Chapter 99: 6800

White Software drastically cut prices, urging computer manufacturers to ramp up their promotions. Many consumers who were holding on to their money no longer waited. The notion that "microcomputers are useless" was once again ridiculed, causing some of the old-timers to feel embarrassed. Whether something is useful or not should be decided by consumers, not experts. Why should they overstep their bounds? It's better to give young people more opportunities. "William, you need to speed things up. Our Lisa project can't wait," Steve Jobs said with a hint of complaint. William White, hearing Steve Jobs' slightly reproachful tone, wasn't bothered. "Steve, our test version is already in place. Your problem is in the production stage. My software can't be sold to just one company. You see, our competitors are pretty fierce," William White wasn't buying it and passed the buck directly. "Alright, alright, but don't forget your promise." "Mm, mm, rest assured. I'm very trustworthy." Despite Jobs' demands, William White felt powerless to complain. Supplying software for Apple systems for three more months wouldn't matter at all. Jobs' Lisa project was sloppy and beyond salvation. ... Steve Jobs wasn't aware yet that his biggest threat was from the Big Blue IBM and Bill Gates. Jobs didn't take Bill Gates seriously and even gave Bill's business a boost, encouraging Microsoft to venture into Office software. Bill Gates was indeed quite troubled. To say he wasn't interested would be a lie, but he wasn't that impulsive. William White wasn't easy to deal with, so it'd be best to avoid direct conflict. "Boss, Microsoft secured an order from IBM. Although it's a secret, we found out." William White was disappointed by this outcome, but he didn't pay it too much mind. "Mm, Tom, find out their plan. Microsoft can't just conjure this out of thin air. They must have acquired something or obtained some kind of license." "Okay, boss, I'll check right away." Seeing that the boss wasn't too upset, Tom relaxed a bit. "Is MSDOS about to make its grand entrance? Why do I feel a little excited? Haha!" In some sense, this was insider trading. Bill Gates didn't have a system; MSDOS was garbage he bought, tweaked slightly, and then sold. No matter when IBM PC appeared, White Software would release supporting software first. The stuff they're selling now was just a minor endeavor. If they fell behind in the next wave, there wouldn't be anything like White Software left in this world. ... Steve Jobs encountered challenges, and so did William White, facing issues not only in the software field but also with arcade games. The Motorola 68000 series had a derivative, the 65 series, which surprisingly didn't belong to Motorola. Similar to AMD's founding, differences in philosophy led key personnel to strike out on their own. The MOC company was strange. The 6502 CPU series was almost open-source, and it seemed any factory could produce it at nearly no cost. It's now a dream to think of monopolizing it. Apple's first and second generations used this CPU, and so did Atari's 2600. William White believed the 6800 had greater potential. If breakthroughs could be made in low-power consumption, the chip's potential would be enormous. "Boss, Mr. Filson has arrived." "Mm, let him go to the conference room. We'll start the meeting." "Okay, boss." Getting authorization from Motorola wasn't too hard, but acquiring an entire chip department was more challenging. Nevertheless, William White was unwilling to give up and decided to give it a shot. "Filson, what did Motorola say?" "Boss, the production license is fine. Their production capacity and yield aren't great, and they're also looking for a third-party factory." "Sigh, in short-term this may work, long-term it definitely won't. Can we poach those guys who went to MOC?" Filson thought for a moment and said, "If there's enough benefit, I believe they won't refuse." "Good, get on it. Let the Japanese semiconductor manufacturers know we need a partner." In some sense, William White was weaving his own web. Motorola didn't have much interest in the chip department initially, but with Legendary World's arcade games, this department clearly made good money. He didn't want his TV game consoles to use the 6502 anymore. Although it was quite good, the entry barrier was too low, and Atari could easily pose a threat based on it. Using the 6800 directly wasn't suitable. It would be a big waste since even the NES frequencies were below 2Hz, so there was no need to push things too far. The only issue was bandwidth. The NES had technical glitches, mainly due to insufficient bandwidth, which was an inherent flaw of 8-bit processors. If those geniuses could create an 8-bit processor based on the 68000, then a 16-bit one wouldn't be hard. If that were developed, it would definitely trump Intel's 8080. ... Motorola was also hesitant. They believed that while the 68000 had potential, the profit margin wasn't spectacular. The price per piece had dropped from $320 to about $150, and given the current trend, it might end up in the $50 range. William White didn't have the time for doubts. All departments began to act quickly. This made Motorola uneasy. It was clear White Software wasn't after the 6800 but chipset integration for game consoles. Reaching this conclusion wasn't hard. They needed design authorization to modify the 68000, and figuring out why their CPU prices kept dropping -- because MOC had outdone them -- had tangled them in lawsuits for ages. William White was reasonable, willing to pay for it, while MOC wasn't so particular. Why not collaborate then? "What? Spin-off the chip department for collaboration?" "Yes, boss, they don't want a full sale but are open to collaboration." "Mm, that can be discussed. I need at least a 30% stake. The production base will be in Japan, so there will also be a Japanese investor." "Okay, boss, we'll start negotiations immediately." ***** https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.