After hearing that Thomas Watson was coming, Ling Shizhe's first reaction was that the big drama was coming.

How the conversation with Watson is, in a small way, directly related to the future of Ambrera, and in the big picture, Ling Shizhe's conversation with Watson this time will be directly related to the future development of computers.

It's been more than two months since the blade server was announced, and in more than two months, no third-party company has come to talk to Ambrera about licensing the technology.

Their intention of not coming is obvious, the blade server-type supercomputer launched by Ambrera is considered to have smashed the cake of IBM, IBM will never give up, they want to see IBM's reaction, and then make the next decision.

It's a pity that IBM has not reacted at all for more than two months, not only did it not react, but it did not even send a person to contact it, which made the computer world extremely weird.

The direct reaction to this is that the media is boasting about supercomputers while carefully observing how the two computer giants, Ambrera and IBM, will collide, and now everyone including the US antitrust judicial department knows that the real key is next, and whether the two giants are fighting is directly related to the future development direction of computers.

Today, IBM finally arrived, and it was Thomas Watson who came in person, and the whole company had to wait for it.

People who don't know the history of computers will definitely complain about Ling Shizhe, is it so exaggerated, he looks like a great enemy.

But if you know the history of computers, you don't think like that, you can't talk about computers without talking about IBM, and the history of computers is the history of IBM.

Although these remarks are biased, they are not without some truth.

IBM was and is the world's largest computer hardware and software company, and its history does include the entire first half of computer history, and is the epitome and embodiment of the development of the modern computer industry. Others like Texas Instruments, Motorola, National Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, DEC, and even his Ambrera company are latecomers.

IBM is a very peculiar and powerful company, from screws keyboard and mouse to CPU hard disk memory to mainframe giant machine, it can be manufactured, from software to hardware to services, it can provide, is the world's first IT giant, in the 20th century for more than half a century, far ahead, and the second place to open a great distance, known as the "blue giant".

IBM was founded in 1914 when it was not called IBM, but CTR (Computing Tabulation and Recording Company).

In 1924 Thomas Watson Sr. joined the company as general manager, and in 1924 Watson Sr. bought the company with his life savings ($30,000) and changed its name to IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) in the same year.

The elder Watson is a senior sales expert, in 1924 IBM developed the accounting machine, the old Watson with his three-inch tongue persuaded the merchant to give up the ledger book, and instead use the punch card accounting machine to keep accounts, so that IBM has been famous since then.

It was from this year that IBM formed an indissoluble bond with computers, such as Hahn calculators, Hill counters, early tabulation machines, industrial dials, peerless calculators, hand-cranked calculators, Marc Judges, Lupott calculators, electromechanical computers, etc., all of which were IBM's early products, and even the ancient Chinese abacus IBM produced in that year (the abacus was specially used by the Chinese in Chinatown).

By the end of 1966, IBM had 8,000 computers out of the factory, with an annual income of more than $4 billion and a pre-tax profit of up to $1 billion, becoming a well-deserved computer giant.

In 1970, IBM's annual sales revenue exceeded 10 billion US dollars, but unfortunately the good times did not last long, less than half a year, it was investigated by the US attorney general for 12 years of antitrust investigation, which greatly damaged IBM's vitality, and by the time the PC was launched in 81, IBM's annual sales revenue had dropped to less than 5 billion US dollars.

In the reception room, after a brief handshake, the two sat down on the sofa, surprisingly neither of them spoke, and both looked at each other quietly.

This was his second meeting with Thomas Watson Jr., the first time he came to visit Ling Shizhe's digital ranch.

The first time we met was in 1970, when IBM's annual sales had just exceeded $10 billion, and the U.S. Department of Justice had just launched an antitrust investigation into IBM.

I didn't expect that in just a few years, little Watson would age so quickly, his hair was all white, and his face showed patches of old age spots, like an 80-year-old man who was about to fall into the ground.

Alas! was all troubled by the anti-monopoly law, Ling Shizhe shook his head secretly in his heart, now little Watson is just in his early 60s, but he didn't expect an anti-monopoly investigation to make him look like this.

I don't know how long I was silent, but little Watson opened his mouth to speak, and one mouth was a standard and fluent Chinese: "Child...... You know, I went to your country when I was younger? ”

Ling Shizhe nodded, of course he knew that in 1928, in order to open up the Chinese market, IBM in order to open up the Chinese market, the old Watson in order to let the little Watson take over his class in the future, he began to exercise his business ability since he was a child, and let the little Watson, who was only 14 years old, follow the old Watson's business assistant and came to Shanghai, China once, and the Chinese was learned at that time.

"How long have you been in China?"

Watson Jr. replied: "For more than a year, when I lived in the public concession, our company sold to the Shanghai Stock Exchange at that time a newly developed stock announcement machine, which could reflect the stock prices of various listed companies in real time. ”

"How's the sales?"

"Oh no, not a single one has been sold."

"Why didn't they sell it, is it because the price is too high for them to sell?"

"The price is not high at all, 300 steel ocean (Yuan Datou) one, they don't buy it because the stock market in Shanghai has always been controlled by the local gang/hand/party, they manipulate the stock market, and they hurt many small stockholders...... "Watson Jr. recalled what he saw and heard when he lived in China.

Ling Shizhe didn't bother him, he sat on the side and acted as a loyal listener, and heard from his mouth that the Ten Mile Ocean Travel, the Bund in Shanghai, and ...... A picture of the old Shanghai in the twenties and thirties vividly came to his mind.

Little Watson spoke very vividly, and Ling Shizhe also listened to it with relish.

What Watson Jr. talked about the most was the movies of old Shanghai and the gangsters at that time, and from his mouth, Ling Shizhe felt like Hong Kong now, which was prosperous and chaotic.

Needless to say, just look at the film and television materials of old Shanghai, chaos refers to the various gangs in Shanghai at that time, fighting each other for territory.

At that time, there were three major leaders of the Green Gang in old Shanghai, Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, and another named Zhang, Ling Shizhe couldn't remember, I really couldn't understand how little Watson could have a black/social/social plot, and he would always keep in this regard.

But when I think about it, I understand that now IBM is overwhelmed by the antitrust investigation of the US Department of Justice, and Watson Jr. is now eager to take a gun and shoot the Minister of Justice.

Little Watson babbled for more than an hour, and he hadn't finished speaking, Ling Shizhe listened to it with relish at first, but he couldn't stand it anymore later.

Damn, this old man is stunned, an old Shanghai actually Rory hasn't finished talking for a long time, what is he going to do? Are you here to tell me nonsense? It's all Americans who are straight, and they have always been straight and never bent when they speak, what stimulated this little Watson today? Unexpectedly, the cloud cover has not entered the theme for half a day.

Ling Shizhe became vigilant in his heart, and in order to hide the irritability in his heart, he saw that Xiao Watson's coffee was already cold, so he got up and personally made him another cup of hot coffee.

When he put the coffee in front of him, little Watson suddenly said again: "Young man, you are very good, you know how to respect the elderly, but your patience is still a little lacking." ”

……？

At this time, little Watson stood up and said, "Okay, let's stop here, I've been out for a long time, it's time to go back, goodbye kids." After saying that, little Watson pushed the door and went out, and when he saw his spirit, he did not look like an old man in the twilight at all.

…… What's going on? Ling Shizhe was completely confused by Watson's demeanor.

Looking at the door of the open reception room, and then at the steaming coffee on the coffee table, Ling Shizhe stood and thought for a long time, but still couldn't understand the point.

Forget it, don't think about it if you don't understand, just drink the coffee in the cup and leave.

When he walked to the door of the reception room, Ling Shizhe suddenly shouted: "Damn, what ten miles of foreign travel, what old Shanghai?" Old fox, I fell for it......"