Video Game Empire

Chris Currie's first impression of Li Xuan was a big round face, glasses on his forehead, a slightly raised belly, a very casual sitting posture, and a rough voice, which perfectly matched the British gentleman in his impression. Not above.

"Hello, Mr. Chris Currie, I'm Xuan Li from Hong Kong Oriental Electronics Co., Ltd.!" Li Xuan nodded politely with a smile.

"Hello, are you here to talk about the acquisition of Aikang? Sorry, I have no plans to sell the company!" Before Li Xuan could speak, Currie bluntly refused.

"Is that so? We have an old saying in the East that no business can be done with benevolence and righteousness!" Li Xuan didn't take it seriously when he heard the other party's refusal, and continued with a smile, "Since we are fortunate enough to invite Mr. Currie out for coffee today, why don't we talk casually? Tell us what you think about the PC industry!"

Currie glanced at Li Xuan with great interest: "May I ask Mr. Li from the East, what do you think?"

"You can call me Vincent! In my opinion, computers are becoming the trend of this era, and the trend of popularization is becoming more and more obvious. A huge emerging industry is rapidly forming, and those companies that can accurately grasp the opportunity will undoubtedly Will become the trendsetter of this era! The BBC is broadcasting a documentary called "Powerful Microprocessing" to tell the whole British TV audience how a revolution in the era of personal computers is emerging!"

Li Xuan took a sip of the fragrant coffee, and then continued: "I am very optimistic about the new Atom personal computer launched by your Aikang company. It meets my several requirements for a mass consumer computer. Cost-effective! It is said that this Atom computer is the research and development of your request, and your grasp of the field of consumer electronics is very accurate, this personal computer has the potential to be a hot seller!”

Li Xuan praised, but shook his head slightly and said, "But in my opinion, the defects of Atom computer are also very obvious, such as its software system. Atom does not even have an operating system, only the built-in ROM in the boot ROM. The BASIC programming language interpreter is available, which makes using the computer extremely inconvenient!

Maybe you are out of cost savings, but I know that the UK market just launched a ZX-80 microcomputer not long ago. This computer uses a Z80 processor and is said to be priced at only £100, which is far cheaper than Atom. !

In my opinion, a good software is more important to the computer than the price factor! When you buy a computer home, it is to be used in the end, not as a decoration! If it's not practical, even if the price is low, it's just a waste of money!

Except for computer enthusiasts, most users buy microcomputers for the purpose of processing some daily texts, account documents, and playing games! Completing the former task requires excellent text software and spreadsheet software, while the latter requires some fun little games to pass the time! "

Seeing the other party's expression getting more and more serious, Li Xuan felt a little proud in his heart: "According to the information I have collected, it seems that Aikang has no relevant software development plans! But we, Dongfang Electronics, have already taken a step ahead. Our Hong Kong headquarters R&D center is developing a CP/M compatible operating system, and our text software and form software are also under development!

As for the game software, I don't know if you have ever played Hong Kong Cube. Our company's fist game was originally written by me on an Apple II computer! "

"Vincent, your views have inspired me a lot!" Currie began to call Li Xuan by his English name instead of his surname, and his attitude became much more enthusiastic.

"Can I call you Chris!" Li Xuan continued, "As far as I know, most of the engineers in Ikon, including your friend Mr. Herman Hauser, Do not support your Atom development project! There is another old saying in the East, different ways do not conspire! This sentence means that if two people have different views, they cannot work together for a long time, unless one person makes a compromise !

You want to develop in general consumer computing, and the rest of the company wants to develop in professional computer systems. Icon's strength seems to be insufficient to go hand in hand on both fronts. Therefore, in my opinion, if you and your friends are unwilling to make compromises, then seeking external support from stronger funds is undoubtedly a good solution to the problem! "

"If your Dongfang Electronics Co. acquires Ikon, how will it arrange its future development!" Currie's attitude finally softened a little, and he did not directly refuse.

"If Dongfang Electronics completes the acquisition, Aikang Computer will become a sub-brand of us in Europe! In terms of research and development, Dongfang Electronics will split Aikang into two. On the one hand, it will support you to set up a personal computer R&D center in Cambridge, including Hong Kong. You will also be in charge of the PC R&D team at headquarters.

The computer software R&D team of the R&D center of the headquarters will also fully cooperate with your R&D work! After all, 8-bit computers are already very backward, and Motorola's MC68000 has entered the 32-bit era.

In fact, the company's semiconductor laboratory in Hong Kong is also developing a new 32-bit instruction set architecture, and has made considerable progress! So the company's next-generation PCs will skip 16-bit and instead use the 32-bit RISC architecture the company is developing as the core processor.

On the other hand, the company will establish an electronic technology research and development center in Cambridge based on other remaining scientific researchers. UUkanshu www.uukanshu.com will continue the continuous research and development work of Aikang in the fields of local area network and professional computer system. Will participate in the research and development of the 32-bit instruction set together with the headquarters laboratory!

Of course, all the production of computers will be done in Hong Kong in the Far East. After all, the manufacturing cost there is cheaper than that in the UK! "

Li Xuan did not shy away from expounding what kind of arrangements will be taken next if Dongfang Electronics successfully acquires Aikang.

Currie nodded lightly, as if satisfied with the arrangement. But he did not finally reveal his attitude, only that it will take some time to think carefully. When Li Xuan heard this answer, he couldn't help but feel happy, because the other party's attitude was looser than when he first started.

Li Xuan did not continue to pester each other while the iron was hot, but ended their first meeting happily. Next, he will meet with two other Ikon partners, Herman Hauser and Andy Hopper.

Andy Hopper is the inventor of Icon's local area network technology, which originated from the CambridgeRing network system he invented during his PhD at Cambridge University. At that time, Ikon and him jointly established a new company called Orbis to develop this network system technology.

After that, Ikon acquired Orbis and replaced Hopper's Orbis shares with Ikon's shares. So Hopper became Icon's third shareholder.

The address of Aikang Company is located near Market Hill in the center of Cambridge Town. The entire company's office space is the upper attic of a two-story shop along the street.