Speaking of personal computers, the first person that most people who know this history think of is naturally Steve Jobs. The Apple he founded ushered in a new era of personal computers and created a new market worth trillions of dollars.
However, as the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs was not a master proficient in computer technology. On the contrary, he was a college student who dropped out of school, and his computer technology was only at a relatively acceptable level. Compared with just picking someone from Silicon Valley, There may not be as many engineers as there are engineers out there. Jobs's strength is his persistence in products. He wants to provide the public with the products he thinks they need, such as the concept of personal computers, future music players, smart phones, tablets, etc.
The real big shot behind Apple, or the early technological foundation, is another Apple co-founder—Steve Gary Wozniak.
There were still a few days left before Costco opened. Chen Zhiwen took advantage of the free time and drove a few people to Silicon Valley in Los Angeles. In a messy bar, he found a man who was drinking beer and watching a football game. Steve Watts.
"Hello, Mr. Watts, my name is Eric Chen. I'm glad to find you." Chen Zhiwen ordered the most expensive wine and handed it to Steve Watts.
"I don't know you." Steve Watts looked at the Asian in front of him warily. She wasn't a girl. Why did she come over to strike up a conversation? If you treat yourself to a drink, is he gay? Could it be that my round body shape is a good match in the eyes of gays?
"I have a friend who knew Steve Jobs. He accidentally heard from Jobs that your electronic technology is very powerful, so I came to find you." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
If you directly say that you know Steve Jobs, it will be easy to cheat in the future. But if there is another person in the middle, it will be difficult to judge. Most people will not really ask who this friend's friend is.
"That kid Steve is pretty good. He knows how to talk about me. I've helped him solve a lot of problems." Woz lowered his guard when he heard his friend's name.
"I heard that Mr. Jobs received 5,900 US dollars from Atari before, all thanks to your technology. This has made my friends envious for a long time." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"$5,900?" Woz almost spit out his drink and said, "Isn't it $900?"
"No? The $900 is just the fee the company paid him to complete the project, and the $5,000 is an additional reward for Jobs to reduce the number of chips to less than 50. Many people at Atari know this." Chen Zhiwen said with some surprise. .
"Damn bastard." Woz cursed a little, and after a while he sighed and said, "Speaking of which, Steve only said half of the project bonus, and didn't say anything about the additional bonus, but he should have told me."
"Perhaps there is some misunderstanding?" Chen Zhiwen persuaded with "kindness".
The story of Jobs and Woz is not a secret on the Internet in later generations. In 1972, Jobs, who had just entered his freshman year, disliked what he learned in college, so he dropped out of school and found a job working in a game company. Jobs, which is the most famous Atari in later generations, met Woz by chance. Jobs was proficient in product concepts, Woz was proficient in technology, and the two got along well.
Atari, when it was first founded, released a game called Ping Pong, which was a video game that simulated table tennis. The page was very simple, and no one would have even looked at it in the 21st century, but it was very popular in 1972. Bars across the United States were making a lot of money that year, but the founder of Atari was also starting a business for the first time and made the most common mistake-not registering a patent.
By the time they reacted, various shoddy table tennis games had begun to appear on the market in large quantities. But at this point, table tennis could no longer be saved. Atari decided to develop a single-player ball game, which was a bit small for later generations. Arkanoid of fame.
However, unlike table tennis, there are many bricks on the game interface of Arkanoid. At the same time, the trajectory of the ball is more complex, and the algorithm requirements are also higher, which requires high computing and storage requirements.
In the 1970s, chips had just been developed and their computing power was very low. Whether it was industrial computers, commercial computers or other industries, they relied on stacking chips to improve their computing power. The Arkanoid arcade machine developed by Atari's internal engineers required more than There are 150 chips, and each chip costs thirty or forty dollars. The cost is so high that no bar will be willing to buy it.
Therefore, Atari initiated an internal reward. Whoever can successfully develop an Arkanoid arcade machine with less than 100 chips will receive a reward of US$900. On this basis, every time 10 more chips are reduced, the reward will be 900 US dollars. Add another $1,000 reward.
This award was a huge bonus in the early 1970s. Atari engineers worked very hard, but after several months of hard work, the most successful group only reduced the number of chips to 30, but the arcade machine with 120 chips , the cost is still too high.
Jobs was also interested in the bonus, but he was just an ordinary technician and didn't understand chips, so he found his friend Woz who was working at HP at the time.
Jobs told Woz: The design must be completed within 4 days and use as few chips as possible. They split the bonus for completing the work half and half.
For the next four days, the two worked almost without sleep, with Jobs creating prototypes and testing and Woz handling the technical aspects.
Unexpectedly, these two people really made this "Arkanoid" in 4 days, which can be recorded in the history of the game forever, and the entire game only used 44 chips!
You know, although Atari was not a big company back then, the success of table tennis had already allowed it to have dozens of technical staff. However, the project that so many people had not completed for several months was eliminated by Woz 4 It was done in a day and only used 44 chips. Woz's technical talent is so high that it is very rare in the entire Silicon Valley.
In fact, Jobs's first Apple computer two years later was also designed by Woz. Otherwise, the cost would not be reduced at all.
Under the leadership of Atari, the arcade era has begun to be accepted by American bars. Chen Zhiwen is naturally ready to enter this incredibly profitable industry, but he only has creativity. Like Steve Jobs, he does not have the ability to develop games. Naturally, he needs Talents in this area, and although there are some electronic talents in Hong Kong, they are more inclined to production rather than design. In this way, this big man in Apple's history is naturally the one he needs to invite.
"Forget it, I'll go find Steve Jobs later." Woz said, "What does Mr. Chen want to see me for?"
"It's only 5,000 US dollars. Don't worry too much about Mr. Woz." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "I am planning to set up a company in the United States, and I hope to hire Mr. Woz to be the technical director of this company."
