Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

As public opinion fermented, Tokyo University's personal computers suddenly became a new hot spot in the world.

Potential users such as technology workers, office clerks, and financial workers seem to have seen a new world.

For $1999, it can process files, manage business, do calculations, and play games. Such powerful functions can now be achieved just by placing it on the desktop, completely overturning the bulky image in people's minds that computers need to be placed in a separate room.

The replay of the live recording triggered a buzz in Europe and North America. The replay ratings of a press conference rivaled those of popular variety shows, causing even greater shock to the industry.

In the luxurious conference room of New York, dozens of well-dressed elites sat upright.

"Tell me, everyone, how much impact will this personal computer and open standard issue at the University of Tokyo have on us?" Watson Jr. glanced at the people in the conference room, pointed at the press conference recorded on the TV next to him, and knocked on the table and spoke to everyone.

Everyone was silent.

It has been a long time since the University of Tokyo has been far ahead in computers. However, given that the departments using computers are very sensitive, even when North America needs them most, the computers used by core departments must be provided by designated domestic manufacturers.

MBI seized this opportunity and developed into a computer giant by introducing transistor computers and cloning the technology of the University of Tokyo.

70% of the commercial computers used in today's core departments are provided by MBI!
In this regard, no competitor can compare with MBI, not even the popular EG!
"President, I personally think that this personal computer will not affect our computer business for now." Seeing that no one in the room said anything, a senior vice president said with a stiff upper lip. He was in charge of the product direction, and even if others could play dead, he had to stand up.

A week had passed since this incident, and the company's senior management were required to carefully study and understand all the details of the press conference. They also asked someone to obtain some new information from the University of Tokyo and send it back via telegram.

What we have learned now is that this matter is true. Dongda has completed all the research and development work on its personal computer, and the model released now can be mass-produced and sold.

But no one expected that for such a revolutionary product, why Dongda would choose to allow its peers to produce it almost without restrictions.

What kind of conspiracy is hidden in this? As the leader of Rogue Eagle Computer, MBI not only needs to consider it from a commercial perspective, but also needs to report the analysis results to the relevant committees of the two houses for decision-making reference!
For Watson Jr., this was much more complicated than when he took over the transistor computer.

At the beginning, they begged the University of Tokyo to provide them with the core components of transistor computers, and then MBI redesigned and manufactured them into commercial machines. In return, they paid high licensing fees and some other exchanges, such as the technology of transport aircraft.

Now the University of Tokyo has opened up without asking for any conditions. It seems amiss no matter how I look at it.

And we can’t just ignore it.

Judging from the functions released by the other party, although this personal computer is called personal, it can actually replace the original very expensive DC-10K, DC-20K and other low-end transistor computers. And the functions and usage space are better.

It can be said that for transistor computers, this personal computer is a dimensionality reduction attack.

After MBI's technical experts conducted research and analysis overnight, they concluded that the expansion capability of Dongda's Star I personal computer was amazing. Not only could the hardware storage space be expanded through floppy disks, but the computer's application had almost endless expansion capabilities under the open interface of the underlying operating system.

Compared with the current MBI closed commercial computer system, the software systems inside it must be customized by MBI or developed and customized by MBI-authorized system integrators.

However, personal computers at the University of Tokyo are no longer needed. After they open up the system interface, it means that any capable system integrator or software developer can develop new applications according to the standardized interface.

Dongda Personal Computer even provides two software development and debugging tools, dbase and turbo C, which are two brand-new computer languages ​​and editing and compiling tools. After studying the information that has been circulated now, MBI experts believe that these two computer development languages ​​have extremely superior value. Compared with MBI's current mainstream assembly and COBOL languages, they are obviously much simpler and more beautiful, can realize more applications, and are easy to learn.

Incredibly, computer scientists at the University of Tokyo have also implemented a very complete function library for these two computer programming languages.

This means that the hardware advancement of personal computers will have a huge impact on MBI commercial computers.

Although the current performance cannot be compared with that of MBI large commercial computers, the speed of computer hardware development is very fast. With the speed doubling every two or three years, it may not take many years to catch up with large transistor commercial computers.

So when the senior vice president said this, everyone was waiting for his but.

"But in the long run, this personal computer solution will have a huge impact on us," the senior vice president said as expected. "From an architectural perspective, our commercial computers are still based on transistors, while personal computers have begun to use large-scale integrated circuits. I personally believe that the architecture of transistor computers is obviously inferior to that of large-scale integrated circuits."

The senior vice president can hold his position and is obviously not an ordinary person. Although it is uncomfortable to change himself, he can only accept it when the tide of the times comes.

"Todai's research on large-scale integrated circuits is now at the forefront of the world, while we are still waiting and watching. I think it's time to make a decision." "It's not that our country doesn't have technical accumulation in the research of transistors and integrated circuits. In fact, Bell Labs caught up with the technological development of transistors a little later than Todai, which is why we have the computer business here. Now, it's time to turn to the research of integrated circuit technology with Bell Labs. I think from now on, our research on transistor computers will be fully turned to the research of integrated circuits. Since Todai has made breakthroughs in integrated circuits, the feasibility of this technical route is beyond doubt. As long as we go in this direction, there won't be too many deviations.

The difference is how long it will take us to catch up with the pace of the University of Tokyo. But if we do nothing or go further and further on the wrong technological path, we will inevitably lag behind this era in the future.”

The senior vice president still dared to speak, and suddenly twisted the technology development route set by Watson Jr. According to Watson Jr.'s strategic plan, transistor computers should still have a life cycle of 8 to 10 years and will not be eliminated.

However, once the integrated circuit CPU of Dongda appeared, the technical routes of computer development became two. Some time ago, even when MBI was making judgments based on the fragmentary information of the 8080 chip, everyone still felt that computers based on this chip would not appear too soon.

Who knows how long it has been, and not only has a computer based on 8080 come out, but a whole set of software applications has also been added, as if this thing was there, and the University of Tokyo just walked over and completed it!
This speed simply shocked the top computer scientists at MBI. After all, it is impossible for such a technology to mature so quickly without several years of technical accumulation and polishing.

Only these freaks at Tokyo University are developing computer technology in complete disregard of scientific laws.

"What are your opinions?" Watson Jr. asked in a deep voice after the senior vice president finished his speech and waited for everyone to digest it for a while.

"President, I personally agree with Mr. Royce's opinion. The new technical route for the development of computers is already very clear. I suggest that we should not only quickly follow up on Dongda's open personal computer plan and seize the opportunity in the North American personal computer market, but also further follow up on the research of core CPUs. This is a crucial thing in the future. We must strengthen cooperation with scientists at Bell Labs in the field of integrated circuits and invest more funds to promote the development of this technology." Another thin-faced middle-aged blond man in the conference room continued what Watson Jr. said. As the company's CTO, he has the most say in technology.

"Our annual technology investment has reached tens of millions of dollars, which is almost 10% of sales." Watson frowned. Whenever these technology geeks encounter problems, they will frantically ask for more budgets. MBI's R&D investment is at the top level in the world. Except for Vision, which suddenly appeared, MBI's R&D investment is the largest. They even said that the money is not enough. "Isn't this investment enough?"

"Mr. President, the research on integrated circuits is indeed not enough, because it involves the research of a series of new technologies and new equipment. We don't have much accumulation of integrated circuit production and manufacturing processes, and we must start from scratch in terms of related production and manufacturing equipment. This requires a huge investment to support the research of a complete set of equipment. We must increase the R&D budget or cut some investments in other areas." The CTO insisted, ignoring Watson Jr.'s emotions.

"Gentlemen, we have to be clear that we are an enterprise, not a mint. Every penny of our profit comes from sales," Watson Jr. was so angry at the CTO's words that he laughed. "If we can't make money, we'll all be unemployed. I don't want to hear any more useless nonsense. Now, can anyone tell me how much money we need to invest to get this personal computer on the market, what our cost will be, and how much money can we make from each personal computer?" Watson Jr. was no longer polite.

As the helmsman of a top enterprise, his business philosophy has not changed, that is, to do whatever can ensure that the company makes money!

Apart from this, everything is empty talk. The prospects for personal computers are undoubtedly very bright. Watson Jr. has spent no less time researching this than these executives in recent days.

Young Watson, who was very sensitive to technological development trends, certainly saw the future of personal computers.

After the war, MBI was faced with the choice of continuing to develop its electric mechanical tabulating machine or developing the emerging electronic industry. The two factions in MBI were arguing, and the representatives were Watson and his son. Watson Sr. believed that electronic things were unreliable, while Watson Jr. insisted that the electronic industry was the future development trend. The argument finally ended with Watson Jr.'s victory. Of course, MBI began to lead the wave of electronic technology revolution in North America and became a trendsetter in the tide of technological development. It was unparalleled in the main world, but in the world of Bright Sword, Vision suddenly appeared and took the first place.

Only in the traditional electronics industry, MBI still holds the leading position in industry development.

"In addition," Watson Jr. paused and continued, "how will our competitors choose? Will Vision take advantage of this opportunity to enter the computer market? Have you considered this? Don't think that our competitors are blind. If our R&D expenses are not spent wisely, we may be eliminated when the personal computer era arrives!"

Watson Jr.'s words shocked the CTO who was bent on high-tech. Chips are certainly the future, but if they don't occupy the number one position in the current personal computer compatible machine market, and Vision takes the number one market share in the personal computer market in three to five years, what will it matter even if they develop chips? Can the chips they just developed be better than those of Dongda?

Maybe they have updated their product to a new generation.

In this way, the market will not be occupied, the chip will not be developed, and the company will end up with nothing!

The boss is right. The best way is to spend the money where it counts. First, based on the personal computers produced by the University of Tokyo, research how to build personal computers that meet the needs of the North American market and occupy the market. After making profits from the products, rolling investment is the right approach.

The CTO's mind suddenly became clear, and he looked at little Watson with a face full of guilt.

But there was no need to say these words. At this moment, people in the conference room were arguing in groups of three or four, obviously struck by the president's words.

As the discussion returned to the president's general idea, MBI finally made it clear that it would first improve product sales and then master core technologies. The initial investment would be in the research and development of motherboards, display cards and peripheral adaptation for personal computers. The first priority would be to integrate and match personal computers with MBI's numerous electronic products.

For example, if personal computers can connect to and use their own printers, then not only will more computers be sold, but printers may also gain a new leading advantage in the future.

In addition, there are fax machines, telegraph machines and other products. If they are integrated with personal computers, the effect of use will obviously be stronger than it is now.
After opening their minds, MBI's top management was delighted to find that the openness of Dongda's personal computers was tailor-made for them. They could develop more software and hardware applications around personal computers and improve the performance and application scope of peripheral devices!
Soon, a team of 30 people led by a CTO was formed, and their first stop was to the University of Tokyo to attend the GCC conference!

The same thing happened like a storm among other companies in North America and their European counterparts.

Not only large companies, but also start-ups such as DEC and Fairchild saw this opportunity. The bosses and founders also decided that the first computer product they developed would be based on Tokyo University's personal computer technology!
(End of this chapter)