The Goddess Shines on America

The meeting is over.

When Benjamin returned to IBM headquarters with his team, a piece of news quickly spread throughout the industry, and the magazine "Popular Electronics" immediately reported on the situation.

"The cooperation between Big Blue and the software tycoon, the passionate collision between IBM and Microsoft!" "

The picture accompanying the article is the moment when Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft, shook hands with Benjamin, director of IBM's marketing department. In the background is a meeting room of Microsoft Corporation. A group of people are waiting around them, and there is a telephone on the table.

As soon as this article came out, computer enthusiasts all over the country became excited. Although no one knew what the "Internet operating system" was, the big names of IBM and Microsoft were enough to make everyone excited .

One is the industry leader established at the beginning of the century, the blue giant with a market value of 100 billion, and the other is the emerging king of the software industry established by college dropouts. Microsoft, which has just launched Windows 1.0, is in full swing. Such a cooperation, which can be described as a strong alliance, immediately attracted tens of millions of skilled people to discuss it.

But then, doubts arose.

Why did these two companies develop such a project?

What the hell is the "Internet Operating System"?

Newspapers and magazines in the IT industry headed by "Popular Electronics" immediately began to popularize knowledge. Suddenly, more and more people realized that the scope of Internet deployment in the entire United States is far from "a few days ago" can be compared. According to the data provided by some professional channels, it seems that in 2000, every household in the entire United States can access the Internet.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Microsoft and IBM to develop such a system at this time.

Of course, the public's thirst for information is far from being satisfied. When the next issue of "Popular Electronics" was published, another company quickly caught the attention of the general public.

Cisco Systems, registered in San Jose, California, is mainly engaged in the research and development and sales of Internet hardware. The current main product is called a router. This is a low-cost, small-sized instrument that is easily compatible with different types of network protocols and has a wide range of applications in corporate offices.

When this issue of "Popular Electronics" was released, if the public was only slightly surprised, then the industry was shocked.

A company that was just established last year has only been established for a little over a year as of the end of August. But in such a short period of time, it has become a "behemoth!?" with more than 50 employees and a monthly profit of one million yuan!

Indeed, this achievement is nothing, but after comparing it with the time of establishment, this huge contrast almost compares with Microsoft, Apple, Dell, and even IBM and other IT industry tycoons!

Because, many people in the industry quickly realized that Internet hardware is completely a no-man's land in the industry!

"Even if it is no man's land, it is definitely not something that ordinary people can do to expand the market so quickly."

Time, on a working day afternoon in late August, in the core conference room of IBM headquarters, a board meeting was being held.

"According to the survey, Cisco Systems' first business was done at the University of Los Angeles Association last year. This is their product."

At the end of the conference table, Almin, the head of the technical department, carried a suitcase-sized instrument onto the table: "The technical level of the other party is very good. According to the research of our technical department, this is a fully mature product, and there is almost no need for software codes. Where there is improvement, the only thing that affects its efficiency is the computing power of the CPU."

This sentence is very simple, but it makes all the members of the board of directors look at each other in blank dismay.

"What does it mean that the software code does not need to be improved?"

A director asked: "You are not going to tell us that even if you delete any piece of code, it will crash the system, and the code design is so refined that you can't do any reverse engineering?"

Almin showed a look of embarrassment. This man who has worked in IBM for 20 years and served as the technology minister for 5 years, rarely sweats profusely like this: "I'm sorry, Mr. Remus, but the situation... Indeed."

"The other party's programming code is too refined, and the logic method is absolutely...amazing. To put it more vividly, it is like a graphic design. On the one hand, it is absolutely concise, just like Nike's LOGO is just a check mark The same introduction; on the one hand, it is the kind of creativity, just like after seeing a certain LOGO design, many people feel that they can design it themselves, but if they really do it, they are completely unable to do it. "

Armin's description is very clear.

This is often the case with graphic design, when customers see the result, it is very easy to say something like "that's how it is". Just like Nike's LOGO, Apple's LOGO, or any product of a certain style, people will feel that those designers are nothing special after seeing it, and he can design it himself.

But if you really want those people to design...but they can't design anything.

Here is Almin's emotion about this router. After seeing the perfect coding of the other party, although he still doesn't know who the author is, he seems to have the urge to be astonished.

The programming code of this router is so exquisite that it looks like a perfect circle, or like the golden ratio of the human body. Every extra stroke is superfluous, and every subtraction is a waste of money.

Moreover, just like the common phenomenon in many design fields, although after seeing it, many people will suddenly realize that there is such a design. But if I really let myself create the same work, it is impossible to say anything.

"Almin, you are an old man in the company, and you have to be responsible for what you say. Is the program of this router really as exaggerated as you said?"

Faced with a director's question, Almin nodded and said: "I know that all directors will definitely have this kind of question, so I asked the secretary to print out some codes before the meeting started, please take a look."

It turned out that Armin had already made preparations, and all the directors were surprised, and they all took the materials handed over by the secretary and read them.

After seeing this, I couldn't lift my head anymore.

Time passed by every minute, and Armin sat down silently looking at the solemn expressions of everyone in the audience.

He sighed softly.

The more details, the more it can reflect the strength of an enterprise. Although Cisco's current scale is not too big, it is an ant compared to the blue giant, but there is such an excellent programmer in...

Armin speculated secretly, maybe it was Bill Gates in the early years, his talent was not so outstanding when he emerged, right? He had no doubt that the other party was a newcomer in the industry, otherwise he would have been well-known in other companies long ago, would it be his turn for a small company that had just been established for a year to sell products of this level?

As expected, he was not the only one who was curious and worried. Beside him, Benjamin from the marketing department whispered, "Can you guys write code of this level?"

Armin shook his head and said, "Impossible. Although after seeing the finished product, I think it seems very simple, but if I write it myself, no one in the whole company has this level."

"Looks like there's a big name at Cisco Systems, do you have any clues?"

Armin looked at him: "Do you have any?"

Benjamin blinked, but did not answer.

It's just that Armin was a little surprised to find that Benjamin, who has always been steady, trembled with his fingers.

And he also noticed that Benjamin always looked preoccupied after returning from Redmond.

What happened?

Time passed by, and it was only three pages of A4 paper, but all the members of the board of directors read it for half an hour. After everyone looked up, the director who spoke earlier sighed: "It is really outstanding, Almin, the other party's application Is it patented?"

This sentence was not asked to Armin, another director said: "It's a pity. According to our spies, Lucent Technology also made an idea of ​​Cisco not long ago, but it didn't make any big moves in a short time. The main reason is that Cisco's awareness of patent protection is excellent."

"The decision makers of the target company obviously knew the market size of routers long ago, so they had already registered the patent before launching this product. And the most hateful thing is that the registrants actually put all the technologies that may be borrowed by us. I applied, the other party must be a genius in the industry, not only can compile the program, but also guess how we might take advantage of the loophole!"

After speaking, everyone in the audience looked at the chief.

At that time, IBM's president, Aker, just took office this year, and he proposed and implemented the cooperation with Microsoft. But now, with a company called Cisco Systems, there's no question that the new president is facing a big challenge.

"The first thing to admit is that this is not the fault of the marketing department."

Aker said: "Cisco Systems has only been established for one year. For us with decades of history, there are too many such companies. It is understandable that the marketing department did not notice its existence. Benjamin, don't be too serious." under pressure."

After appeasing his subordinates, he continued, "However, since we have cooperated with Microsoft, we will also cooperate with Cisco. What do you think?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and a director said, "You mean...acquire it?"

Acor smiled slightly: "Oh...that's not what I said, but it's a good idea."

The voice fell, and a low-pitched laughter resounded in the conference room.

Dear friends, the seventh watch arrives~

The eighth is at 21:00～