Speaking of the current social situation, many people say that the current information age, the era of artificial intelligence. When talking about computers, I immediately think of Apple, Dell, Lenovo, BenQ, Asus, and when it comes to software, we must talk about Microsoft, and the CPU is Intel, AMD, but if you ask how the current market pattern comes about, I am afraid that few people know, this history is a proper MBA class, let people think more when formulating market strategies, do not stage the tragedy of IBM.
Since the birth of digital electronic computers in the United States in 1946, after decades of development, to the late seventies and early eighties of the last century, the market pattern is IBM alone, with a few little brothers.
Among them, IBM's annual output value is about $40 billion, the richest Chinese at that time, Wang An Computer Company, about $1 billion to $2 billion, and then Jobs' Apple Computer Company, the annual output value is also about $2 billion, other family-owned computers are not worth mentioning, including SUN a few years later.
The computer market share at that time was approximate
It can be said that the computer at that time was basically IBM or non-IBM, IBM was the absolute industry leader, such a market situation IBM originally did not need to be anxious, but out of a Jobs, really let IBM can not negotiate.
Computer room host
User side
It turned out that the computer at that time was basically different from today, and the computer was divided into supercomputer, mainframe, medium-sized computer and small computer, for example, Jinzhou, northeast China, produced minicomputer DJS130 at that time. From the user side, each person has a keyboard, a monitor, generally called a terminal, but no matter how many people use, it is a host used, that is, time-sharing, each user gives a time slice, everyone thinks that they are using a computer alone, but in fact they share the same machine with others. The keyboard and monitor on the user side only serve as one input and output. Because I was far away from the printer, I didn't know that I connected the printer at that time, went to settle after using it, hugged a bunch of printed waste paper, and paid a lot of money.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Woz) found this multi-user computer expensive and inconvenient, and founded Apple Computer in 1976 to develop and sell Apple I computers. In 1977, the earliest personal computer Apple II was released, the main thing is cheap, like Apple, everyone can take a bite, the following computer was added to a printer set in China only sold for 6500 yuan, the basic function is a solidified BASIC, other aspects are not convenient, but feel much better than the DJS130, play some assembly language, can also be simply used for control, its display is an analog video interface.
Apple II computers
Originally, IBM did not take Jobs seriously, but did not expect that Apple's growth rate was too fast, sold for $2 billion in two years, if it develops at this rate, it will not take long to become the boss, IBM's market will be gone, IBM began to sit still. On technology, on strength, Apple can do it. A group of bigwigs held a meeting and decided that they must kill Apple and Jobs, and everyone immediately decided on a series of desperate plans.
IBM set a strategy for Apple
IBM immediately aimed to kill Apple and developed a design and sales strategy. The first is to far surpass Apple in terms of performance. The CPU of the Apple II is an 8-bit 6502, and IBM starts with 16-bit, but who chooses the 16-bit CPU? THE CPU AT THAT TIME WAS ALSO THE ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, RESPECTIVELY MOTOROLA, EVERYONE IS FAMILIAR WITH IT, RIGHT? THERE'S INTEL, AND THERE'S ZILOG, A COMPANY THAT DOESN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO NOW.
16-bit CPUs are Motorola's M68000, Intel's INTEL8088 and ZILOG's Z8000, THE LAST ZILOG COMPANY'S OLD HARDWARE ENGINEERS SHOULD BE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THEIR SINGLE BOARD MACHINE Z80 ONCE SWEPT THE WORLD, THAT PIO AND SIO EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE USED. I don't know if IBM's engineers drank alcohol at that time, whether their minds were clear, anyway, they chose Intel, so Motorola was out of the CPU market and transformed to sell mobile phones. ZILOG LATER I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO, SEEMS TO QUIT THE QUACKS, BUT INTEL SUDDENLY BECAME AN UPSTART. If Motorola was chosen at that time, everyone may now use MOTO's CPU, and Huawei has one less opponent in terms of mobile phones.
What about memory? The original Apple II totaled 64K and included parts of the curing system. IBM's PC was generally configured to 256K user memory, and later it was basically 640K. The external memory uses hard disk + dual floppy drive, although the hard disk is only 10M, and later 20M, but the storage space of the hard disk floppy disk is simply not comparable, and the speed is much faster. This configuration makes Apple call daddy without barking.
How to quickly open the market next? Everyone knows that Apple pursues high profits, and its things are not compatible with anyone, so an Apple data cable and charger are many times more expensive than others. IBM said no, we need to fully open up the interface protocol, including software and hardware, so that others will write us application software and produce all kinds of auxiliary equipment, such as printers, monitors, game programs, memory, hard disks, mice and other applications.
So a company called small software was born under the leadership of a 19-year-old hairy child, and the name of the boss was also good, the boss was called BILL GATES, the door of banknotes, and the microsoftware company was born. IF IBM DIDN'T EXPOSE ITS INTERFACE PROTOCOL, WHERE MICROSOFT DOS WOULD BE AVAILABLE, WHERE THERE WOULD BE A LATER WINDOWING SYSTEM, MICROSOFT WOULDN'T EXIST. IBM's computer also appeared a lot of games that are not available on Apple, such as DIGGER was very popular at that time, people can work, but also able to play, users more, our laboratory A computer F1 key broke, this function key is used to fire, and later everyone prescribed a special game computer.
MICROSOFT CEO BILL GATES.
There are many supporting products for IBM, such as monitors from CGA, a few days to VGA, CVGA, etc., countless display manufacturers have produced a variety of products, originally .39, then out of 31, and then .28, more and more delicate. Color is also composed of 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit. Printers I forget who made them, wide rows, narrow rows, many products appeared, and scanners appeared. Our treasure island Taiwan has made huge dividends in this wave. The storage space of hard disks has increased again and again, the speed has increased again and again, the software has been constantly innovating, IBM's strategy has achieved unprecedented success, and after a few years of hard work, Apple has not been able to do it. IBM is a proud horseshoe in the spring breeze, like marrying a daughter-in-law every day, being a groom every day, Apple is all worried, sales have plummeted, and soon almost no one wants it. Apple's father, Steve Jobs, was also expelled from Apple, and it was more than a decade after returning to Apple in 1997.
But IBM never dreamed that his laughter would turn into a cry before it fell, and it was a cry, and this expression changed too quickly. Because IBM disclosed the interface protocol between hardware and software, it brought great convenience to compatible machine manufacturers, so for a while the compatible machine was full of smoke, and various accessories manufacturers were scattered. The personal computer market has formed a blowout development, for example, in Shenzhen immediately there are five major electronic markets dominated by Huaqiangbei and SEG, while Zhongguancun in Beijing has become the northern electronic market distribution center, and there are too many computer companies to count.
The manufacturers of compatible machines I remember are Taiwan's Acer (later BenQ), Leadman (Leadman), the mainland's Lenovo, Inspur, Zijin, Hope, Dawn, and the United States' Compex and Dell, and there are at least one or twenty manufacturers in Chinese mainland alone. Taiwan's Asus, which produces motherboards, Lenovo in the mainland, VIA in Taiwan, which produces motherboard chips, and SIS, South Korea's Samsung and Hyundai, which produce memory, Seagate, Western Digital, which produce hard disks, have a production price of only a fraction of IBM's; I remember the first IBM PC/XT I bought cost 39800, but I bought a compatible machine that had higher performance than IBM, but it was much cheaper. In front of the price point, IBM only has to cry. At the same time, the PC market has greatly squeezed the minicomputer, medium-sized computer, mainframe, and giant computer market that basically belongs to IBM, resulting in IBM's sales in multi-user computers have also declined, but IBM has been unable to return to the sky, IBM sacrificed itself and achieved others, what a thunderbolt.
Let's go back and summarize the direct beneficiaries of IBM: Intel, compatible machines also use CPUs! Microsoft, as long as it is a PC series, you need my software. Other auxiliary equipment companies are rising because of this, indirect Yahoo, Tencent, Baidu and countless Internet companies have benefited from IBM, I am afraid that in addition to Apple, only IBM itself, first withdrew from the desktop market, and then withdrew from the laptop market, and IBM has rarely appeared in the hardware market. Among them, the INM market strategy is to harm others, but I don't expect to harm myself. And should Steve Jobs, the driving force behind today's colorful IT world, be the first to go? So I think Jobs was the successor to Von in the last century. The first person in computer after Neumann, I don't know if everyone agrees.