William White settled into his new environment, significantly improving his quality of life. He had nearly two floors to himself, which was undoubtedly luxurious.
"Sir, this is Intel's latest CPU, the 80486," Tom remarked as he noticed William soaking up the sun. After working with him for some time, Tom knew the boss was actually quite friendly.
"Hey, is this an engineering sample? When do they plan to release it?"
"This year is definitely out of the question. I think it'll be early next year. Their current 386 is getting crushed by Motorola, and if they don't release a new product soon, they might just be out of the game." Yet, Tom didn't mention that if William hadn't stopped developing the next CPU, Intel might have been in a much better position.
"Tom, call a meeting. We're about to enter the age of 32-bits."
...
The introduction of the 486 was a significant event. Before this, most computers relied on DOS and DOS-based software. With this CPU, Microsoft finally found its wings.
"Folks, this CPU contains 1.2 million transistors. While the core architecture hasn't changed much, which is disappointing, it's undeniable that it will significantly boost the computing power of personal PCs." William's words piqued the interest of the attendees. The 386 had less than 300,000 transistors, so this upgrade would notably enhance performance.
"Ha! I bet if Jobs were here, he'd be spitting nails. A CPU suited for the Macintosh has finally come out, but alas, Apple is on the decline."
In reality, Jobs was already complaining, "Come on! This isn't fair. Were you running a toothpaste factory, William? If this had come out sooner..."
Also, William White, that guy should be focusing on R&D, not wasting time on things like accelerator cards.
Due to memory pricing and various other factors, the development of White Systems' 3D accelerator card faltered, giving way to a so-called 2.5D solution.
William knew well that with only two megabytes of memory, they could manage only so much. Without at least eight megabytes, using a 3D engine was a pipe dream.
They could forge ahead with development, but the market was just too small.
"Ladies and gentlemen, 2.5D is merely a stopgap. Our memory factory is progressing rapidly. By this time next year, I promise we'll have our own memory available."
His team understood what that meant: controlling the source meant the memory prices wouldn't spiral out of control.
"Sir, it seems the only bottleneck left is the hard drives."
William couldn't help but smirk and shake his head. "You know, if antitrust laws really worked, someone should split up that Big Blue. They've got the core technology but refuse to share. But you don't need to worry, Seagate seems to have made a breakthrough, and I can't wait to see Andy Grove's reaction."
Hearing this, his subordinates knew they had a chance; then they wouldn't have to worry about capacity issues for their office software any longer.
After the meeting, White Systems ramped up their development speed. The biggest concern in developing technology was always choosing the right direction.
Falling behind was not an option, but being too far ahead could lead to failure, like the second-generation Voodoo 3D accelerator card. Sixteen megabytes of memory might be thrilling, but selling it for over five hundred bucks? No way.
Well, they were lucky to hit a dip in memory prices; if it hadn't been for that, the company would have been in real trouble.
Of course, there were repercussions. From then on, they turned into an ordinary company, never taking bold steps again because shareholders disliked risks.
As for why William White wasn't worried? He wasn't focusing on personal PCs yet. Those graphic workstations didn't mind shelling out a few hundred bucks more.
"By the way, Tom, does Intel have a second supplier this time?"
"Sir, they've ditched dynamic RAM, and their own production isn't even enough. There's no way they can undercut AMD. Negotiations are still ongoing, and there's even a chance it could go to court."
"Ha! Let's see if anyone's going to murmur about government procurement. Those idiots have just been spoiled. If they want to buy, they can, and if not, they can hit the road."
Using the potential flaws in their product as an excuse, William started a trend. Some government agencies found themselves in a bind: they couldn't just refuse to buy.
In truth, this so-called second supplier was already on life support. With White Systems operating this way, it was only a matter of time before others followed suit.
William put it plainly, "I've invested a fortune to develop this technology, so why should I let others profit? Not only will I not let anyone else produce it, but I'll also set up a bunch of patent barriers."
His statements were widely accepted in the IT industry; those politicians sitting in their offices didn't have a clue.
Someone mentioned, "Why are you collaborating with NEC? Didn't you give them the eight-bit processors?"
"Come on! Can't you see? Micron and UMC are just processing companies. Do you need me to spell that out? They don't have development capabilities. I refuse to create competition for myself. That's the whole reason."
This reasoning was so powerful that even those politicians had no response. Or maybe they didn't dare to speak up since William White had a sharp tongue and was known to label people. Didn't he just dismantle the gaming industry with his words? It had been a long time and the gaming industry was still stagnant.
...
Entering the 32-bit era meant more than just changes for PCs. ADSL would no longer be limited to video calls. With faster processing speeds and larger hard drive capacities, the amount of data needed to be transmitted naturally grew. Thus, William White's pocketbook was bound to benefit as well.
What surprised William was that while digital mobile communications were still unsure, ADSL had already entered the operational phase.
For William White, this was excellent news. He wasn't selling patents. Five percent of shares was as low as he'd go; the internal use of technology was plentiful for his company.
"Filson, do you think the government will fund the research for digital mobile communications? Have they reached a deal yet?"
Filson smiled wryly. "That guy in charge is a total lame duck. A plan with such a massive budget isn't getting approved. The deficit has already surpassed six hundred billion this year, and he doesn't want to pass a hot potato to Bush.
Sir, this year is a lost cause. We'll have to wait for the new leadership to come in. Seven hundred billion in deficit has set a record."
*****
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