The Goddess Shines on America

In this way, Alice easily sat in Intel's office. Like her position in Microsoft, she was among the top three shareholders and had the title of "Technical Advisor". Of course, everyone, including the company's three founders, current chairman Gordon Moore, CEO Secret Grove, and the high-ranking Robert Noyce, knew that this girl would be in the company. The role played is by no means just a staff existence.

On the day of the general meeting of shareholders, Alice spent the entire working time patrolling the building, visiting every office, knowing the name of every employee, and also knowing the address of the company's current fab in the United States. Through the financial report, a thorough understanding of the current situation of the entire company was carried out.

When the price remains constant, the number of components that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double approximately every 18-24 months, and the performance will also double. In other words, the computer performance that each dollar can buy will more than double every 18-24 months. The famous Moore's Law reveals the speed of progress in information technology, and as the person who put forward this law, Gordon Moore's position in Intel Corporation is beyond doubt. And he was the only one who, as Alice pored over the company documents, had the most to say about the ideas she came up with.

"Computer technology was born in the United States," said Moore in the spacious and bright chairman's office in the afternoon: "Stanford University, Caltech, and of course Berkeley, these universities provide Silicon Valley with countless talents every year. It’s the cradle of the entire computer industry. So Alice, it’s really hard for me to understand why you want to pay for a laboratory in the UK?”

There is a sentence that Moore has not yet expressed, that is, Intel also has its own laboratory, so why bother?

When the price remains constant, the number of components that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double approximately every 18-24 months, and the performance will also double. Of course, this does not mean that as soon as the time comes, Intel can directly ask offline manufacturers to produce electronic products of this specification. born in a computer lab.

The R\u0026D and production of new CPUs is not a time-saving and labor-saving process, let alone a money-saving process. First of all, the company needs to have a professional laboratory, recruit a sufficient number of computer experts, conduct research on new products day and night, and continuously invest funds to update equipment and provide raw materials in the process. Then, when the new product is actually released, they have to ensure that the craftsmanship of the exclusive factory is qualified, and that they can really produce products of comparable standards. This kind of reliable next door is not easy to pass, and naturally it is even more expensive the cost of.

Talents, laboratories, processing plants, and even headquarters, Intel's world is all in the United States, and there is nothing more convenient than this. But now, Alice actually proposed to go to England to build a laboratory, which is really surprising.

"In principle, this requires a non-disclosure agreement to be signed." Alice slowly sipped tea. At this time, Moore had inquired about the details long before the new shareholder was going to visit, so he had already prepared a box of top-quality Biluochun. .

"Of course, you are the founder and chairman of Intel, and I'm the newcomer, so this step can be omitted." She smiled and looked at Moore who was listening carefully. The contact between intellectuals is convenient, as long as We are talking about the technical field, as long as the two parties have already learned about each other's abilities through various channels, it will be very easy to chat - of course, just don't drill into the horns.

"The reason why I want to set up a separate laboratory overseas is not directly for Intel's business, but to start a new business - the research and development of ternary computers."

This term really surprised Moore, but of course it was not because of the novelty of the concept. He just looked at Alice in surprise, a trace of astonishment first flashed across his face, and then turned into doubt: "Trinary system? The one developed by the Soviet Union? The feasibility is no problem, but we don't need it, right? "

The completely unexpected answer made Alice sip half a cup of tea before she answered without thinking: "If you are a pure businessman who considers profit and loss, your answer is normal. But Mr. Moore, we Silicon Valley people Isn’t the purpose of working in the computer industry to change the world and pursue the latest technology? A positive, a negative, and a tie, one right and one wrong plus unknown, typical anthropomorphic thinking mode, don’t you like it?”

"One positive, one negative, one equal, one positive, one negative plus unknown? Anthropomorphic thinking?" Moore fully understands the term trinary, but the words after Alice really made him a little dazed. , so that he muttered to himself.

The news that the ternary computer was abandoned by the Soviet authorities was exposed many years ago, but it has never attracted anyone's attention. After all, it was the Soviet Union's business to develop it. The United States, the birthplace of computers, is a binary world. Who would study the things of that camp without developing a ready-made foundation?

"Indeed, it is not more than ten years ago now. With our current technology, it is indeed possible to use faster and more reliable ferrite cores and semiconductor diodes to form a very good controllable current transformer, and then Indicates positive, negative, and zero voltages, and consumes very little power."

Anyway, she is also the creator of Moore's Law, and Alice's words can trigger a lot of associations in him. However, power is power after all. After serving as the chairman of Intel for 20 years, he immediately raised a crucial question.

"If you only plan to build this laboratory with personal funds, that is your freedom, and we have no right to interfere. But Alice, since you want to borrow Intel's capital, then I have to ask you a very important question on behalf of all shareholders. question."

They all knew what the problem would be, so Alice simply said "Uh-huh."

"Companies cannot do business that loses money. Manufactured products may not be put into practical use. Whether the technology is mature or not, manufacturing costs, development methods, and supporting products require the cooperation of the entire industry. From various types of hardware and their drivers, to Operating systems and various application software, without decades of dedicated development, you simply can’t get them together!”

The more he went on, the more excited Gordon Moore's tone became. At the end, he even ended with a high-pitched aria. Sitting opposite this old man who was nearly 60 years old, seeing his face flushed with excitement, Alice was a little intimidated by his aura, so much so that she had to straighten her body back!

So, after realizing his gaffe, Moore immediately panted and smiled: "I'm sorry, boy, ah no, Alice, I'm excited, after all, your ideal is indeed very great. Trinary computer... Good guy, boy , Ah no, Alice, I have to admit, if you look at it purely from the perspective of new technology research and development, I support you 100%!"

They are all sensible people, and Moore certainly knows how important scientific research is. Many projects cannot be commercialized in just five or ten years, and theoretical physics and fundamental physics research is an endless work. Of course, the ternary computer has its development significance.

But because of this, the old man also said a correct but meaningless nonsense - I support you, I support you spiritually, I support you 100% spiritually, as for practical actions... cough cough.

But it was his words that Alice was waiting for.

"I already have a candidate for a researcher." She slowly filled a cup of tea for herself: "I recruited a group of folk talents from all over the world, of course, about 70% of them are in the United States. It's the so-called folk masters, idle Being idle is idle, and giving them a legitimate job can be regarded as giving them a sense of existence in life. Of course, more importantly, some people can explain to their parents~”

This sentence is too subtle. What do you mean by being an idle folk master who has no sense of existence in life and explains work problems to parents?

Moore has been in the industry for more than 20 years, and sitting in front of him is a girl like Alice Wang, so after a little thought, a dumbfounding answer immediately popped into his mind.

"hacker!?"

"Bingo!" Alice snapped her fingers for him: "The research and development of the ternary computer, and I also plan to set up the laboratory in an uninhabited place. Think about it, for that group of people one day For the second-year middle school boys who always like to hang out online when they have nothing to do at night, is there any project that is more second-year-old than ternary computer research and development!?"

Just now, Moore himself was the example. When it was Alice's turn, her tone became more and more high-pitched, so that at the end, it turned into an aria-like tone. So, before expressing any further thoughts, Moore first comforted her dumbfoundedly: "It makes sense, it makes sense, what you said makes sense."

After Alice stopped talking contentedly, Moore recalled her words, but was attracted by an unimportant word in it: "You just commented on the group of hackers and this project as...Joan...囧...inverse? What's the meaning?"

"Secondary two, well, you can look up the specific meaning in the Japanese dictionary." Alice waved her hand, wisely shrugging off this crooked topic: "So first of all, it can save a lot of money for talents to go to the company. Me , Of course, I don’t expect to make quick money with this kind of computer, find them a house in the ice and snow, and go make money every day~”

As she spoke, Alice seemed to be obsessed with something very interesting, and she smiled so...gloating.