The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 349 Computer Development
Except for Kinglong Computer, the world's personal computers are almost all concentrated in the United States.

For example, in 1982, HP launched the HP500 series, HP's first workstation running a multi-processor, the first 32-bit computer based on a FOCUS processor and running the HP-UX operating system. The workstation integrated 50 transistors.

In March this year, IBM released the improved XT3, which was the first personal computer in the United States to be equipped with a hard disk and use MS-DOS.5160. It was a product aimed at the ordinary home market.

Apple also launched Lisa this year, which uses a 16/32-bit CPU - Motorola 68000. It is also the first American personal computer with a built-in graphical operating system and a mouse. The computer costs $10. At the same time, Apple launched the first American clamshell portable laptop, Grid Compass1101, which is truly like a laptop for use by the US military and NASA.

As for other places, they have almost become supporting roles. Whether it is Europe or Japan, there is almost nothing to show off in terms of personal computers.

Kinglong Computer has captured a large market share by virtue of its full coverage of high-end, terminal and low-end products and high cost-performance ratio. It is currently the world's largest personal computer manufacturer.

This has also led to China's development in mouse, keyboard, optical disc, hard disk, etc., which can be regarded as the world's largest. Now, it has accepted orders from computer companies such as Apple, IBM, and HP in this regard.

In the US market, Kinglong Computer has competitors such as Apple, IBM, and HP, but in other places, it is invincible.

A large proportion of Kinglong Computer’s sales come from Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea!
In Southeast Asia, the best-selling products are in Hong Kong and Singapore.

"As for laptop computers, we will give you a set of design materials later, and you will produce them based on them." Liu Tao said after a moment of hesitation.

He found that portable personal computers were actually quite popular, and even though Apple's portable personal computers were so heavy, they still sold quite well.

This was his previous oversight.

When everyone heard this, they all showed joy.

They all know that Jinlong Computer's technical research and development capabilities are very average, and all its technologies come from Panshan Group.

Even now, the computers produced are still considered to be at the advanced level in the market.

"The prices of several current computer models have been appropriately reduced, and another high-end computer will be added," said Liu Tao.

To maintain market competitiveness, we must rely on advanced technology and cost-effectiveness.

Otherwise, with the same technology and the same price in the United States, it is impossible to compete with IBM, Apple, HP, etc. because their relationships are too complicated and it is impossible to compete.

The improvements to the high-end computers to be launched mainly include larger screens, better chips, larger memory, and faster running speeds, thus ensuring the leading level of technology.

Liu Tao said: "Next year, we will strengthen our cooperation with universities, donate more computers, provide more training services, and accelerate the development of computer majors and industries. Starting next year, the number of computers donated to universities will increase from 100 to 2000."

It is unrealistic to rely on colleges and universities to purchase computers on their own, because at that time colleges and universities are extremely poor, with too little funding for running schools, and even teachers' salaries are in arrears.

Even wages can’t be paid on time, let alone money to buy a computer.

Everyone couldn't help but show pain when they heard this.

If the average selling price of one unit is US$3500, that would be US$700 million. Based on the exchange rate, that would be RMB 1400 million.

That's a lot of money.

But Liu Tao had spoken, so what could they say?

When Panshan Group established Panshan Machinery Factory, Liu Tao took over as the director of Panshan Machinery Factory and emphasized a principle: if you don’t understand, you must first recognize it; if you can’t recognize it, you must first agree with it; if you understand it, you must execute it; if you don’t understand it, you will slowly understand it during execution.

If it were Feng Defeng, everyone would raise their opinions.

But if it was Liu Tao's words, everyone would have to follow them. Liu Tao's prestige in the entire Panshan system was too high. He led the Panshan Machinery Factory out of difficulties when he developed firearms, and brought the Panshan Machinery Factory to an unprecedented glory.

Since Liu Tao took over as the director of Panshan Machinery Factory, he has led everyone to rapid development, and has made great progress every year. This is obvious to all. It is through repeated victories and successes that Liu Tao has unparalleled prestige in the entire Panshan system.

Not to mention 2000 computers, even if it was 20000 computers, Kinglong Computer would have to donate.

Liu Tao didn't care whether everyone was willing or not, some things had to be done.

Looking at the personal computer purchases in China so far this year, there are only about 1,000 of them, all of which were purchased from the state or scientific research institutions.

As for individuals, no one is reluctant to buy a computer.

Because even though the price in China is much cheaper than abroad, a low-end computer only costs 1500 RMB, but for everyone, it is still very expensive.

Even a university professor only earns 200 yuan a month, which is only 2400 yuan a year. How could he be willing to spend almost a year's salary to buy a computer that he wouldn't be able to use even if he bought it?

As for the state-owned factories, they have no awareness in this regard.

Although computers will become more and more advanced in the future, we still need to cultivate talents, enough computer talents, otherwise we will suffer great losses in this area.

As for the 20 computers originally donated to each school, it was naturally a huge surprise for these prestigious schools.

But a university only has 20 computers, which is actually very few, and can only be regarded as a computer room. It is impossible to arrange one computer class per week for each class.

This is China today. There are not enough talents, and cultivating talents takes time.

Similarly, the cultivation of talents requires time and more importantly, investment!
While having a meal together in the cafeteria of Jinlong Computer Company, Liu Tao was also observing the situation in the cafeteria. He was very disgusted with the idea of ​​having special cafeterias.

Then I chatted with the workers to get some understanding of the situation.

The workers here come from all over the world, not just from Pengcheng, and there are even some talented people among them.

Some are from secondary technical schools, junior colleges and undergraduate institutions.

Feng Defeng explained that in the past two years, they had gone to various colleges to recruit and assign positions to students, and many of them were excellent students.

Liu Tao was very satisfied with this. There are only so many talents. If you don't take the initiative to recruit people and just wait for assignment passively, who knows if you will be assigned some bad ones.

Talent is always the foundation for an enterprise to thrive.

The fact that Feng Defeng has this awareness shows that he has grown a lot in recent years.

In the afternoon, I inspected various departments, especially the production workshop.

There are a lot of technologies contained in it, such as chips!
Such as the production of monitors!

Although these monitors seem low-end to Liu Tao, they are already world-leading in this era.

Currently, some monitors are produced by specialized monitor companies, but because production capacity has yet to be increased, Jinlong Computer still produces some monitors itself.

(End of this chapter)