Chapter 118: Don't Take Large Steps

Words : 1025 Updated : Sep 30th, 2025

Even if they didn't understand gaming consoles, already realized that a trap had been set and Atari would be buried as soon as they stepped in. Steve Ross was having a headache over this. He definitely wanted to salvage the situation, maybe get a Legendary World arcade machine. However, William White turned out to be more shameless than he imagined. Games couldn't be copied, and the system was burned into the storage. Once you took it out, it was useless. It was a one-time thing. "What if it breaks down? How do we fix it?" "You need to replace the whole mainboard." Their game machines weren't designed for repairs, they were made of various components that weren't easy to understand. Even if you figured it out, what would you do about the pile of patents? Develop your own? Okay, that's possible, but you'd need at least a hundred million dollars. And those damn games, you can't finish this in the short term. Lacking creativity is like a bird without wings; programming isn't the hard part, game ideas are the tough nut to crack, and you can't just buy them. ... "Boss, you're not buying Disney anymore?" "Yeah, Jason, what makes you say that?" "Everyone's talking about it, and Disney's stock seems to be falling." "You don't want to reach too far too soon; you might get yourself in trouble." "Haha, boss, what kind of joke is that?" "Try it yourself and you'll know. If you mess up, I'm not responsible." Risk is fine, but there's no need for a steep price with no return. Rome wasn't built in a day, and laying a solid foundation was what he needed to focus on. "Come on, Jason, it's so hot. Let's go for a swim." "Boss, you've gotten quite a tan lately." "Haha, that's right. I was too pale; it was embarrassing as heck." "Stop, stop, silly dog, don't jump in." Splash! The silly dog was unmistakably stubborn, never listening, which left William White speechless. "Darn it, get back here right now, or there will be consequences." As soon as the husky started making trouble, nobody could enjoy themselves because it loved to play the role of a lifeguard. The two of them and the dog were having a blast, and the servants were happy too. Outsiders might not know how they saw William White, but at home, he was a big kid who loved to fool around, definitely not a serious type. ... William White was enjoying his vacation. Since it was too hot, he wasn't keen on doing much. The actors' strike had ended, but no one wanted to start working again because neither side was satisfied. CAA suffered the most; many artists started reevaluating this agency. Exploiting low-income actors was not good and put big-name actors in an awkward position. Most important of all, there was someone who refused to cooperate. White Films wasn't a small company anymore and had promoted more than just one or two actors. Many big-name actors actually understood that the agency's bundled services did increase their bargaining power. It was just a matter of different perspectives, nothing about right or wrong. The key point was that this was something that's hard to talk about openly. William White knew he only slowed down CAA's pace. This bundled service still had a market. A-list stars naturally wanted higher pay. As for the underdogs? Getting into a movie was already a blessing. How could they complain about low wages? In Hollywood, resources were everything, and they should be grateful for even getting an audition. How could they dare to make demands? ... "Young Master, Mr. Steve Jobs sent over a computer. Would you like to take a look now or later?" "I'll check it now. Is the delivery man gone?" "Yes, he already left in a hurry." "Ha, Jobs is about to go all out." After fiddling with the new Apple II, he found it was better than what he'd provided them. Looks like Jobs had his old habits back; he not only refused to back down but aimed to surpass himself. "Goodness, if you keep at it, Mike Markkula should be worried. Lisa's computer will be hard to sell for sure, complete chaos awaits them." William White planned to enjoy the show, and things went just as he expected. ... Mike Markkula now had a huge headache. They had already poured a lot of money into the Lisa project, and now they might need a CPU change. That's a big problem. The costs were completely different. Right now, the difference seemed so small. William White had managed to shrink down the 68000, so naturally, he could make the 16-bit CPU smaller too, either by lowering the frequency or by directly changing the bus to 16-bit, thus widening the gap. ... Wall Street thought William White was aggressive, but the IT world disagreed, especially the genius designers at Motorola. They believed William White was just squeezing the toothpaste and even hindering the progress of human technology. Regarding the designers' complaints, William White couldn't be too harsh. He had to switch on his BS mode, asking them to reduce power consumption and claiming it was for the Earth. Those supercomputers were ridiculous; they required a separate power station, which wasn't environmentally friendly. Some designers indeed got swayed and quickly went back to work. William White didn't skimp on R&D funds, but his development direction didn't match theirs. In the current situation, Motorola was very content; they owned a lot of shares, and this chip department could go public separately in the future -- it was a big win for them. Actually, it wasn't that they didn't want to, but they couldn't. Their foundation was different. Unlike Intel, they didn't have as many outstanding designers; the 68000 was a happy accident, and they couldn't simply come up with another one. ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

Chapter 118: Don't Take Large Steps

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