[Chapter 700: The Standout IT Industry]
It should be said that the political stances of the Donkey and the Elephant were completely different, as were their attitudes towards the real economy.
From the Elephant's perspective, only very large computers counted as high technology. What was a personal PC, really? What was the difference between that and a PlayStation game console? Rumor had it that the PS3's computing speed would far exceed that of the mainstream PCs at that time.
"Export restrictions? Tom, are you kidding? Is Saddam planning to launch missiles with a game console? Is he playing Red Alert?"
With a chuckle, a little assistant could no longer hold back her laughter, possibly feeling it was a little rude. She twisted her waist and disappeared, likely to hide somewhere and laugh.
"Uh, sir, I don't know if Saddam plays games, but those high-income groups in Iraq aren't averse to electronics."
"Damn it, let them impose restrictions. At this point, we should keep a low profile. By the way, go ahead and make a statement. Legendary World advocates peace; we don't want our products used for military purposes. For the upcoming versions, we may need to scale back some functionalities."
What? Tom nearly fainted. He had never seen anyone like this before. Would they still sell PS3s on the market? This was extreme marketing!
"Ahem, I got it, sir. I'll prepare right away." Tom walked away with light steps; his mission was to restock quickly.
Meanwhile, William White was busy educating Lisa. Yeah, he needed to give her a serious lesson -- she had been too rude.
...
Unlike the Elephant's oblivion and ignorance, the Donkey had always supported the IT industry. The big shots in Silicon Valley also liked to consider the Donkey as one of their own.
If you wanted to make a comeback in the U.S., your chances of success were incredibly limited. In traditional fields, you wouldn't even dare to think about it; not even William White would easily venture in.
Silicon Valley was a different story. Even if there were a few IT giants, they didn't create any monopolies. If you had a good idea, you had the potential to realize your dreams.
When standing on Wall Street, you would surely hear many people lamenting about tough times.
Meanwhile, the core of Silicon Valley was a different scene altogether.
No one had time for nostalgia; they were either busy making money or busy easing the process of making money. The marks left by that massive earthquake had basically vanished.
...
"Sir, that kid from Arkansas won! This might be a major boost for the IT industry."
"Yeah, the Elephant is just too out of touch and too old. If these guys don't change, they really won't stand a chance against the Donkey." Even though William White had known this result ahead of time, he still felt a pang of sadness. Times were progressing; how could one not adapt?
Indeed, since the internet became a thing, the world had been changing.
One might wonder why the noble families of ancient times could persist, even through wars; they wouldn't sever their lineage. The magic tool was knowledge. Even if you became an emperor while herding sheep, without the help of scholars, you couldn't rule.
What about the internet's role?
It had essentially lowered the barrier to acquiring knowledge. Before, if you lived in some small town, there was hardly any way to understand the world. The real world as you saw it had little relevance.
However, not many people understood all this, and at least, that crowd of politicians from the Elephant camp didn't get it at all. Computers were obviously useful to them; for instance, if you planned to land on the moon, computing speed was vital.
"Filson, the speed of economic recovery has slowed a bit. If it had been just two months earlier, the outcome would have been hard to predict."
"Yeah, sir, the securities market had already reacted in advance. If they paid more attention to the IT industry..."
William White smiled wryly. What could he possibly say to a bunch of cowboys? For them, game consoles were fantastic; there was no relation to high tech whatsoever.
But surely, Intel and IBM couldn't sit still now. What a thing to jest about -- personal PCs being less than game consoles.
...
"Michael, you shouldn't be so hung up on this. P5 is about to launch, and this awkward situation won't last long." While comforting his close friend, Jobs still felt a bit frustrated. Dell's computers were getting slammed, and so were his own.
"Steve, your computers are different. If you hadn't priced them so high, no one would complain."
Jobs felt a bit down. Can't we avoid slapping each other like this? If this continued, they wouldn't have anything left to talk about.
"Michael, how many units do you sell in a year? How many do I sell? They are completely different situations. By the way, didn't third-party GPUs already emerge? Why are you still worried?"
"William White, that bastard! You know what? The version you bought is the professional edition; what they provide to us is the public edition. I heard there would be a game version later. The core chips are similar, so how come he has so many tricks?"
William White didn't know that the two jerks were complaining about him. If he knew, he wouldn't care less. Why the hell was he the world's richest man while they weren't? That really pointed out the stark difference.
GPU and CPU were alike; the quality varied over the same assembly line. Some forty Hertz machines just didn't cut it -- basically a hotbox -- while some at sixty Hertz were quite good. If they didn't break them down for individual sale, wouldn't the guys be at a disadvantage?
Of course, with the continuous improvement of manufacturing technology, product quality would also get better. At that time, some functions would need to be artificially cut back.
Shameless?
Haha, seeing later Intel, they just didn't use the 7nm technology. Since 14nm could hammer AMD, if their boss wasn't out of his mind, they definitely wouldn't switch it up.
From this angle, monopolistic companies truly were stumbling blocks to technological advancement. As long as these guys existed, progress had to go according to their wishes.
Of course, these guys would eventually end up shooting themselves in the foot. As they continued to drag their feet, mobile terminals would not miss the opportunity to catch up. Within three to five years, computers might not even be a necessity anymore.
Haha, at that time, dead tech companies would be plentiful.
*****
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