Rebirth of America, this is my time

On the surface, Nolan Bushnell's selling of Atari has nothing to do with Ethan Jones, but in fact, the involvement is very large.

For example, when Atari was in the hands of Nolan Bushnell, Ethan Jones could use the tiger's skin as a banner to use the name of Stanford to pretend to be powerful. But when Atari fell into the hands of Disney or MCA After being embraced, this little trick of bullying others has no place to use.

Needless to say, the former is a fierce representative of Disney no matter which era it is.

Underneath that friendly appearance is a bloodthirsty capital crocodile.

The latter is actually not a bad thing. MCA, founded in 1924, is also a media giant today.

Universal, one of the eight largest companies in Hollywood, is his subsidiary.

Faced with this fact, Ethan felt that he had to withdraw when the cooperation in "Snake Game" expired.

Even if they still make arcade machines in the future, they cannot be in alliance with Atari, which is committed to the giant.

Because these guys are the masters of eating people without spitting out their bones.

Who knows what they might do.

In other words, he even had a suspicion that he might not be able to leave after the "Snake Game" contract expired.

If those guys really bought Atari, they couldn't just let go of "Snake Game", right?

Everyone is not a fool, who can’t see the value of “Snake Game”!

No matter what, I will pester him to continue renewing my contract!

"Ouch! Why did this happen suddenly?"

Ethan was a little annoyed.

He was just about to act like a hunter and keep an eye on 6502, but when he turned around, someone wanted to steal his home?

Of course, despite his complaints, Ethan did not forget about business.

After quickly finishing what he was doing, he went to the phone and dialed the number Woz gave him.

Then, he heard a sweet female voice, which was the staff of the manual switching station.

After understanding Ethan's needs, the other party transferred his call to MOS Company.

The beeping sound was a long wait, but the answer five or six seconds later sounded the sound of redemption.

"Hello, MOS Technology, how can I help you?" A deep male voice came into Ethan's ears.

"Is this Mr. Chuck Paido?" Ethan looked at the business card in his hand.

On the blue and white piece of paper, there was a simple introduction——

MOS technical engineer——Chuck Peddle

Ethan's inquiry received an affirmative answer from the other party.

"Yes, I am Chuck, Chuck Paido, who are you?"

"Hello, I'm a friend of Steve Wozniak. You know Steve Wozniak, right? He's the...little fat guy you met in San Francisco before."

Ethan's words paused, but an excited voice sounded on the other end of the phone——

"Oh oh oh! I know! I know! Woz! That brother who works at HP, right?"

"I have the impression, I have the impression that he bought two MOS 6502 from me!"

"When you called me today, does it mean that he has used 6502? It's very useful, right?"

"Did he praise our chip? Did he find other problems?"

"Oh - please forgive me for being rude, because I'm so excited right now! I really want to know your feedback on 6502!"

The urgent voice made Ethan laugh.

The guy on the other end of the phone seems a little cute, right?

Although the two were far apart, Ethan could clearly feel that the guy who was answering the phone looked like a primary school student waiting for his results after an exam. His face was full of hope, eager to be praised and praised by the teacher.

And this eagerness also made Ethan clear his throat and said, "Oh, Mr. Paido, please don't be anxious."

"As you said, I did come here for 6502. My friend has used your product and it is very good."

"He even said many times that when the performance of 6502 and the low price collide, the world may change."

Ethan followed Woz's prompt and transmitted a positive feedback to the person on the other side.

After listening to his words, there was suddenly no sound on the other end of the phone.

This situation made Ethan very strange. After waiting for a few seconds, he saw that the other side was still quiet, so he called out.

"Mr. Paido? Mr. Paido?"

The cautious voice showed Ethan's doubts.

The slightly soft tone evoked a burst of sobs.

"Ahem... I'm sorry... Sir, I'm a little excited."

‘? ’ This response made Ethan a little surprised.

But the next second, the other party told the truth.

"Oh - thank you, thank you for your likes, and thank you even more for your trust."

"Actually, before Woz contacted me, many friends called me to inquire about 6502, but after hearing the price, they all thought we were liars. Only Woz, your friend, only he believed it. Kill us!"

"Thank you so much for trying! Thank you so much for your help! You proved that we are not liars! Oh - this is so exciting! Woohoo - finally someone believes us -"

"If I weren't still on the phone, I would even want to share this joy with my colleagues!"

This response made Ethan raise his eyebrows.

Well, he finally understood why Woz wanted him to be more sincere.

These guys are really...

So funny.

Thinking of this, Ethan smiled and said: "Oh, Mr. Paido, can I ask you a question?"

"Woo-oh-ok-"

"Is this your company's phone number?"

"Ahem - yes -"

"Okay, if you don't mind, you can call all your friends over."

Before Ethan finished speaking, confusion appeared on the other end of the phone, "What? Sir, I don't understand what you mean."

"I said, you can call your engineers over and I will tell them that your product is very useful."

Ethan's repetition made Chuck Paido on the opposite side ecstatic.

After screaming, Ethan only heard a dull thud, and then a burst of rapid footsteps disappeared from near to far.

After waiting for about two minutes, a roar suddenly appeared from far to near.

However, the sound left just as quickly as it came.

After the noise, there was silence.

Then, he asked, "Hello? This gentleman... Oh! I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name... That... friend of Steve Wozniak, are you still here?"

"I'm here, you can call me Ethan."

"Okay! Ethan, my colleagues are here."

"Then ask them to answer the phone."

Ethan's invitation brought endless excitement.

"Hello Ethan! I am Bill Mensch, the architect of 6502! Do you really think 6502 is very easy to use?"

"Yeah~ The personal computer we made is already running, it's great!"

"Oh! Ethan! I am Rod Ogier! Do you really like 6502?"

"Of course! We love it, we love its performance, and we love its price!"

"It's my turn! It's my turn! I'm Ray Hilt, hello Ethan, I want to know how many chips you need when you call this time? Or, can I know which company you are from? ? We can provide you with 6502 specifically. If you think $42 is too expensive, we can also give you a price of $25 per piece! Because you are the first person to buy our product!"

‘? ? ? ’

Tell the truth!

When the words of proactive discount appeared, Ethan Jones was really confused!

what is this?

How could there be such a business?

You are the seller!

Why take the initiative to discount?

Ethan opened his mouth. At this moment, he really didn't know what to say.

He admitted that the capacity of his brain could no longer bear the surprise created by the other party.

The people on the other end of the phone seemed to know that they were too excited. After a few scoldings, Chuck Paido's voice came out again, "Sorry, Ethan, we were too excited and maybe we scared you. Please forgive me."

"However, one thing is true. The price of our 6502 can indeed be lower, as low as $25."

"As for why this is the case... my colleague just said that, first of all, thank you for your trust and your choice, and secondly, when we made this chip, we never thought about making money."

"We just want to promote computers."

‘…’

Ethan was shocked!

He never expected that what the old professor said about the special code in his previous life was actually true!

This group of people is really special because they do this with ideals in mind!

Damn it! Not making money in business? What kind of spirit is this?

Ethan just felt like his head was a little down.

The stutterer checked with the other party for a while before he accepted the fact.

And when he discovered that the sincerity Woz said could actually have such a harvest, Ethan did not hesitate anymore and directly stated his purpose, "Uh... everyone, I know you can all hear me. the sound of."

"First of all, I really like your 6502. I called because I wanted to know more about this chip."

"Secondly, my real purpose is not to purchase 6502, but to know if you are willing to authorize me."

"Production authorization, R\u0026D authorization."

These words caused a strange dead silence on both ends of the phone.

It probably took several seconds before Chuck Paido spoke.

"Ethan, are you serious?"

"certainly."

"Oh...this won't work."

"Ah? Why?"

Ethan was very confused, this was different from what was written in the script!

Chuck Paido on the other end of the phone smiled bitterly and said: "Ethan, I think you may not have known us carefully before calling us, or... uh... maybe there are not many people here now. Know the problems with our MOS."

"Our central microprocessor is developed based on 6800."

"You heard it right, our 6502 is developed based on the 6800, Motorola's 6800."

"We can't actually give you authorization until this problem is solved."

"Because we currently don't have a patent."

Note: ①Chuck Paido, the patent owner of 6502. ②This chapter may seem a little fake, but in reality this group of people is like this. At first they priced it at US$42, but later at the San Francisco Electronics Show, someone said that US$25 was suitable for the public, and they immediately changed the price. Then in 1976, when Atari approached them to buy CPUs, Atari said they would not lose money on CPUs worth $12, so Chuck Padre directly changed the price and sold them for $12 apiece. Of course, in fact, MOS priced at 12 US dollars a piece is also profitable. Chuck Paido said in an interview with the American Computer History Museum in Mountain View in 2014 that the production cost of 6502 in 1975 was one board, two cores and four Dollar. A single 6502 costs only two dollars to produce.

PS, to answer the two previous questions, the first question said that the price of Apple 2 is 1298. When I wrote this paragraph, I entered it myself. I was thinking about what Jobs said above that 6502 can give Apple a low-price advantage. I completely forgot about the Apple 2. The second question is about the sale of Atari to Warner. In reality, it was sold to Warner, and the specific process was like this. When the lawsuit was filed in 1975, Nolan wanted to find a backer, and he found Disney. Disney Nolan felt the price was too low, and then MCA, who heard about the rumors, made a price. Nolan was not satisfied with both their prices. In 1976, when Nolan found out that 6502 wanted to make a home console, Warner came in and quoted a higher price. And promised to let Nolan continue to be CEO, Nolan sold it directly.