Let's play the tech game

[therealevan]

While today the major tech giants such as HP, IBM, Apple, Microsoft and several others give absolute dominance to the computing & technology fields, what if we zoom back to the late 90s to early 2000s where smaller ventured companies made strides in fighting over computing market shares.

To name a few:
Compaq
Gateway
Dell (still in operation)
eMachines
MicronPC
Packard Bell

Prior to the massive technology bubble in 2000, these companies (and many more!) battled not only on the stock market but in the retail sectors as well. I grew up in the Seattle area, during several years (before/after 2000) these companies had giant retail complexes to sell just their products, within 15 miles of my house there were 11 computer retailers. While today many of these companies have been gobbled up by the winners, their legacies remain intact by the old school computer enthusiasts.

I am interested to see if any of the players in this community would be interested in trying to recreate these times by running their own tech firm, here are some rules I propose and will later make into a scenario (if there isn't already one, i have been gone for a few months!).

1) The player must privately own their company
2) Your revenue sources can come from one of three sources:
-Pure retail, creating a supply chain from other companies to provide your stores with computers/printers etc
-Manufacturing & retailing, providing your stores with in-house manufactured products & using excess supply to be sold to competitors
-Pure manufacturing, can be (and should be) supplemented with R&D.
3) Player must be active on the stock market and increasingly gaining stock positions in other tech related firms
4) Up to your discretion, but eventually go public with a IPO size of your choosing.
5) Capital allocation should be intensive in one or two cities to represent localized pc manufacturing & retailing.


Thoughts/comments?

[kg79]

Yes, this was a great time, especially during the 90's. There was first the fight between different architectures and then a massive fight for every customer. as the people began to buy pc's for their homes.

During the 3.3 beta I have set up a scenario starting in the mid-80'ies with a holding company to found several retail chains and bring them to the top, then to leave them on their own by selling my shares but to avoiding that they become acquired by other AI's. I also founded some tech-companies like Sony, LG and done the same. I just kept kept a small semiconductor producer named Intel under my control and a computer producer in the USA (Apple) and in Germany (Siemens). Many other companies where free an the last stage, such as Compaq, Dell and IBM. It was funny that IBM kept on selling the old nasty boxes from the 80'ies while the others begun to grow. In the computer market Apple become the biggest player, as they invented the notebooks, Intel made up to 70M profit especially with their 386-CPU, although none of their CPU's was used by Apple under my control. That was around 1995 in the simulation, while I desided to switch to version 3.4 and mod some things. At this moment the typical Apple Computer had a 68030 CPU and 4 MB of RAM (electronic components at tech level 150 I think...), The PC's have taken the step from 386 to 486 and were just bevore moving from 4MB to 8MB RAM. Not unrealistic compared to the real world at that point.

[anjali]

noithing is better then my superb first PC ... peacock 286 with a unbelievable 20mb hdd, 5.25 floppy and superb 512kb ram lol and thats for only 6.000 bucks lol. that were crazy times and tech did cost a fortune. no windows, everything dos / gw basic only with ultimative built in system speaker dudel sound

[David]

Yes, this was a great time, especially during the 90's. There was first the fight between different architectures and then a massive fight for every customer. as the people began to buy pc's for their homes.

During the 3.3 beta I have set up a scenario starting in the mid-80'ies with a holding company to found several retail chains and bring them to the top, then to leave them on their own by selling my shares but to avoiding that they become acquired by other AI's. I also founded some tech-companies like Sony, LG and done the same. I just kept kept a small semiconductor producer named Intel under my control and a computer producer in the USA (Apple) and in Germany (Siemens). Many other companies where free an the last stage, such as Compaq, Dell and IBM. It was funny that IBM kept on selling the old nasty boxes from the 80'ies while the others begun to grow. In the computer market Apple become the biggest player, as they invented the notebooks, Intel made up to 70M profit especially with their 386-CPU, although none of their CPU's was used by Apple under my control. That was around 1995 in the simulation, while I desided to switch to version 3.4 and mod some things. At this moment the typical Apple Computer had a 68030 CPU and 4 MB of RAM (electronic components at tech level 150 I think...), The PC's have taken the step from 386 to 486 and were just bevore moving from 4MB to 8MB RAM. Not unrealistic compared to the real world at that point.

It's an interesting mod. Would you share the mod with the community?

We have also been working on enhancing the simulation of the computer industry in the Digital Age DLC. Any suggestions?

[therealevan]

Yes, this was a great time, especially during the 90's. There was first the fight between different architectures and then a massive fight for every customer. as the people began to buy pc's for their homes.

During the 3.3 beta I have set up a scenario starting in the mid-80'ies with a holding company to found several retail chains and bring them to the top, then to leave them on their own by selling my shares but to avoiding that they become acquired by other AI's. I also founded some tech-companies like Sony, LG and done the same. I just kept kept a small semiconductor producer named Intel under my control and a computer producer in the USA (Apple) and in Germany (Siemens). Many other companies where free an the last stage, such as Compaq, Dell and IBM. It was funny that IBM kept on selling the old nasty boxes from the 80'ies while the others begun to grow. In the computer market Apple become the biggest player, as they invented the notebooks, Intel made up to 70M profit especially with their 386-CPU, although none of their CPU's was used by Apple under my control. That was around 1995 in the simulation, while I desided to switch to version 3.4 and mod some things. At this moment the typical Apple Computer had a 68030 CPU and 4 MB of RAM (electronic components at tech level 150 I think...), The PC's have taken the step from 386 to 486 and were just bevore moving from 4MB to 8MB RAM. Not unrealistic compared to the real world at that point.

It's an interesting mod. Would you share the mod with the community?

We have also been working on enhancing the simulation of the computer industry in the Digital Age DLC. Any suggestions?

The computer industry is a pretty broad segment, can you narrow that down at all?

[David]

The computer industry is a pretty broad segment, can you narrow that down at all?

Both the hardware and software aspects of the computer industry will be simulated.

As for hardware, they will be limited to the following (though users may expand them with MODs):

Desktop Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Monitor

Notebook computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Display Panel

Tablet Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Touch Panel

----------------------------------------------------------

Memory Chip = Silicon

Monitor = Electronic Component + Glass

Display Panel = Electronic Component + Glass

Touch Panel = Electronic Component + Glass

----------------------------------------------------------

Products that can be sold independently:

-Monitor

-3D Graphics Card

----------------------------------------------------------

Video Game Consoles = CPU + Memory + GPU

----------------------------------------------------------

CPU = Silicon

GPU = Silicon

3D Graphics Card = GPU + Electronic Components

--------------------------------------------------------

Any comments or suggestions?

[eleaza]

Shouldn't there be a least storage devices with different era, from disks, CD, to harddrive, SSD, etc? They cost a lot and should be part of internet servers? What about servers themselves, and network devices, routers, gateways, even wireless stations, etc? How about I/O devices, and other connected cables, the infrastructure is a huge cost when building modern digital services, not to mention telecommunication services.

[David]

Continued from the list above:

Desktop Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Monitor

Notebook computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Display Panel

Tablet Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Touch Panel

Shouldn't there be a least storage devices with different era, from disks, CD, to harddrive, SSD, etc?

This is a good question. The current design is mainly due to the limitation of a maximum of 3 components per product.

In addition, CD, harddisk and SSD are different products and a single manufacturing process like: Desktop Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Monitor, cannot support varying inputs.

They cost a lot and should be part of internet servers? What about servers themselves, and network devices, routers, gateways, even wireless stations, etc?

How about I/O devices, and other connected cables, the infrastructure is a huge cost when building modern digital services, not to mention telecommunication services.

We haven't started working on the design of Internet servers and infrastructure yet. Do you have any suggestions on this?

[eleaza]

This is a good question. The current design is mainly due to the limitation of a maximum of 3 components per product.

In addition, CD, harddisk and SSD are different products and a single manufacturing process like: Desktop Computer = CPU + Memory Chip + Monitor, cannot support varying inputs.

It can be like car body components, with multiple stages, and allow a lot of intermedium manufacturers to form an ecosystem. Like a finished product is
Old PC Desktop from 80s = CRT monitors + I/O devices + main host, and disks (storage) is separated retailed (like camera and old films)
While its main host = mother board + CPU + Memory

For next Desktop of 90s = CRT + speakers + main_case, and I/O devices and newer CD/DVD storage retailed separately.
main_case = CPU + internal storage + main_board
main_board = mother_board + memory + PCI_cards (multimedia mostly define this era)

For Desktop beyond 2000s = LCD + main_case + multimedia devices (I/O + speakers + like USB, etc I remember having a lot of wires in this era)
the components could be the same only PCI_cards becomes complex components with network_cards, video_cards, CD/DVD R/W drives, and internal storage can be newer harddrive.

The same can be for notebook, and ultrabook, even tablet, etc. Even network servers, where commercial computer don't need display, but might need different quantity and quality components (like better storage, more memory in quality % ratio)

They cost a lot and should be part of internet servers? What about servers themselves, and network devices, routers, gateways, even wireless stations, etc?

How about I/O devices, and other connected cables, the infrastructure is a huge cost when building modern digital services, not to mention telecommunication services.

We haven't started working on the design of Internet servers and infrastructure yet. Do you have any suggestions on this?

Hmm, I am not sure either. Infrastructure is important, but who will consume them? Underwater cable, fiber optic cable, even satellite network for GPS is a crucial part for modern communication and they cost the most. At least the wireless revolution will have hardware like wireless stations and APs for consumers. Normally after the construction of infrastructure they were rented out for commercial use, since mostly they require government contract to pull off, and required lots of permits.

[David]

It can be like car body components, with multiple stages, and allow a lot of intermedium manufacturers to form an ecosystem. Like a finished product is

Old PC Desktop from 80s = CRT monitors + I/O devices + main host, and disks (storage) is separated retailed (like camera and old films)
While its main host = mother board + CPU + Memory

For next Desktop of 90s = CRT + speakers + main_case, and I/O devices and newer CD/DVD storage retailed separately.
main_case = CPU + internal storage + main_board
main_board = mother_board + memory + PCI_cards (multimedia mostly define this era)

For Desktop beyond 2000s = LCD + main_case + multimedia devices (I/O + speakers + like USB, etc I remember having a lot of wires in this era)
the components could be the same only PCI_cards becomes complex components with network_cards, video_cards, CD/DVD R/W drives, and internal storage can be newer harddrive.

While this is an interesting suggestion, from the point of view of implementation, it may not be practical as a product must be defined to use a specific set of components for its production. In the above example, there will be 3 different ways to manufacturing the same product type (desktop computer), which is not possible in the game.

Do you have any other suggestions that adheres to the current game mechanics?