IBM.

The conference room was filled with smoke, and many people were used to smoking a cigarette during meetings. In this era, people do not have enough awareness of the dangers of cigarettes, and not only men smoke, but also women smoke.

When they talked about ARK's plans to develop a personal computer, none of them believed it to be true.

"It's definitely a smoke bomb! If I could afford a personal computer, wouldn't my per capita income be more than a million dollars by then? ”

"Ha Lu Ha! Personal computer? I look absolutely impossible! ”

"Maybe it's trying to mislead us?"

"The manufacturing cost of the computer must be hundreds of thousands, even if someone buys it back, there is no place to put it!"

There was a lot of noise, and everyone agreed that the news was a joke and laughed at the wrong direction of ARK.

But there was only one person at the scene who didn't think so, and this person was little Watson, and he just asked lightly.

"You think he's joking?"

No one answered him, and Watson Jr. continued: "This 100 million investment is just to make us laugh here?" ”

Little Watson's words immediately stopped everyone's laughter, and he glanced around at the people present, and there was an indescribable sulk in his heart. Since he took over IBM, he has been fine in other areas and has a good track record. However, he suffered continuous failures in the field of computers, especially after the establishment of the CPT company, and the blows again and again made him scruples. For him, Alex is already his number one enemy, the number one enemy of IBM.

"We're not just chatting right now. It's about analyzing what the other party is doing and what they want to do. If he just wants to confuse us, why would he release such outrageous news. If it's true, then think about the other party's strategy. Is there anything we haven't done yet, and whether the other party's development direction can be used for reference. ”

After a while, Watson Jr. continued, "I know that the concept of the personal computer is too outrageous, but it can't be easily ignored. Be cautious and cautious, if people dare to invest 100 million, we will dare to invest 1 billion. I'm afraid that everyone will not be able to recognize the form clearly and will not seize the opportunity. ”

The people at IBM are not fools either. After calming down and analyzing the so-called "personal computer" one by one. Sure enough, I saw a lot of fame. They also think that it may evolve to the point where every family will have a computer, but when, it's hard to say.

Some people think it should be twenty or thirty years later, while others think it should be forty or fifty years later. Most people think it will take at least sixty or seventy years. If it's not someone who has crossed over. It is not surprising that there is such a view. After all, computers are still millions of dollars a computer, which is huge and expensive.

Watson Jr.'s father, Watson Sr., once told reporters: "Only five computers are enough in this world!" ”

Of course, this is not possible, and now there are more than five computers produced every month. However, there is no indication that there will be one.

Computers are still a rarity in this era, and not many people have actually seen them.

It would be unimaginable for everyone to have a computer, and it would take enough time for technology to get to that point.

"The concept of a personal computer may be fascinating, but it's completely impossible to achieve at the moment. It is not until decades later that such a computer may appear. The experts concluded after analysis.

For the analysis of the experts, Watson Jr. believes more, he just doesn't believe that Alex is actually investing hundreds of millions of funds to lay out the market in decades. It takes a lot of determination and courage to do this, and another person will never dare to do this.

"So let's follow them and try to study in the direction of personal computers?"

Someone so proposed, and his opinion immediately caused various reactions.

Most people don't think it's a matter of care, and if PCs do have a problem, it will be at least a few decades before they see results. Now that IBM is working hard to achieve results in the dragon slaying plan, it is bound to have no more energy to do other things.

"Maybe the news of ARK's so-called 100 million funds to develop personal computers is just that the other party deliberately released it to confuse us, so that we can also follow him to do this. In this way, the dragon slaying plan will definitely have to allocate manpower, or at least it will be a mess. ”

There are not a few people who have such ideas, they are conservative and cautious. At least in their opinion, more things are better than less things, and it is simply unknown what kind of personal computer to get at this time. PCs will not pay off for at least a few decades, and how can you possibly have the energy to think about things that long term now when your eyebrows are on fire.

There are also some people who believe that they should compete with ARK in the field of personal computers, not to get any results, but to show a gesture. At least in the formation, it is not inferior to others, as the saying goes, you will do it too, let's do it together. Even if you can't make a name for yourself, it will make you nervous and worried.

"As long as it comes to the field of computers, we have to not give an inch. Now that everyone is looking at us IBM and CPT, if we retreat at this time, won't everyone else think that we can't compete with them? ”

There is also a small group of people who believe that it is necessary to stand still for the time being and see the situation clearly. If you want to fight, you have to know what you want to fight for, and in this situation, it is stupid to rush forward regardless of it.

Speaking of which, most people don't want to have extraneous branches and static braking. Little Watson couldn't do anything about such a situation, looking at the engineers in front of him, most of whom were in their forties, he understood one thing. That is, IBM has lost its passion to move forward, and it is more than successful and not enterprising.

If IBM had been able to seize the lead and gain computer supremacy from the beginning, perhaps the current situation would not have arisen. But Alex's "first-generation" transistor computer gave them a fatal blow. Until now, IBM is still affected and has not fully recovered.

Next, Seymour? The Clay I computer developed by Clay continues to bleed the blue giant IBM, and now if the dragon-slaying plan fails, it is estimated that there will be nothing more about IBM in the computer market.

At this time, a series of information flashed in little Watson's mind, and he found that Alex was not only young and passionate, but even the people he found were very young scientific talents. For example, Seymour? Clay, when Alex recruited the company, Seymour had just graduated from college with a master's degree, and he was a young man full of fighting spirit.

As for the main R&D personnel of the ARK company. I heard that they are mainly young people. And he is also a young scientific research talent who has just come out of the Shockley laboratory. Of course, Alex didn't use all of the young people, and there were some experienced engineers at CPT to assist in the work.

In this way, the old and the new are combined. Make up for each other's shortcomings. Make the most of your strengths. I believe that ARK will soon be able to produce research results. Surprise people.

When he thought of this, little Watson was already covered in cold sweat and felt very bad. I was very uneasy. But he can't do it like Alex, IBM is a company with a long history, and even Watson Jr. himself can't do it alone.

The Carpenter family has recently emerged, and most of the companies they control are less than a decade old, and their personnel relationships are simple and can be adjusted at will. For example, Alex can transfer a small number of people from CPT companies to ARK, which is estimated to cause a big backlash if IBM does it.

"Unless......" Watson thought to himself, and he suddenly came up with an idea from Alex's approach, "unless you set up another company and let it be responsible for the research and development of personal computers." ”

Alex did exactly that, and CPT was not suitable for developing personal computers, so he started from scratch and founded an ARK company. In the eyes of others, Alex just found a group of people, and then took out a sum of money and threw it away.

Of course, the problem is not so simple, people must find the right people, and money cannot be given arbitrarily. Little Watson hadn't seen these problems for the time being, and he felt that he had found a feasible way, so he excitedly went to raise money.

With the connections of the Watson family, pulling investment or something is just a small matter.

Soon, after preparing hundreds of millions of funds, little Watson was very sad to find that he couldn't find anyone available. It's just that at this time, he was already riding a tiger, and it was impossible to keep the investment in his hands all the time, so he thought about it again and again, and finally found a company in Silicon Valley that seemed more reliable to invest.

IBM ventured into the field of personal computer research and development, and the news quickly spread throughout the industry. People are confused by such actions, and when there is no finished product and no prospect for a thing, there are already two major companies competing for it.

Could it be that this era has developed so fast, when will the personal computer come out?

The current personal computer, for people in this era, is completely like what is described in science fiction.

Various popular science magazines have also reported related articles, analyzing the impact of personal computers on people's future lives from various perspectives. Soon the mainstream media began to heckle, after all, computers have always been a symbol of high-tech products, second only to the atomic bomb.

For ordinary people, buying a personal computer at home is the same feeling as buying a rocket, satellite or atomic bomb. All sorts of concepts are hyped around, and a lot of free publicity has been done for personal computers to a great extent.

Alex also noticed IBM's move, and he felt a little strange: "Why did they delay doing this for so long?" It's no wonder that people say that IBM is the dinosaur of computer history, big and slow. ”

He had expected IBM to join the PC industry. When he became the number one enemy in the eyes of little Watson, it was unlikely that he would be able to hide any big moves. So he simply didn't hide it, and generously let the people at IBM see it clearly and clearly.

He believes that if science and technology want to develop by leaps and bounds, in addition to accurate direction and sufficient funds, it must also have a certain amount of competitive pressure. For example, rocket and satellite technology has made great progress in the environment of the United States and the Soviet Union vying for hegemony. Alex wanted to get the PC out in advance, but without a chaser, the development speed would definitely not be fast.

Since IBM also got involved, ARK's work efficiency has obviously improved a lot. Noyce and Mohr asked for food and lodging in the company, even if they were forced to go back.

Alex is very satisfied with this situation. He is not worried that IBM will run to the front, after all, in this era, he is the only one who clearly knows the direction of computer development. If ARK had such clear instructions, it would have lost to IBM, and he would have to consider himself unlucky. (To be continued......)