Video Game Empire

The report in Li Xuan's hands is the performance test data of Apple's new products just sent from the United States. Apple's new launch of this personal computer, called Macintosh Computer (), is the originator of later generations of a machine.

On January 22 this year, Apple purchased two 15-second commercials during the broadcast of the tenth Super Bowl. The ads were all about their upcoming new product, the Macintosh computer.

The NFL Finals (n) is known as the Super Bowl, an annual television feast across the United States that can definitely rival the Spring Festival Gala on the other side of the Pacific. For example, according to the ratings data just released, in this year's game in which the Los Angeles Invaders beat the Washington Redskins 38-9, the average viewership exceeded 50 million.

In the face of such high ratings, the advertising period between the Super Bowl games has naturally become a fragrant bun for merchants. A 15-second ad fetched as much as $600,000 this year, an average of $40,000 per second.

And those who can advertise on Super Bowl TV broadcasts are all star companies in various industries. It costs 1.2 million US dollars to buy in 30 seconds, and the total profit of most small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States is only this amount of money in a year.

How much confidence Apple has in this new product, just listen to what Mr. Jobs, the company's founder and director of the Metakin Project Department, said with pride in an exclusive interview with reporters:

I don't want to be arrogant, but I know very well that what we have launched this time will be the second biggest milestone in the computing world! Every cell in my body is telling me that Metakin is going to be as big a hit as the app!

Li Xuan on Apple's Macintosh. Also paid great attention. Because this computer is indeed another historic product after Apple's app series. Until Li Xuan crossed over, the latest model of a computer was still sold on Apple's shelves.

However, Li Xuanbai in his previous life had read Aunt Qiao's personal biography. The Macintosh's early sales were not satisfactory, which also directly led to Jobs being swept away by Apple's board of directors. Li Xuan didn't know whether his rebirth would affect the development process of the Macintosh.

In Li Xuan's view, the biggest revolution of the Macintosh lies in the graphical interface operating system it uses. In fact, as early as the Lisa machine launched by Apple last year, the graphical interface operating system has already appeared. But Lisa machine sales were dismal, so naturally it didn't bring enough attention to the graphics operating system.

In fact, part of the creativity of Microsoft Windows ( ) in later generations was plagiarized from Apple, and the two companies also fought for many years for this. And Apple is indeed the most innovative company in the American industry. That's why it has captured a legion of die-hard fans.

The U.S. launch of the Macintosh is scheduled for January 25. At this time, Li Xuan is preparing for a meeting with Mr. Deng in the Deep Sea Special Zone. The first time the Macintosh was listed, Ikon bought a few samples for detailed performance evaluation.

After reading the evaluation report in his hand, Li Xuan showed a relaxed smile on his face. The final conclusion of the report is written like this, this is a very hasty product.

According to the testing of Ikon technicians, there is no small problem with the Macintosh. For example, the memory of a Macintosh computer is too small, with only 256 as standard. Running a graphics operating system itself will take up a lot of memory, which greatly limits the performance of the computer.

Second, the Macintosh's form factor is flawed. According to Apple's plan, this will be a personal computer that mainly targets the business market. But the Macintosh's display size is too small, and the shape design is not solemn enough, giving people a feeling of small family. It is difficult to be recognized by the business office market.

In addition, the hardware configuration of Jinmeta computer is not reasonable enough, and there is no hard disk that is standard in business computers. The computer can only store and copy data through a floppy disk drive, which makes it very cumbersome for users to use.

And Metakin's most fatal flaw. The operating software that can be used is too small. Because the Metakin computer uses a new graphical interface operating system, a large amount of software accumulated on the previous app series computers. All need to be rewritten.

With the decline of Apple's market share, a large number of third-party software companies are focusing on development. Transferred to the as-os operating system of Oriental Application Software. Under the vigorous promotion of Oriental Application Software Company, the market share of as-os has exceeded 60%.

Especially as the sales share of ab computers and ab compatible machines in the personal computer market is increasing, almost most of the new personal computers have adopted the as-os system. The Oriental Application Software Company is also very supportive of the development of third-party software, and is willing to provide interface data and special development software toolkits.

In this case, there is simply no third-party company willing to put too much effort into supporting Apple's new models. As a result, no matter how good the performance of the Macintosh is, it also loses its usefulness.

Faxed along with the evaluation report, there is also Apple's infighting information. Although Jobs still serves as the chairman of the company's board of directors, his rights in the board of directors have almost been overridden.

For example, when John Sculley was invited to Apple as o before, Jobs, the chairman of the board, was reluctant. However, the representative of the major shareholder, who holds a large number of voting rights, passed the appointment directly by voting.

With Sculley's arrival, Jobs's authority within Apple has been repeatedly squeezed, and now only the Macintosh Project is still under his full control. Although Sculley has never been exposed to the computer industry before, as an excellent professional manager, he has his own keen judgment.

Sculley believes that after two consecutive failed new product launches, Apple should not rush to launch Macintosh computers now, and the most needed work should be excellence. But Jobs was eager to flex his muscles with the Macintosh.

Because the feud between Jobs and Sculley at Apple has intensified. Now that the Macintosh can sell well, he can turn around and regain dominance over Apple from Sculley.

The previous Lisa machine has just been listed on the Macintosh computer, using Motorola's 68000 processor. But Sculley thinks Motorola seems to have focused on more profitable mobile phones. Its strength in the semiconductor field is being left behind by direct competitors such as Oriental Research Institute and Intel. For example, the ps processor of the Oriental Research Institute can completely beat the 68000 processor in performance.

Therefore, Sculley believes that Apple should choose a more aggressive partner, and he has set his sights on Intel, which is opening up rs-based processors.

And after Intel's 80286 defeat to the r-1 of the Oriental Research Institute, it also came to the fore, and found that it had to find allies among terminal manufacturers. Otherwise, in the face of the strength of the r-architecture, Intel's processors do not even have the terminal products that they are willing to support, so how can they show their own capabilities?

But in Jobs' view, Sculley's eagerness to start anew is a naked challenge to his prestige! So he had to give a strong counterattack, and Sculley's suggestion that he wanted to delay the listing of Macintosh further exacerbated Jobs' dissatisfaction.

It is said that Aunt Qiao issued a military order on Apple's board of directors, ensuring that the Macintosh will be a hit after the listing, and immediately reverse the disadvantage that the company is facing now. It's a pity that in Li Xuan's view, Jobs is obviously going to be disappointed this time. This Macintosh computer is far from being as good as he thought.

If Apple's previous large-scale marketing promotion, it may arouse the interest of some customers. Then the various professional evaluations that will emerge soon, I believe that any illusions of the public about Apple's new models will soon be dispelled.

Yes, some computer experts secretly contacted by Ikon's PR department must have started making a series of vicious comments about the Macintosh. Market competition is never short of intrigue, especially when rival products have obvious loopholes to be dug.

Aikon is also clearing the way for the upcoming ab-5 personal computer. The r-2 architecture of the Oriental Research Institute has officially entered the commercial production stage, and the first batch of r-2 processors will be officially launched in the global market at the end of January.

The ab-5 computer with r-2 processor as the core has also entered the final testing stage and will be officially sold in March. The biggest difference between the ab-5 and the previous ab series computers is that the new version of the os system provided by the Oriental Application Software Company has also added a visual mode.

In fact, as early as the beginning of as-os development~www.readwn.com~Li Xuan had already laid an ambush in advance when he directed the construction of the initial framework of the software. Over the years, under the guidance of Li Xuan, Dongfang Application Software Company has applied for a series of technical patents related to the visual operating system.

As early as when Apple's Lisa machine was on the market, Dongfang Application Software Co., Ltd. had discovered that there were many suspected infringements of the sa-os system. Because the sales of the Lisa machine were relatively unsuccessful, Li Xuan did not move.

But this time, Li Xuan has asked Dongfang Application Software Company to find a strong team of lawyers, ready to make a big fuss on Macintosh's a-os system, and preheat the hype for the listing of ab-5.

Apple's idea of ​​developing a graphics operating system actually came from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (par). In order to obtain technical support from Xerox, Apple also sold some shares to the other party at a low price.

The visualization module of the new version of the operating system of the Oriental Research Institute must also infringe the related patents of Xerox and Apple. Because of many low-level patents, the Oriental Research Institute can't avoid it.

But Li Xuan is still ready to fight for the initiative first. In the face of possible counterclaims by the other party, Dongfang Application Software Company also made careful arrangements. (To be continued..)