Chapter 110 Indirect Cooperation
The U.S. GDP in 1980 was $2.86 trillion, and its per capita GDP was $1.26.

Fang Hexuan, the richest man in Hong Kong, has a personal fortune of nearly US$80 billion.

In fact, two years later, in 1982, the first Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans was released.
Shipping magnate Daniel K. Ludwig, the richest man in the United States that year, had a net worth of only $20 billion.

Of course, this is just the wealth data that Forbes can find on the surface.

The real old money families in America are definitely much richer than this person.

Later, the top American billionaires, such as the Walton family and Gates, were accumulating strength.

Only when globalization begins and the Internet boom explodes will their wealth increase explosively.

There is no professional media or publication that counts the wealth of the world's richest people.
But no matter what, with Fang Hexuan's wealth, he would definitely be ranked in the top 20.

Therefore, he had no pressure at all to set up Maple Leaf's R&D center in Silicon Valley and establish Maple Leaf Computer's US branch.

He hopes to have as much technology and talent as possible that can be bought with money.

During this period, the main development direction of Silicon Valley was semiconductor and hardware research and development.

Therefore, there are the most relevant talents.

It is the perfect place for Maple Leaf to set up its R&D center and branch here.

The task of finding office locations and recruiting engineers was left to local real estate centers and talent agencies.

He flew east to Armonk, New York, a city not far from New York and the headquarters of IBM.

Long before he left, he contacted IBM through his connections at Seattle Computer Products Company.

At this time, IBM was not only powerful, but also very well-known.

But CEO Frank Cary still did not neglect to be listed as the richest man in Hong Kong by Time magazine.

After both parties sat down, the blonde office lady at the front desk served them coffee.

Fang Hexuan complimented politely: "It is an honor to visit IBM, and thank you Mr. Cary for the hospitality."

The reason why he keeps a low profile is that IBM is indeed too powerful now.

For a long time, IBM has been synonymous with computers and is known as the "Blue Giant".

How could Fang Hexuan, a reborn person, not understand the technical strength it contains?

“I am also honored to host distinguished guests from Asia.”

"Thank you, Mr. Cary. I have admired IBM for a long time. I am visiting you this time in the hope of reaching a cooperation agreement with your company."

"Cooperation? As far as I know, Mr. Fang is engaged in the film and real estate business in Hong Kong, which seems to have nothing to do with IBM's electronics business."

"Mr. Cary is only half right. I am also entering the automotive field. However, I came to the United States this time to develop the personal computer business."

"Oh? Mr. Fang, you mean to cooperate with IBM on hardware technology?"

"That's certainly one thing, but I also want to provide an operating system for every IBM personal computer."

"Mr. Fang, I don't understand what you are talking about?"

"Hehe, Mr. Cary, almost everyone in Silicon Valley knows that IBM will launch a personal computer next year."

"And my operating system can easily provide a simple usage environment for your company's personal computers."

“This is a win-win collaboration.”

"Mr. Fang, you just said that you also want to enter the personal computer industry. Then we are competitors. Why do you think IBM will cooperate with its competitors?"

“Haha, the reason is not difficult to understand.”

"First, it will take my computer company at least two years to launch a complete machine. By that time, IBM's computers will probably have occupied most of the market." "Second, although the current home computer market has yet to be developed, the prospects are very broad. We are only competing for incremental growth, which is in line with the spirit of the free market."

"Third, I believe IBM will develop and produce its own chips sooner or later. I can promise that as long as the quality meets the requirements, I can use IBM's computer chips instead of Intel's products."

"Fourth, IBM will always be my teacher. Apple and even other American computer companies are IBM's strongest competitors."

"I admit that what you said makes some sense, but IBM needs to test whether the operating system you provide meets the requirements first."

"No problem. My system is called 86-DOS, a disk operating system. It is very simple to use and easy to maintain. IBM will not disappoint you."

"hope so!"

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After reaching a preliminary cooperation agreement with IBM, Fang Hexuan returned to Seattle.

This time, he went directly to Microsoft and met his curly-haired classmate Gates who was wearing black-framed glasses.

Although the other party is five years older than him, Fang Hexuan feels that Gates is more like a student than himself.

However, he did not dare to underestimate the world's richest man.

If Fang Hexuan hadn't intervened, Microsoft would have cooperated with IBM and provided it with OS software soon.

It can be seen that Gates' vision, family background and decisiveness are extraordinary.

Because Gates stayed up late to write programs last night, when he saw Fang Hexuan, he looked sleepy, as if he had not woken up yet.

Fang Hexuan didn't care. This was a typical work and rest habit of a programmer, so he just needed to understand it.

"Hello, my name is Fang Hexuan, I'm Chinese, from Hong Kong, and I founded a computer company in Silicon Valley a few days ago."

"I also purchased an operating system that I plan to use on my company's personal computers."

"Our company's product will not be launched for another two years, so I decided to find IBM and use this OS on their equipment to test the effect of later use."

"I heard that Microsoft is the most creative software company in the United States. I hope to cooperate with you to improve this operating system and then install it on IBM's personal computers."

After listening to Fang Hexuan's long self-introduction, Gates immediately stopped feeling sleepy.

In fact, when they started their business in 1975, Gates and Allen were already selling the BASIC programming language.

Later, after Microsoft was founded, they began selling BASIC interpreters, which are programming software.

Gradually, Gates discovered that the personal computer market had a broader prospect.

Therefore, the idea of ​​developing an operating system designed for PCs emerged.

However, this attempt has not yielded any results so far.

He had heard that a programmer from a company in Seattle had written a DOS system, but he had never seen it in person.

Now, this Chinese man with an oriental face said that he also has a system ready for IBM to use.

This made him clear his thoughts instantly.

Yes, first cooperate with big companies, and then improve little by little.

"Hello Mr. Fang, welcome to Microsoft, can I take a look at your operating system now?"

"Haha, Mr. Gates, you should have heard of this operating system. It was also developed by a company in Seattle. It's called 86-DOS."

"What? You bought it?"

"Yes, I bought it four days ago. I hope to work with Microsoft to improve this system and then push it to IBM."

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(End of this chapter)