Chapter 778: Xia Daxiong is going to act cool

Seattle Computer Products!

The next day, Xia Yu followed the location on the information he had already investigated and found the target.

This company is a well-known software company in Seattle, established in 1972, and now has more than 100 employees.

This time, Xia Yu plans to fully acquire Seattle Computer Products.

Since Microsoft cannot be taken over, then as long as this company is taken over, the effect will be the same.

Even because of the strength and popularity of Seattle Computer Products, coupled with Xia Yu's status as a director of IBM, it will be easier to obtain orders for IBM's operating system than in history.

The prerequisite is that Xia Yu must come up with an operating system.

In the previous life, Microsoft bought the QDOS system from an employee of this company and transformed it into its own MS-DOS system, thus gradually making Microsoft legendary in the field of operating systems.

After entering the company, Xia Yu bluntly proposed to acquire Seattle Computer Products.

This time, he was different from his attitude towards Microsoft, and appeared to be more forceful. He let his subordinates handle the negotiations, and made the final decision at critical moments.

The three founders of Seattle Computer Products were not from wealthy families, so they were not as far-sighted as Bill Gates, and money did the trick.

Because of the urgency, Xia Yu and the others negotiated with them four times in succession, and then agreed on a price. Seattle Computer Products was acquired in its entirety for the high price of 6.2 million US dollars.

As for the three company founders, two of them left, and the most important one, Andy Ross, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), changed his mind and stayed after talking to Xia Yu alone for an afternoon.

...

'Andy, please show me around the company and familiarise me with the situation,'

Xia Yu said with a faint smile as he arrived at Seattle Computer Products one morning and found Andy Ross, the only remaining founder, and gave him his instructions.

Andy Ross obediently said, 'Yes, boss. Please follow me.'

Andy Ross was also a genius. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in computer science and returned to his hometown of Seattle after graduation. Together with two friends, he founded Seattle Computer Products and, thanks to his strong technical expertise, was appointed Chief Technology Officer.

It could be said that he was the person of greatest value at Seattle Computer Products. After all, most of the company's products were developed under his leadership.

Andy Ross suddenly changed his mind and refused to resign, which made his two friends furious. However, Andy Ross was very determined.

There was nothing that could be done. For someone obsessed with technology, nothing is more attractive than new knowledge and ideas.

That afternoon, Xia Yu had a good chat with him about the development of the computer and software industries, looking forward to an infinite future, and drew a very delicious, seemingly attainable big pie, which aroused Andy Ross's infinite yearning.

In the end, Andy Ross was bowled over by Xia Yu's ideas and was convinced to join the company.

Xia Yu reckons that the persuasive skills he used that afternoon were definitely on a par with Jack Ma's big pie-in-the-sky technique.

In no time at all, Xia Yu followed Andy Ross to the company's software development department.

In this department, in a large office area, there were at least 70 or 80 people in sight.

In front of these people, there was an Apple II computer that was currently very popular on the market. Everyone was intently tapping away at the keyboard, presumably programming.

With so many Apple II computers, it would cost at least $150,000 to buy them all.

But the Apple II was indeed the best personal computer available, the best programming tool, and using it would enable more efficient value creation.

No matter how much you save, you shouldn't save money on the tools you use to make a living.

Andy Ross wanted to applaud to draw everyone's attention, but Xia Yu directly stopped his hand and shook his head to stop him, saying softly:

'Andy, let me take a look first.'

Andy Ross was a little confused and couldn't figure out what Xia Yu wanted, so he nodded dumbly and replied softly, 'Okay.'

Then, he followed Xia Yu around as Xia Yu walked around.

Starting near the door, Xia Yu came up behind a programmer and watched him type lines of code.

These seemingly dull lines of code were clear as day to Xia Yu, as simple as the 26 letters of the alphabet to someone who had passed the TEM-8 exam.

There was no way around it, Xia Yu was proficient in the programming skills of the future, and the programming skills of the future, algorithms and syntax, etc., had been continuously developed and optimised over the decades, but looking back now, it was like a PhD student entering primary school.

The current programming languages and algorithms are still in their infancy. Although Bell Labs of AT&T officially released the C language in 1978, it did not define a complete C language standard.

It was not until 1983 that the American National Standards Institute set a standard for the C language.

The C language is not even universal, let alone C++ and Java.

The common basic language, which Xia Yu happened to remember, was so easy for him.

The programmer looked back and saw several people standing behind him. He had heard of Xia Yu, and it seemed that he was the new boss of the acquiring company, while Andy Ross was the chief technology officer.

Standing behind him with so many important people made him feel uncomfortable, and he made several typing mistakes while programming, obviously not concentrating.

Xia Yu gave a small smile, patted him on the shoulder, and whispered, 'Don't be nervous, man, do a good job!'

'Thanks!'

The programmer blinked, smiled, and continued working with renewed energy.

Xia Yu then continued on, stopping from time to time to observe the work of different programmers.

Just then, he stopped behind a programmer in his thirties, looked at the programmer, whose brow was furrowed and who was deep in thought, and then looked at the computer screen.

In a few moments, Xia Yu finished reading the code, and a flash of realization crossed his eyes.

It turned out to be a programming error, and it looked like the cause of the error was relatively advanced, not just a simple mistake of the wrong letter or word symbol.

Seeing that Xia Yu seemed interested, Andy Ross whispered in Xia Yu's ear, 'Boss, this is the company's senior engineer Jack Rhodes, one of the top few in the company. The problem he is thinking about is one of the company's existing difficulties, and he has been stuck on it for two weeks. I haven't had a clear idea yet, so I've asked the company's engineers to take turns trying to solve it, in case they get a sudden burst of inspiration.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly to show his understanding, patted Jack Rhodes on the shoulder, and woke the latter up.

The latter was interrupted in his thoughts and was in a bad mood, but when he saw Xia Yu and Andy Ross next to him, he took a deep breath.

Xia Yu said with a smile, 'Let me take a look.'

Andy Ross immediately said to Jack Rhodes, 'Jack, could you please get up for a moment and let the boss have a look?'

Jack Rhodes was taken aback. Although he obediently got up, the look in his eyes as he looked at Xia Yu was full of doubt, as if he was wondering if Andy Ross was joking.

Andy Ross shook his head, a feeling of anticipation rising in his heart, and said to Jack Rhodes, 'Jack, don't say anything for now, just watch quietly.'

Jack Rhodes shrugged and whispered, 'Okay.'

Xia Yu did not pay attention to the conversation and eye contact between the two, and directly pulled the program being edited to the top and began to read it carefully.