Rebirth of America, this is my time

Ethan clearly remembers that after the first generation of Apple was born, when Steve Jobs wanted to sell machines, the still immature classmate Xiao Qiao wanted to use a low-price sales strategy to invade the personal computer market. . At that time, Jobs regarded cheap chips as his trump card, believing that cheap chips could lower the production cost of personal computers and allow them to gain more price advantages.

There is actually nothing wrong with what Steve Jobs thought back then. When the products in a certain industry are similar and most consumers cannot distinguish the attribute of good quality and low price, that is their favorite.

However, this sales strategy only existed for a year. When Apple was officially established and began selling the second generation Apple, the four-digit pricing was definitely a ceiling in the consumer field.

The reason for the sky-high price is that Apple has something that ordinary computers don’t have——

It meets people's needs.

In the beginning, all computer manufacturers were on the same starting line. Even though the Altair 8800, the first commercial personal computer in history, was a bit of a head start, the gap between them was not big. All manufacturers only knew how to make personal computers and had no idea. How to get ordinary people to accept it.

But wait until Ethan Jones lights up America with Pac-Man and repeatedly states in public that his game was made with Apple computers. At the same time, Steve Wozniak is also very awesome. When I selflessly sent the 6502 assembly language I modified to the whole country...

world--

It’s changed!

Ordinary people before had no idea what computers could bring to them.

Now, everyone knows that Apple computers can play games!

Ordinary people in the past had no idea why they needed to buy computers costing several hundred dollars.

Now, everyone knows that Apple Computer has pointed out a bright road for them!

When the concept of making money by making games emerged, people's demand for computers also emerged.

While waiting for Steve Jobs to cleverly add a game joystick to the new generation of Apple, and Steve Wozniak to write the code for Snake...

The act of feeding food to consumers' mouths and reaping happiness just by swallowing it made Apple sell out immediately!

Although this kind of behavior of first creating demand for consumers and then making crazy money from the demand is very common in business, how to accurately find the needs of consumers is the pain point of the entire process.

In the computer industry, software that can change human life is the basis for people to embrace computers. If this fact is placed decades later, anyone with a little knowledge will be able to tell it, but now In this era of non-explosion of information, there may be people who have this idea, but their thinking will never be as clear as Ethan's. This is not only because Ethan has memories of past lives, but also because things that change human life have only just begun. Appear.

Playing with the Disk II, which was officially launched a month ago, this 5.1/4 floppy disk drive made Ethan a little emotional. After coming to this world, the first thought that came to his mind was to make Te Niang's operating system, but because the technology did not allow it and the environment was not up to standard, he gave up. His second idea was to make a computer, but when Evelin said she didn't know how, the project died.

Ethan originally thought that he would work hard in the field of video games that cannot be monopolized, but he did not expect that after going around in circles, he would have the computer industry that belongs to the wave of the times, he would also join the chip industry, and he would even join the storage industry. I voted, and now...

Those guys on Wall Street have ended up together?

OK!

Then let’s see who is better, financial colonization or technological colonization!

When there are not enough people around, recruiting talents is inevitable. As for why you don’t look for technical help at Stanford, but choose Bill Gates?

Well, this——

William, Paul, welcome to Palo Alto, I'm glad to see you.

Three days later, on August 2, 1978, Ethan Jones met Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who were attracted by Steve Ballmer, at the headquarters of Destiny Games.

Bill Gates, who was of the same age as him, happily stretched out his right hand and shook it with Ethan, his face still covered with freckles filled with a touch of unconcealable excitement.

Next to him, Paul Allen, who had the same beard as Steve Wozniak, was a little reserved. While shaking hands with Ethan, he nodded slightly.

Being a technical geek, Ethan patted his shoulder with his left hand. After a brief acquaintance, the group of people got into the reception room on the top floor. Although Ethan had asked Steve Ballmer to convey his investment intentions and delegation ideas to the two when the invitation was sent out, after sitting down, he talked about other things.

William, I heard your father is a lawyer?

Ethan crossed his legs, leaned on the sofa, and looked at Bill Gates with a smile.

Yes, my father is a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Washington and holds a master's degree in law. Bill Gates spoke of his family background very frankly, Now he is a partner of a law firm. , who is also president of the Seattle, King County and Washington State Bar Associations.”

The unreserved narration made Ethan smile and nod.

Then he asked: Your mother is a director of First Intercontinental Bank in Washington State?

I heard that Mrs. Graham has a very good relationship with your mother?

Uh- This question made Bill Gates lengthen his voice. After a few seconds of pause, he shook his head and said, Ethan? Can I call you that?

certainly.

Okay Ethan. Bill Gates smiled at Ethan and said, My mother is indeed a director of First Intercontinental Bank in Washington State, and she is indeed the chairman of the Washington Post A good friend of Mrs. Graham, but these descriptions do not fully describe her.”

At this point, he paused, as if he was sorting out his thoughts, but more like looking for a starting point for his story, My mother's grandfather was the president of National City Bank in Seattle and also served as the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. director, so this also led to my maternal grandfather, my mother’s father, successfully inheriting these bank-related resources.”

When these resources came into my mother's hands, the directorship of First Intercontinental Bank in Washington was just one of many roles she held, in addition to being a member of the United Way of America, the University of Washington, Directors of Bell Corporation, General Property \u0026 Casualty Insurance and other companies...

Bah bang bang - Ethan smiled and clapped his hands.

Although Bill Gates used a very calm tone of voice when describing his family background to Ethan, the job description that sounded like a job description made Ethan want to hit someone.

That's right!

The reason why Ethan chose Bill Gates is because this guy has a strong background!

Looking for an ordinary man to chart tomorrow when the enemies now standing across from him are the Morgan Guaranty Company, the Ford Family Foundation, the Carnegie Pension Fund?

Do not make jokes……

Even if normal people have the courage to fight when facing these big families, they do not have the ability to tide over the difficulties. This ability does not refer to knowledge and technology, but to having no one to protect them.

In his previous life, Ethan knew that starting a business was difficult.

And in this life...

Forget it, don't mention it anymore.

After listening to Bill Gates' story, Ethan moved his eyes to Paul Allen.

Regardless of whether it is in his past life memory or current information search, Paul Allen is a technology geek who likes technology. His parents are library staff at the University of Washington, and their income is indeed more than ordinary people. , but at most it can be considered a middle class person.

Not to mention Bill Gats, not even Steve Wozniak.

Of course, Ethan would not discriminate against him because of this.

After all, in terms of background, he is only slightly better than his classmates Steve Jobs.

Perhaps it was because the background information could bring the two parties closer together. After just chatting for a while, the atmosphere in the reception room suddenly became much more relaxed. At this time, Ethan also brought up business.

I believe Steve has informed both of you of my thoughts.

So...are you willing to accept my investment?

Ethan looked at the two of them with a smile.

His question also made Bill Gates and Paul Allen look at each other, and then Paul Allen spoke, Ethan, thank you for paying attention to us. To be honest, when Steve told us, We were very surprised that you wanted to invest in us.”

Because in the past few years, the person who has made the most headlines in our country's major media should be you. Your games have brought happiness to countless people, and your investment has made Apple achieve great success. So, when we learn , we were very excited when you showed interest in us.”

But at the same time, we're confused, we don't know why you want to invest in us.

We also use Apple's products, and we ask ourselves that we can't make better products than Apple. Steve Wozniak is definitely a genius, and we admire his creativity in the field of electronic engineering. , and at the same time, the code he wrote is also very powerful.

With him here, what Apple needs is actually some technical personnel who can complete hard tasks, and the works of William and I...maybe they are not suitable for Apple?

At this point, Paul Allen stopped.

He turned to look at his companion.

Bill Gates nodded in agreement with the carefully worded words.

Ethan was a little surprised by his clear logic and neither humble nor arrogant words and deeds.

Because in his memory, Bill Gates was the real helmsman of Microsoft and the tyrant of the software empire, while Paul Allen was the engine of the aircraft carrier, providing power for the aircraft carrier's navigation.

But now...

Paul Allen speaks out to negotiate?

Interesting!

The reversed persona made Ethan smile.

Keeping the strange situation in mind, he then asked, What do you think I want you to write? A BASIC interpreter? Or an assembly language interpreter for the 6502?

Uh... Really? Paul Allen raised a smile and said with twinkling eyes: If you had found us before June, we would have definitely thought that you were looking for us because you wanted us to write a language explanation for Apple. server, but now, I think you might need DOS?

In the Internet era, the introduction of DOS in major encyclopedias specifically refers to the operating system developed by Microsoft for IBM personal computers, but in the current era, this thing means literally, it is the abbreviation of Disk Operating System .

The history related to it can even be traced back to 1965, when IBM launched a disk-based operating system, and its characteristic was that it required a disk drive.

The reason Paul Allen said that if Ethan had approached him before June, they would have thought he wanted an assembly language interpreter was because the Apple II didn't have a disk drive at that time, but when Once Apple launched the Disk II... everything fell into place.

In the eyes of Paul Allen and Bill Gates, what Ethan wants is a system.

Because a month ago, when Apple launched Disk II, it also launched APPLE DOS, and that system... was only so-so. A display bug in the code surfaced shortly after release, prompting Apple to re-release a fixed version within the last month and to have previous Disk II purchasers send their machines back to have their staff fix them for free. .

Not only that, according to their understanding, APPLE DOS did not seem to be written by Steve Wozniak. Because of the development of hardware, Steve Wozniak simply did not have time to write the system, so they Outsource this work.

And when APPLE DOS itself is an outsourcing product...

It would be natural to find another team to outsource the next version, right?

They can take over this matter, but what if they have to sell the company's shares in order to take over this job?

this……

To be honest, it's a little hard for them to accept.

The slightly probing words made Ethan nod his head, Okay, I understand what you mean.

He waved his hand and said: Because William is here, you will not lack cooperation.

Don't mention Apple, you can get even IBM's orders.

So you are not willing to sell your shares for an Apple project.

I can understand.

The straightforward words made the two people present a little embarrassed.

Steve Ballmer, who had been sitting nearby and listening, pursed his lips and said nothing.

He can understand his friend's thoughts, but he also knows that his boss is not someone to be trifled with!

And just as he was thinking about how to remind his friend, Ethan had already stood up.

He pulled out the whiteboard that had been prepared, took the oil-based pen, and like a teacher in class, he smiled at the three people in the audience and said: Your guesses are very clear, but the problem is, I want you to write something. Actually, it’s not DOS. I’m not interested in that stuff, and I haven’t studied it.”

I'm calling you here this time because I hope you will develop something for me that can bring convenience to the public. And my inspiration... comes from life.

Usually, the thing I come into contact with the most in my work is reports. There are various reports, including production reports, operational reports, financial reports, and investment reports...

Although the data displayed in these reports are very intuitive and allow me to understand the company's operating status at a glance, filling them out is very troublesome and often gives me a headache.

While speaking, Ethan raised his right hand and drew a table on the whiteboard.

Then, he randomly wrote out a few sets of numbers.

After finishing, he wrote formulas where he needed to summarize, and when he was halfway through writing, he seemed to realize that he had made a mistake, so he raised his hand to erase it and then rewrote it.

When the new formula appeared, the black background in the original frame made the three people present frown.

They felt like they had discovered something.

But unfortunately, Ethan did not give them a chance to speak.

After finishing writing the example, he said——

Steve should know one thing. Last year, when Rockefeller wanted to invest in Apple, Steve Jobs made the accountant work overtime for several days in a row before giving me the report for that year.

I know that the production of financial statements is a very painful process because it involves a lot of calculations. Although many calculations are the simplest addition and subtraction, when the numbers and columns increase, the repetition involved and finesse can give you a huge headache.”

So, at that time, I was wondering if there was a magic piece of paper in the world.

This paper will have various tables built into it. When people enter real-life data according to the meaning of each table, the results people want will appear in the bottom column.

As I searched around, I suddenly realized that a computer might be able to do this.

Because the fundamental meaning of his existence is calculation.

Before, people couldn't envision this kind of thing because computers were so expensive.

But when the personal computer industry emerged, and when most people could afford computers costing several hundred dollars each, the convenience brought by technology was born, right?

I don't know if you can do this, but I know...

You're interested in it, aren't you?

When Ethan covered the oil pen and looked at the three people, the stunned expressions made him laugh.

That's right!

He never thought about what kind of system he wanted to make from the beginning!

In other words, the operating system can change the pattern of the computer industry, but it cannot have a huge impact on the current status of the computer industry in a short period of time!

Because no matter how good the system is, it must be ecological!

And when the concept of demand to change the world has been firmly controlled by Ethan...

Spreadsheet is the software he wants to do most right now!

Because all companies will want this;

Because all schools will buy this;

Because this thing can make complicated calculations simple;

Because this thing can fundamentally bring convenience to people.

And when huge market demand is created by them...

Wall Street wants to seize the market with hardware?

Ah--

The idea is beautiful.

But it's a pity...

You won’t have a chance to think about it anymore!

Note: ① Paul Allen is not the gentle person in the news reports. He led Bill Gates to start a business. Even the system sold to IBM was found and bought by him. He just looks more sophisticated. of kindness. ②In reality, it was spreadsheets that changed Apple's fate. VisiCalc seems to have sold one million copies, and its revenue exceeded one billion US dollars in the 1980s.