

Wang Zijun said with a smile: "I don't understand professional things. But I know that after a long time, people will feel familiar and dependent on it. Maybe a year later someone will come up with another system, but people are already familiar with the operation of BASIC, and they will instinctively reject other works of the same type. So the point is not whether the system is the best to use, but who quits the system first. At present, it seems that there is only one personal computer company on the whole planet, MITS, which can be used by it, and there seem to be more than two computer talents who can write programs. ”…,

Paul Allen and Bill Gates looked grim, Wang Zijun said this, which means that your software can only be sold to us now, while we can find other people to write it.

Wang Zijun suddenly asked Roberts: "Henry, didn't that Mr. Jerros last time say that his software is almost finished?" Why don't we wait for him to do it, and then we compare it with BASIC and decide who we want to work with? ”

Henry. Roberts instantly understood, nodded and said, "That's fine, I think it's more reliable." Maybe Mr. Jerros's will work better. ”

"Mr. Roberts, but we've already talked about it." Paul. Alan said urgently.

"The negotiation is only a preliminary agreement on cooperation, and it does not mean formal cooperation." Wang Zijun asked with a smile.

Bill. Gates held back his anger and asked, "What does Mr. Wang mean?" ”

Wang Zijun said: "I have two proposals, I don't know which one you are interested in. ”

"Please." Paul. Alan Dao.

"The first proposal is that I pay a sum of money to buy the BASIC patent, or the exclusive right to use the patent for ten years, and if they want to sell it to someone else within ten years, they must get our permission. The second proposal is that I don't pay for it, but I can give shares to two corresponding MITS companies, so as to obtain a patent for BASIC, which is equivalent to two people using technology to buy shares. Wang Zijun said, "As for how to choose, it depends on the two of you." ”

Henry. Roberts didn't interject, apparently he didn't object to Wang Zijun saying this, although Wang Zijun hadn't discussed it with him beforehand.

Bill. Gates hesitated there, Paul. Alan asked, "Can we go back and talk about it?" ”。

"Absolutely." Wang Zijun said with a smile, "But you two have to hurry up, if you wait for others to make up the software, I think you will have fewer bargaining chips." ”

The two of them got up and said goodbye with a depressed face, and when they were gone, Henry. Roberts suddenly laughed and said, "Wang, you are really a cunning little fox. ”

Wang Zijun spread his hands: "In fact, I'm not lying, there are indeed many people who have approached you and said that you want to design software for 'Altai'." It's just that these two young people are the fastest. ”……，