The news that CPT developed its first transistor computer was like a whirlwind, blowing American technology companies into pieces.

Before transistor computers appeared, the fastest computers in the world could calculate at most tens of thousands of times per second. However, computers made by Carpenter Electronics could reach millions of times! This was a very big leap, directly driving other electronic tube computers into museums of history.

Among these companies that make electronic tube computers, there is a special focus on the emergence of "first generation" transistor computers. This company is IBM, which claims to be the blue giant in the computer market!

A senior computer columnist once wrote: "When talking about computers, we must not talk about IBM."

Some people even assert that: "The history of computers is the history of IBM."

Although these arguments are biased, they are not without some reason. IBM's history does contain most of the history of computers. But that was IBM in the history without Alex. On that normal historical line, the Blue Giant IBM had dominated the vast majority of the computer market in the United States as early as the 1950s and 1960s. They entered the computer field for the first time as early as when World War II broke out.

In 1944, Watson invested 1 million yuan to successfully develop his grandmother's "MarkI" computer at Harvard University. This is an electromagnetic computer, 15 meters long, about 2.4 meters high, and a self-weight of 31.5 tons. It can perform addition operations once per second. Unfortunately, it was surpassed by computers produced by other companies shortly after it was born.

In 1947, IBM invested another $1 million to develop a computer. This computer was called "the giant tech dinosaur" by the industry, but was eventually replaced by other computers.

Old Watson was defeated repeatedly and still refused to admit his failure. He pretended to be calm and said: "The world market has only about 5 computer demands."

Whether Old Watson admits it or not, his investment has been wasted again. He is too old and is already in his seventies. The rapid update of high-tech is a phantom for him that he will never catch up with. If he wants to achieve the greatest success, he must make changes to the company, but he no longer has so much energy.

Most of the senior engineers under Old Watson were too old to keep up with the changes of the times. Almost none of them knew what electronic computers were. In order to make the "technology dinosaurs" possible, the chief designer had to go to the university for help. A few newly graduated little guys interfered because these old guys didn't know how to install new things like electronic tubes.

One day, Old Watson was angry at his engineer, and a young man came over quietly. He told Old Watson about his rebellious words, which were organized and made a deep impression on people after listening to it.

The young man dressed almost the same as Old Watson, wearing the same top hat and a suit of the same color, and his eyes and eyebrows looked like they were made of the same mold. The key is that his name is also Thomas Watson, who is Old Watson's eldest son, executive vice president of IBM, and is called Watson Jr.

Old Watson was not very relieved about his son. He knew a lot about Little Watson and always felt a little worried.

Watson Jr. is a typical playboy who causes trouble everywhere. He changed three schools in middle school. He still failed several subjects and got into the bad habit of drinking when he was in college. All of these are still remembered by Watson, just like lingering shadows.

After Watson, young father's anger calmed down, he whispered his idea: "IBM should take decisive action. I went to Pennsylvania to look at Elleac carefully. We want to create similar machines. The most urgent thing is to recruit soldiers and recruit a large number of young engineers who understand electronic technology from all over the country."

Old Watson immediately asked, "Are you talking about dozens of people? I can do it just by staying here."

"No, at least a few thousand people are required. IBM engineers must undergo a major change. Gone are the days when they knocked into machines with metal plates."

Old Watson nodded, and he thought silently: "Maybe this kid makes sense, let him try it."

Watson, a young boy, was a playboy, but during the five years of World War II, he joined the army to fly bombers for 2,500 hours and became a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. The war taught him to move forward bravely and plan, and how to organize and unite his subordinates.

After several failures, Watson, the oldest Watson handed over the steering wheel of IBM's development to his eldest son, Thomas Watson Jr. Soon, Watson Jr. implemented fundamental reforms in the company's development direction, and IBM began to transcend tradition.

Watson Jr. promoted Wally McDowell as research director, hired von Neumann as the company's shares, and recruited more than 4,000 vigorous young engineers and technicians. He also won the US Air Force's prevention and control engineering program and trained thousands of manufacturing and assembly workers.

After the team got through, Watson Jr. invested $12 million at one time to develop a full-purpose electronic computer for the Ministry of Defense. This computer is called the "defense computer", which is later renamed the mainframe of IBM701.

They gave up the piercing card and replaced them with things they were unfamiliar with in the past - tube logic circuits, core memory and tape processors, so that the machine can perform 17,000 instructions per second.

But unexpectedly, their computer was completely shocked by an earth-shaking news during its development. Carpenter Electronics' transistor computer is much better than them, with a speed that is almost two hundred times faster, and its volume and weight are only one-tenth of theirs.

"Tell me! Why is an unknown electronics company able to develop such advanced computers!"

After Watson Jr. learned the detailed parameters of the "first generation" computer, he felt dizzy. He knew that he had failed this time.

He angrily summoned his researchers and held an emergency meeting.

At the meeting, everyone held the data of the "first-generation" transistor computers released by Carpenter Electronics, as well as photos, etc. Almost couldn't believe what was written on it, their computers were already a whole generation behind others' research and development process.

Wally, the head of computer research and development at IBM, said carefully: "I have looked at their computers and found that they use logic computing modules made of bipolar transistors and integrated circuit boards, which is what they become CPUs. These bipolar transistors and integrated circuit boards have just been invented, and they invented them themselves. In other words, if we want to reach their level, we must also use transistors and integrated circuit boards to design them."

His words are very clear, that is, electronic tube computers are outdated and transistor computers must be used. However, bipolar transistors and integrated circuit boards have not long been around, which naturally has an innate advantage for Carpenter Electronics. In other words, IBM is behind others and is not a war crime.

It’s not that Watson Jr. doesn’t understand the reason, but he has received a notice from the Ministry of Defense that they don’t have to continue to develop “defense computers”. The government departments have handed over this order to Carpenter Electronics. The Ministry of Defense doesn’t want the computers they use to be far behind others before they have developed them.

"Then we will overturn the plan now and rework it!" Watson Jr. said immediately. He can't fall behind anymore. If he fails once, IBM will probably have to completely withdraw from the computer field.

"But, our order has not been..." someone immediately reminded him.

"Do as I said, we have to make the fastest computer in the world even if we don't have an order." Watson Jr. was angry when he heard this. Fortunately, he had not spent all the 12 million US dollars in his hand. If Carpenter Electronics announced the news about the transistor computer one or two later, he would be completely unable to turn over.

On this day, Watson Jr. excitedly wrote in his memo: "We are a large enterprise with a large capital and a strong staff. I really can't understand why IBM can't be one step ahead of CPT? You know, the electronics company was just acquired and reorganized from the brink of bankruptcy, and in the first few months it was still producing the world's fastest computer. It's incredible!"

At this time, compared to IBM's gloomyness, Carpenter Electronics was in high spirits. Bart just learned that the Ministry of Defense had ordered 12 "first-generation" transistor computers at once. Each of them had a profit of up to $2 million, which made Bart laugh so hard that he couldn't even close his mouth.

Not only the Ministry of Defense needs it, but other government departments have also taken action. For them, this kind of transistor computer is fast, small in size, low in price, and more practical and convenient. If Carpenter Electronics had not kept up with its production capacity, its profit this year might have exceeded 100 million.

After the first transistor computer was announced to the public, Carpenter Electronics held a special unveiling ceremony. This was not suggested by Alex, but by Lao Joe. After hearing this, Bart thought the idea was very good, so he struck while the iron was hot and invited many celebrities and magazine reporters from the scientific community to come.

Under the gaze of attention, 150 guests led by Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb" visited Carpenter Electronics to attend the unveiling ceremony of the "first generation" transistor computer. They praised the computer as "a contribution to the extreme wisdom of mankind."

Seeing so many scientists appear, Alex's little hands were itchy and wanted to help them copy the skills of those scientists. Unfortunately, he could only copy one of them. Now he is using Shockley's skills well and doesn't want to change them. In the end, he can only give up and find a way to contact them when needed in the future.

With these powerful people advocating, Carpenter Electronics became famous all over the world. Many scientists and students in school knew that there was such a company that produced the world's first transistor computer.

Now, not only the government departments have to order computers from them, but even some large companies have called to inquire about purchasing computers. Orders are like snowflakes, flying constantly.

"Alex, do you have a way to add more production lines?" Bart could no longer sit still when he saw this. He knew that the biggest problem now was that Carpenter Electronics' production was too slow and there was not much power to produce more computers.

This kind of transistor computer is not like that of later generations. It has a completely mechanical automation production line, and is still purely hand-made.

Skilled technicians still need training to be competent. If a problem occurs at a certain stage, waste may be generated. Besides, this computer with the fastest computing speed in the world, but all countries want to get high-tech products. Without some protection measures, the US government will not be assured that Carpenter Electronics will do it.

Under various conditions, Carpenter Electronics can only produce less than 50 units per year, which is already a very high output.

Alex shook his head and said, "You can discuss production matters with others. I can't do anything."

Bart looked at Alex with a bitter face and said, "What about the new computer? Are you not planning to make another one?"

"Ha? Still doing it? This computer has been sold for a long time." Alex felt that Bart was a little greedy and actually wanted a faster computer.

Bati nodded and said, "It can be sold for a long time. However, other companies have also started to develop transistor computers, so we have to speed up the R&D."

"So I asked Seymour Clay to help with research."

"He? That's not possible. Before that, he didn't even know transistors and computers very well. I dare not expect him to make anything good."

Alex had to explain: "He was not experienced enough, so I asked him to improve on the basis of the 'first generation' first. I think he will soon master the experience and knowledge in this area."

Bart thought about it and could only give up. What he and Alex didn't know was that there were many things in this "first generation" that were used in later generations, and some of the design concepts inside opened Seymour Clay's eyes. In a hurry, Seymour Clay was fascinated by the computer structures full of fantasy ideas. It took several months to create a better and improved model based on the original.

However, Seymour Clay is worthy of being a great man in computer history. It took him several years to fully understand the "first generation" transistor computer that Alex accidentally leaked.

Soon, he proposed a more advanced design plan, which is the "Clay Type I" computer. This machine is much faster than the CDC7600 that he originally developed until 1969, and can operate at a speed of 12 million times per second.

Inadvertently, Alex's flapping wings completely changed the technological development of this world, and flew all the people and things in this world onto another trajectory.
Chapter completed!