Chapter 41

The Intel8080 chip costs US$60, but Li Zetian actually thinks it is expensive.

The Mos-6502 chip only costs $25, and its performance is not much worse than the 8080. Of course, it was released a year later than Intel8080.

As October 1st gets closer and closer, Li Zetian is so excited that he can hardly sleep. Every day I wonder whether Apple-l will be popular and whether there will be many orders?

Soon, Li Zetian's worries disappeared.

On October 1st, "Popular Electronics" magazine was released across the United States. In the evening of that day, all the magazines in this issue were sold out, causing a huge sensation in the United States!

Four hundred thousand magazines! They sold out in one day, what a concept! ! !

This issue of Popular Electronics is the most popular since its inception!

Apple-l is much more shocking than the Altair8080 in its previous life!

Altair8800 is just a simple box. There is no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. There is no high-level programming language. There are many switch indicators on the front of the box. Turning on the light represents "1", and turning off the light represents "0". The user can only turn on the light. And perform binary machine language programming by turning off the lights. There is no display and the programming process cannot be seen. If something goes wrong, you have to start over. Just imagine, if tens of thousands of lines of code were programmed like this, it would kill people! ! !

If you want to compare Apple-l and Altair8080, there is no doubt that they are worlds apart!

Therefore, the shock brought by Apple-l was simply unimaginable to people at the time!

Schools, homebrew clubs, computer retailers, computer manufacturers, electronic accessories companies, etc., countless people are talking about the Apple-l model personal computer.

Harvard University.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were so excited when they saw the Apple-l on the cover of Popular Electronics.

"The age of the personal computer has arrived!!" Paul Allen told Bill Gates.

"Yes!!!" Bill Gates nodded. However, unlike the previous generation, this generation's Apple-l already had a very good BASIC language as soon as it was released, which confused Bill Gates and Paul Allen. I don't know what to do.

However, both of them are masters of computer software programming, so they are very interested in the BASIC language on Apple-l.

"Paul, let's buy an Apple-l and study it together. I didn't expect that the Apple-l personal computer can actually run the BASIC language. The developer of the BASIC language is so genius!!!" Proud Bill Gates said.

"Yeah, he must be a super programming genius! Wait, Bill, look here, the BASIC language copyright provider is actually Microsoft!!! Oh, God, isn't this the company founded by Chronos?!!" Paul ·Alan screamed in surprise!

Bill Gates hurriedly looked at where Paul Allen was pointing, and sure enough, a line of small letters read: "Apple-l model personal computer BASIC language copyright provider: Microsoft Corporation, contact information: XXXXX"

After Bill Gates read it, he was silent for a while and said: "Chronos is indeed not an ordinary person!!!"

"Bill, Microsoft has just been established and it must be short of manpower. Do you think Chronos will contact us?" Paul Allen said excitedly.

"Maybe..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone rang suddenly.

Bill Gates went to answer the phone.

"Hello, who are you?" Bill Gates asked.

"Hi Bill, it's Chronos! Have you seen the latest issue of Popular Electronics?"

"Just finished watching it!"

"Bill, you must have seen that the BASIC language on the Apple-l personal computer is provided by Microsoft."

"Yes, I saw it!"

"Okay, then I'll tell the truth! Bill, drop out of school and start a business with me. I need you here!!!" Li Zetian said with a very sincere attitude.

"Chronos, I want to think about it!"

"Okay, I've thought about it. Please reply to me right away. You can call this number or tell Yu Jingqiu!"

"Yeah!" Bill Gates responded.

"Okay, bye!"

When the call ended and Bill Gates hung up, Paul Allen immediately came over and asked hurriedly: "What did Chronos say?"

"He wants me to drop out of school and start a business with him!"

"Go, let's go together!!!" Paul Allen said excitedly, "We three computer programming geniuses join forces, the future will be very exciting!"

"Well, I will think about it carefully, Paul!" Bill Gates nodded.

…

Intel Corporation.

"Carlos Stephan, you have done a great job in cooperating with Apple this time!" Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel and the proposer of Moore's Law, praised Carlos Stephan. "Popular Electronics magazine sold out sales in one day. It is almost the first in history, Intel8080 processor will surely take this opportunity to enter the computer field in one fell swoop!!!”

Carlos Stephen smiled and said: "Thank you Mr. Moore for the compliment. The biggest beneficiary should be Apple. I believe that after today, Apple will soar into the sky!"

"Well, that's right!" Gordon Moore nodded, and then continued, "So in the future, we have to win over Apple and strive to use our Intel processors for their processors!!!"

"Mr. Moore, please don't worry, I know what to do!!!"

…

At this moment, MITS is in a gloomy mood.

The hands of company founder Roberts were shaking when holding the "Popular Electronics" magazine. The Altair8800 project was just completed at the end of September, and it was planned to be tested for one month before being launched on the market! However, unexpectedly, there was already a company that was the first to launch a personal computer!

Just launch it, but it turned out to be so perfect!

Altair8800 and Apple-l are completely eclipsed when placed together! ! !

At this moment, the ambitious Roberts had to admit that he had made a garbage product!

"Mr. Roberts, don't be discouraged. Our Altair 8800 cannot compare to Apple-l in terms of functionality, performance and aesthetics, but our Altair has an advantage!" Brent Mo, an engineer in charge of the project development Newton said.

"What advantage?" Roberts asked weakly.

"Price advantage!!! Mr. Roberts, haven't you noticed? The price of Apple-l is US$2,000! I'm afraid many people can't afford this price! And our Altair8800 can be sold for several hundred US dollars, winning with low price ! I think users who can’t afford Apple-l might buy Altair8800. After all, our Altair8800 is a personal computer just like Apple-l!!!”

Roberts' eyes lit up when he heard this, "Yes, that's right, we take the low-price route!"

"However, Mr. Roberts, we'd better get the BASIC language, so that we can attract more computer enthusiasts to buy our products! The BASIC language on the Apple-l is provided by a company called Microsoft. We can ask , ask them for authorization.”

"Well, I'll do as you said, and I'll leave the task of contacting Microsoft to you," Roberts said loudly, his confidence returning at this time, "I'm going to go to Intel now and order a batch of 8080 processors. !At the same time, contact the media to promote our Altair8800."

"Okay, Mr. Roberts!" Brent Moulton nodded.

Roberts never expected that when he came to Intel, he would suffer a heavy blow!

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Roberts. The Intel 8080 microprocessor production capacity is insufficient and has been reserved by Apple. If your company wants it, it can only wait until next month!" Carlos Stephen shook his head.

next month?

The daylilies will be cold next month!

PS: I didn’t have lunch to update for you, please vote quickly!