In the early spring of each year, Panwang Grand View is the most lively.

For example, this time the "Information Century Forum", because there are big figures like Google CEO Chochai attended, the bigwigs of the domestic information industry have also come to follow, but the helmsman of the three giants of QKC, who have always lived in seclusion, also appeared, so it is not called Fuji.

The three bigwigs, like chopping wood, only went through the motions at the conference, focusing on the closed-door meeting they held. It's certainly not about the details of the business, it's about the feeling of the industry as a whole.

Chihiro's helmsman, Li Zhi's tone seemed to be self-deprecating: "The rhythm is all crooked, everyone is talking about clover, hehe......"

A week ago, the clover architecture press conference held by Cicada Movement in Panwang Daguan has not yet dissipated. In this forum, the popularity of clover is still there, completely overwhelming other topics.

The clover architecture subverts the traditional concept of personal computers, changing the original CPU-based architecture to a parallel modular architecture. For DIY enthusiasts, the most obvious change is that the concept of "mainboard" is gone, only "baseboard".

This architecture is based on a clover, and the CPU, memory, graphics card, input and output devices, and other functional cards are all modules under the clover, and the connection is realized through the bus of the baseboard.

Clover uses the principle of virtual machines to drive more CPUs, graphics cards, and memory for specific applications, and all components no longer have compatibility issues.

Gaming is the most mature application, and through DX compatibility, existing PC games are fully supported by the Clover architecture. At the press conference a week ago, many image and graphics processing, mathematical calculations and office applications also followed the trend and announced support for the Clover architecture.

The presence of Google CEO Chopwood was the focus of widespread attention at the conference. Pichai announced that Android NX will support the clover architecture, and will vigorously promote the development of Android applications to the desktop. Desktop systems such as Remix-OS in China also demonstrated the scenario of running Android applications on the clover architecture and seamlessly switching between other applications such as PC games.

From a technical point of view, Clover is not an architectural innovation, but a condensation of the now mature private cloud computing system into the PC. However, there are innovations in the means of implementation. This enrichment is done through the virtual machine of the clover.

In the face of Clover's changes to PC architecture, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft, which control and influence PCs from different levels, have different attitudes.

AMD is the most active, and the president of AMD Greater China also appeared at the press conference to cheer the cicadas. For AMD, the counterattack in the desktop market through the clover architecture is the only opportunity to maintain its position as a competitor in the desktop processor market after the failure of the Zen architecture in the previous two years.

For AMD, the Clover architecture is a perfect fit for its CPU+GPU convergence route. After all, consumers like to be concise and straightforward, and the clover-based streamlining solution is the stage where AMD can show its strengths. Of course, to do this, AMD will have to work more on heat dissipation and power consumption.

Intel is a mixed bag, on the bright side, the clover architecture currently uses Intel's QPI bus technology, which maintains and even expands Intel's competitiveness under the new architecture. AMD's GMI bus, although compatible with Clover, compromises performance.

There are also many things that worry Intel. The happy side is also only temporary, and Brocade is said to have taken an interest in the shamrock-based bus. We want to introduce fiber optic technology into the substrate bus. Cisco also saw this as an opportunity to integrate Ethernet technology into the bus and has begun to set up a project to conduct research. If the QPI bus cannot continue to maintain its technical advantages and extensive ecological chain, it is easy to be eaten by these competitors.

The bigger concern is also the ecological chain, although Clover introduced the server architecture to the PC, the demand for processors in the PC market is bound to skyrocket, but this architecture reduces the status of processors. This has led to a decline in Intel's position in the entire industry, and the ecological chain has been cut short.

In the long run, the clover architecture is Intel's mortal enemy, but the pressure from both directions makes it impossible for Intel to do anything to Clover. I didn't even dare to think of pinching the clover neck from the QPI bus.

The first is the actual performance pressure, the advisory board research report shows that the popularity of the clover architecture will stimulate the recovery of Intel processors in the desktop market from negative growth to positive growth. Coupled with the 3D development driven by the Alfalfa engine and the low-end server market spawned by the clover architecture, it will also bring Intel as a whole at least 7% annual performance growth, and this momentum will be maintained for five to ten years.

The second is the pressure of "friends", in the clover architecture, Intel's "friends" have skyrocketed from one AMD to more than ten! There are countless potential "friends", and now Intel is no longer afraid of its mother scolding it for monopoly.

However, in the face of Qualcomm, Chrysanthemum and other ARM processor manufacturers, as well as IBM, which seems to want to return to the consumer market, Intel is still very frightened. According to years of experience in the rivers and lakes, in this turbulent era, there will definitely be carp jumping over the dragon gate and turning into a real dragon. At that time, it was not a matter of whether Intel would carry the monopoly pot, but whether it would fall into the same fate as AMD.

Shamrock has set off the curtain of a new era, and Intel does not have the power to resist the tide of the times.

Because of such a tangled mentality, Intel did not send people to the press conference, nor did it issue any statement about Clover, just stuck its head in the sand like an ostrich, as if this had not happened at all.

Before Clover, Microsoft and Intel were brothers.

Android is attacking with the help of clover, and the era of Microsoft's domination of the desktop market is about to become a thing of the past, which is what Microsoft fears the most.

However, Shamrock's first roots in the beginning of the game also gave Microsoft an opportunity.

Changemakers within Microsoft believe it's time to ditch the non-technical work of figuring out the color scheme of desktop backgrounds, the aesthetics of icons, and the humanization of menus! Microsoft should focus its efforts on driving the development of the next generation of OS. For example, DX echoes Clover to create a fully heterogeneous OS system. It doesn't matter what language, what structure, it can run better on clover.

In other words, if Microsoft clings to Clover, it can completely turn itself into a Clover OS. It's just that the experience of the past WM era has made Microsoft very hesitant about this direction, and it will be impossible to reach a conclusion for a while.

So Microsoft's attitude is the same as Intel's. became the second ostrich.

With the support of Google and AMD, the ostrich of Intel and Microsoft, in the eyes of the industry, the trend of "clover booming" could not be more obvious.

At the "Information Century Forum", all the bigwigs are talking about how to ride the wind and waves with the momentum of clover, and then combine it with the 3D boom driven by the alfalfa engine, and a kind of gold mine craze has made these people drunk.

For example, Gongsun Li, the helmsman of Walnut Mobile Phone, talked about Walnut taking the lead in cooperating with Cicada to launch Walnut game console.

Gongsun contempt spoke at the forum. Relying on the clover architecture, the walnut game console can beat Sony in three years, of course, everyone only listens to it as a new cross talk joke.

"After all, it's just the restoration of PC power......"

Speaking of clover, the legendary Teng Hua felt a little uncomfortable, he personally came forward to poach Tian Zhong from Google, gave the position of vice president of Legend Interactive Entertainment, and wanted to make a fortune from copycat "Minecraft". As a result, because of the birth of "Phantom Galaxy", Tian Zhong ran directly to the cicada.

Although the cicada used the free license of the alfalfa engine to smooth the matter. Commercially impeccable, but emotionally he's not very happy.

Clover is only at the PC hardware level after all. The legend was not greatly affected, and he still had the mentality of watching the excitement about this matter.

Yang Yu, the helmsman of Kari, shook his head: "Old Teng, I'm afraid you don't know yet, clover is just a move by that Xia Ming......"

"Oh? There is a conspiracy? Teng Hua became a little interested.

Li Zhi asked: "Lao Teng should have an impression of Prometheus PC version, right?" ”

"Well, it's a little impressive, it's just a small trouble." Teng Hua said: "It's too niche, and most users just think of it as a virtual doll playing, and it's not a threat." ”

After the PC version of Prometheus was launched, what really became popular were the two virtual idols Cicada Xiaofan and Cicada Xiaotian, and Cicada Movement now regularly releases small theaters for the two. The popularity on video sites has never diminished.

As for the computer version of Prometheus they endorse, it does have a bit of the flavor of the original Prometheus APP, which monitors the computer and network conditions, and is quite effective in blocking rogue software. No wonder Chihiro mentioned this when she opened her mouth, Chihiro's family bucket met a user of Prometheus PC, which is really called a mouse meets a cat.

In this regard, the legend is also affected by a point, and various related applications are often blocked, in order to prevent the Prometheus computer version from grabbing its own software like last year's Prometheus APP, causing negative public opinion to be hyped by people with intentions, the legend has also done a very strong inventory on various software.

However, the PC version of Prometheus is too niche, and it is said that the installed base has not exceeded one million so far, and eighty percent of it is played as a virtual idol development game. Others simply play it as a pinching game that interacts with "Phantom Galaxy", and it's very hot in the group that can't be on the table in the book circle.

Li Zhi squinted his eyes and said, "Shamrock, it's a precursor for the return of Prometheus." Xia Ming is a person who is determined to cut off our life. ”

Teng Hua was stunned, is there such an exaggeration?

"Lao Teng, your sense of technical smell is a little dull", Yang Yu shook his head: "Clover's architecture allows Cicada to control all software and all data from the hardware level, it has this status, isn't it the rules of the industry that are formulated?" ”

Teng Hua was puzzled: "In the past, Intel and AMD, as well as Microsoft, weren't they like this, even Android, they couldn't talk about breaking anyone's way of life?" ”

Li Zhi explained: "In the business model of strong marketing, we are in the front, occupying the territory that should be occupied, and there is no chance for Xia Ming, so he has to start anew." In the past, he couldn't push on his mobile phone, and he didn't have a foundation on the PC, but now with Shamrock, he can master the PC first. Clover's architecture was introduced to Android, so extending from PC to mobile phone is completely natural! I can assert ......"

Li Zhi's tone was very affirmative: "In June, Xia Ming will push the clover to the mobile phone at the same time as releasing the neuron chip!" Not only will the phone hardware be changed to a clover, but the PC will be turned into a personal server! ”

Teng Hua thought about it and somewhat understood: "No wonder Clover uses a server architecture, so that everyone can build their own private cloud, and the various cloud services we push will be troublesome." ”

Teng Hua thought of the "personal cloud" or "micro cloud" mentioned by many people on the forum just now, which is to build their own cloud server through the clover architecture, so that their mobile phones, laptops and various applications data backup, security authentication and other services are undertaken by their own machines, which fundamentally solves the security problem of cloud services.

Of course, this solution will encounter the storage reliability problems of low-cost PCs, but these people say that Clover's special optimization of SSD storage arrays can make the storage reliability comparable to that of general cloud services.

As for higher reliability, even cloud giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon have one or two data disasters every year, and the so-called "foolproof" is not possible at present.

Sony and some manufacturers advertise that if the "micro-cloud" era comes, tape and optical disc technology will usher in another spring, and data reliability is not a problem at all.

"Cloud services are only one aspect, and it is one aspect with little impact", Li Zhi shook his head and said: "It seems that Lao Teng, you haven't carefully pondered the computer version of Prometheus, it is an artificial intelligence, although it is very low-level, but it does have a certain degree of intelligence, which makes it have too many possibilities!" (To be continued.) )