A Group of Lovely People

Chapter 50 A Group of Lovely People

On the surface, Nolan Bushnell's sales of Atari have nothing to do with Ethan Jones, but in reality, the connection is quite significant.

For example, when Atari was in Nolan Bushnell's hands, Ethan Jones could use the name of Stanford to bully others by leveraging Atari's influence. But once Atari fell into the hands of Disney or MCA, this kind of bullying trick became useless.

The former needs no further explanation; regardless of the era, Disney has always been a symbol of ferocity.

Beneath that friendly exterior lies a bloodthirsty capitalist behemoth.

The latter is no pushover either; MCA, founded in 1924, is a media giant.

Universal, one of the eight major Hollywood studios, is his subsidiary.

Faced with this reality, Ethan felt that he had to withdraw once the collaboration with Snake Game expired.

Even if they continue to make arcade games in the future, they cannot form an alliance with Atari, which is subservient to a giant.

Because these guys are the kind of people who eat people without spitting out the bones.

Who knows what they'll do?

Or rather, he even had a suspicion that he might not be able to leave after his contract with Snake Game expired.

If those guys really bought Atari, they wouldn't possibly leave Snake Game behind, would they?

Everyone's smart enough to see the value of Snake Game!

I'll keep pestering him to renew the contract no matter what!

"Oh dear! How could something like this suddenly happen?"

Ethan was a little annoyed.

He was just about to play the hunter and keep an eye on 6502 when, as soon as he turned around, someone tried to steal his house.

Of course, despite his complaints, Ethan didn't forget the important matter.

After quickly finishing what he was doing, he went to the telephone and dialed the number Woz had given him.

Then he heard a sweet female voice; it was a staff member at the human operator's switchboard.

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

The beeping sound signaled a long wait, but the call being answered five or six seconds later brought a harbinger of salvation.

"Hello, this is MOS Technology. How can I help you?" A deep male voice entered Ethan's ears.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Chuck Patrick?" Ethan asked, looking at the business card in his hand.

On the blue and white striped paper was a simple introduction—

MOS Technical Engineer - Chuck Peddle

Ethan's question received an affirmative answer from the other side.

"Yes, I am Chuck, Chuck Patto. And you are?"

"Hello, I'm a friend of Steve Wozniak. You know Steve Wozniak, right? The one you met in San Francisco before... the chubby guy."

Ethan paused briefly, but an excited voice came from the other end of the phone—

"Oh, I know! I know! Wozniak, the guy who works at HP, right?"

"I remember, I remember, he bought two MOS 6502 chips from me!"

"Your call today means he's used 6502, right? It works great, doesn't it?"

Did he praise our chips? Did he find any other problems?

"Oh—please forgive my rudeness, I'm just too excited right now! I really want to know your feedback on 6502!"

The hurried voice made Ethan laugh.

The guy on the other end of the phone seems kind of cute, doesn't he?

Although the two were far apart, Ethan could clearly sense that the guy on the phone was like a primary school student waiting for his exam results, his face full of hope, longing to receive praise and compliments from his teacher.

This urgency prompted Ethan to clear his throat and say, "Oh, Mr. Patto, please don't be in such a hurry."

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

"He even stated on several occasions that when the performance of the 6502 is combined with its low price, the world may be changed."

Ethan followed Woz's advice and sent a positive response to the person opposite him.

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

This situation puzzled Ethan. After waiting a few seconds and seeing that the other side was still silent, he called out to them.

"Mr. Padre? Mr. Padre?"

Ethan's cautious tone revealed his confusion.

Her slightly soft tone, however, elicited a sob.

"Ahem... I'm sorry... sir, I got a little excited."

The response, "?", surprised Ethan.

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

"Oh—thank you, thank you for your kind words, and thank you even more for your trust."

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

"Thank you so much for trying! Thank you so much for your help! You've proven we're not scammers! Oh—this is so exciting! Waaah—finally someone believes us—"

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

Ethan raised an eyebrow at this response.

Okay, he finally understood why Woz wanted him to be honest.

These guys are really...

So funny.

Thinking of this, Ethan smiled and said, "Mr. Patrick, may I ask you a question?"

"Waaah—Okay—"

"Is this your company's phone number?"

"Ahem—yes—"

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

Before Ethan could finish speaking, a look of 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'll tell them that your product works great."

Ethan's repetition delighted Chuck Patto on the other side.

After a scream, Ethan heard a muffled thud, followed by a series of hurried footsteps that faded into the distance.

After about two minutes, a roar suddenly appeared, growing louder as it approached.

However, this sound came and went quickly.

After the noise, there was silence.

Then came the inquiry, "Hello? Sir... Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to ask your name... Um... Steve Wozniak's friend, are you still there?"

"I'm here. You can call me Ethan."

"Okay! Ethan, my colleagues are all here."

"Then let them answer the phone."

Ethan's invitation brought him endless excitement.

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

"Yeah~ Our personal computer is running, it's fantastic!"

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

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

"My turn! My turn! This is Ray Hillt, Ethan. I'd like to know how many chips you need this time? Or, could I know which company you're from? We can provide you with 6502 chips, and if you think $42 is too expensive, we can give you a price of $25 per chip! Because you're the first people to buy our product!"

'???'

To be honest!

When the offer of a discount came out, Ethan Jones was genuinely stunned!

What is that?

How can there be such a merchant!

You're the sellers, after all!

Why offer discounts proactively?

Ethan opened his mouth, but at that moment, he really didn't know what to say.

He admitted that his brain could no longer handle the surprises the other person had created.

The people on the other end of the phone seemed to realize they had gotten too excited. After a few scoldings, Chuck Patto's voice came through again, "Sorry, Ethan, we got too excited and may have scared you. Please forgive us."

"However, one thing is true: the price of our 6502 can indeed be lowered, down to $25."

"As for why we did this... as my colleague just said, firstly, we thank you for your trust and for choosing us, and secondly, we never thought about making money when we were making this chip."

"We just want to promote computers."

"..."

Ethan was shocked!

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

These people are truly driven by ideals to do this!

Holy crap! Running a business without making money? What kind of mentality is that?

Ethan felt his mind go blank.

It took him a while to confirm with the other person before he accepted the fact.

When he discovered that Woz's sincerity had such a positive effect, Ethan didn't hesitate any longer and directly stated his purpose, "Uh... everyone, I know you can all hear me."

"First of all, I really like your 6502, and I called to learn more about this chip."

"Secondly, my real purpose is not to buy 6502, but to find out if you are willing to grant me authorization."

"Production authorization, R&D authorization."

These words plunged both ends of the phone into an eerie silence.

After several seconds, Chuck Patto finally spoke.

"Ethan, are you serious?"

"certainly."

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

"Huh? Why?"

Ethan was puzzled; this wasn't what was written in the script!

Chuck Patto on the other end of the phone chuckled wryly, "Ethan, I think you probably didn't do your research on us before you called, or rather... well... there probably aren't many people who know about MOS's problems right now."

"Our central microprocessor is based on the 6800."

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

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

"Because we don't currently have any patents."

Note: ① Chuck Padre, the patent holder of the 6502. ② This chapter may seem somewhat fictional, but in reality, this group of people operated exactly like that. Initially, they priced it at $42, but later at the San Francisco Electronics Show, someone suggested that $25 would be more suitable for the general public, so they immediately changed the price. Then, in 1976, when Atari approached them to buy CPUs, Atari said they wouldn't lose money on a $12 CPU, so Chuck Padre directly changed the price to $12 per chip. Of course, in reality, even at $12 per chip, the MOS chips still made a profit. In a 2014 interview with the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Chuck Padre stated that the production cost of the 6502 in 1975 was $4 per board with two cores. The production cost of a single 6502 chip was only $2.

PS, to answer the two questions mentioned earlier. First, regarding the price of the iPhone 2 (1298), I mistakenly assumed it was priced at 1298 while writing this section, remembering Steve Jobs' earlier statement that the 6502 would give Apple a price advantage, and completely forgetting about the iPhone 2. Second, concerning the sale of Atari to Warner, it was indeed sold to Warner. The specific process was as follows: In 1975, during the lawsuit, Nolan sought a backer and approached Disney. Disney's offer was considered too low by Nolan, and then MCA, having heard rumors, made an offer. Nolan was dissatisfied with both offers. In 1976, when Nolan realized he wanted to make a home console with the 6502, Warner entered the market, offering a higher price and promising Nolan continued as CEO. Nolan then sold the console.

(End of this chapter)