The Rise and Sad Fall of Wang Labs
发布时间 2023-05-07 23:00:12 来源
The story of Wang Labs begins and ends with the singular genius of its founder, An Wang. An incredible engineer, a brilliant businessman, Wang Labs rose on the back of his ability to create the future. An American story, a man from China who came with nothing and became a billionaire, before losing it all. In this video, we're going to look at the rise, an incredibly sad fall of a computing pioneer, Wang Laboratories. But first, let me talk about the Asian Armory Patreon. Early access members get to see new videos and select their references for them before they release the public. It helps support the videos and appreciate every pledge. Thanks, and all with a show.
王实验室的故事始于创始人汪安的非凡天赋，也终于其个人魅力的消失。作为一名与生俱来的工程师和出色商人，汪安凭借他创造未来的才华带领王实验室崛起。这是一部典型的美国故事，来源于中国的汪安靠着自己的努力成为亿万富翁，不幸地，在后来失去了一切。在本视频中，我们将看到王实验室这个计算机先驱的崛起和极其令人悲痛的衰落。但是在此之前，让我谈谈亚洲武库的Patreon。提前访问会员可在视频公开之前查看新视频并为其选择参考，这可支持视频制作，每个承诺都受到感激。谢谢，观看愉快。
An Wang was born in 1920 to an upper middle class family in Shanghai. His educated father was a teacher and a practitioner in traditional Chinese medicine. Now during this period, had fallen into an age of chaos, torn between Shanghai Shex, KMT Party, and Mao Tadong's Communist Party of China. Wang's family would move repeatedly throughout the years, staying ahead of the conflict.
安王于1920年出生在上海的一个中上层家庭。他受过良好教育的父亲是一名教师和传统中药行业的从业者。当时，中国正处于混乱的时期，上海发生了抗战、国共两党和毛泽东领导的中国共产党之间的冲突。为了躲避冲突，王家不断地迁移家庭。
Wang started his schooling in the third grade, since there was no first or second grade at the time, so Wang would always be two years younger than his classmates. Despite this, he did brilliantly in math and science, though not so much in the other subjects. And not only was he brilliant, he knew it too. Wang's unusual but quiet confidence in himself and his abilities would drive him for the rest of his life. When he was just nine, his parents wondered whether to send him on to junior high school or have him repeat the sixth grade. Wang made the decision himself, taking the junior high exams and getting first place.
王在三年级开始上学，因当时没有一年级和二年级，所以王总是比同班同学小两岁。尽管如此，在数学和科学方面，他表现出色，但其他科目不太擅长。而且，他不仅聪明，而且自信。王对自己和自己的能力有着非同寻常但安静的自信，这种自信驱使他走过了余生。当他只有九岁时，他的父母在考虑是否让他升入初中或重读六年级时，王自己做出了决定，参加了初中考试，并获得了第一名。
A few years later, he tested into the Shanghai Provincial High School, today Shanghai High School, and left his family behind at the age of thirteen to attend it. Being two years younger than his classmates, on Wang in high school was quiet and kept to himself. He shied away from team sports but liked ping pong. He was also brilliant in the maths and sciences but struggled in other subjects like Chinese and English, never mastering the latter even in adulthood.
几年后，他考入了上海市重点高中，现今的上海中学，13岁时便离开了家人前往就读。由于比同班同学年龄小两岁，他在高中时比较安静，喜欢一个人独自行动。他不太喜欢团队运动，但喜欢打乒乓球。此外，他在数学和科学方面很聪明，但在其他科目如语文和英语方面有些吃力，即使成年后也未能精通英语。
After testing in the top ten of his class, again, Wang won a scholarship to the Chaotong University, then considered China's MIT, he was just sixteen. The school later split after the Chinese Civil War, it is now Shanghai-Jiao Tong University on the mainland and National Yang Mean Chaotong University in Taiwan. Late 1936 was the time of Japan's invasion of China, the university along with Wang's family fled to the French concession of Shanghai and was amidst the fighting. Despite incredibly challenging personal circumstances, his mother, father, and older sister would die in the fighting under unclear circumstances, Wang graduated in 1940 first in his class.
王在班级中排名前十进行了测试后再次获得奖学金进入了当时被视为中国麻省理工的朝同大学，时年他仅有16岁。此校后来在中国内战期间被分割，现在这所学校在大陆是上海交通大学，在台湾是国立阳明朝同大学。 1936年晚期是日本入侵中国的时候，王所在的学校与其家人一起逃到了上海的法租界，周围处于战斗之中。尽管个人遭遇极其艰苦，他的母亲、父亲和姐姐在不明原因下在战斗中牺牲，王在1940年以班级第一的成绩毕业。
After graduation, Wang joined the Chinese Central Radio Corporation to build radios for the Chinese Army. He worked in the city of Gua Yulin within range of Japanese bombers. Occasionally, he and his teams had to hide into Gua Yulin's deep limestone caverns to avoid the bombings. People knew the mild-mannered on Wang was destined for great things. The company's president later told his wife, look at Wang, he is very quiet, but he is always thinking, we have to support him all the way up, he is very genius, he will do something one day.
毕业后，王加入了中国中央广播电台，为中国军队制造无线电。他在受到日本轰炸的情况下工作于神秘的廓尔喀玉林市。有时，他和他的团队不得不躲进玉林市深处的岩石洞穴，以避免轰炸。人们知道待人温和的王注定要成就大事。公司的总裁后来告诉他的妻子，观察王，他虽然很安静，但他总在思考，我们必须全力支持他，他很天才，总有一天他会做出一番大事业。
In 1944, the Japanese overran Gua Yulin, Wang and his cohorts fled to the nearby Chinese mega city of Chongqing. Shortly thereafter, the Chinese government held a test to select a few towns to send to the United States for schooling. Wang naturally won a spot. Wang arrived at the United States in 1945 and entered Harvard to study applied physics. He found the work there pretty easy, eventually receiving a PhD in just 13 months. He met a charming young woman from a prominent Shanghai family Lorraine Chu. They married after a short courtship and would have three kids, Fred, Courtney and Juliet.
1944年，日本军队占领了瓜玉林，王和他的同伴逃到附近的中国大都市重庆。不久之后，中国政府进行了一次测试，选择几个城镇派遣到美国接受教育，王自然成为了其中一员。1945年，王抵达美国，并进入哈佛大学学习应用物理学。他认为那里的学习很容易，最终在短短13个月内获得了博士学位。在那里，他遇到了一位迷人的来自上海尊贵家庭的年轻女子Lorraine Chu。他们在短暂的恋爱之后结婚，育有三个孩子，分别是Fred、Courtney和Juliet。
After receiving his PhD, Wang joined the Harvard Computation Lab working on the Mark 1, then one of the world's most powerful computers under the strong-willed Howard Aiken. There, he pondered the problems of storing and reading large amounts of stored information without the use of clumsy mechanical steps. Back then, data was stored on magnetic tapes, reading out the stored information, however, demagnified the tape, destroying the information, how to get around this.
王在获得博士学位后加入了哈佛计算机实验室，致力于研究Mark 1，这是当时全球最强大的计算机之一，由富有决心的霍华德·艾肯领导。在那里，他思考着如何在不使用笨拙的机械步骤的情况下存储和读取大量存储信息的问题。当时，数据存储在磁带上，读取存储信息会使带子失磁，破坏信息。他思考如何避免这种情况。
Wang later recalls, while I was walking through Harvard Yard, I realized that it did not matter whether or not I destroyed the information while reading it. I could simply rewrite the information immediately afterward without any real sacrifice or speed. This concept was later incorporated into magnetic core memory, or core memory, the successor to the magnetic drum and the ancestor of RAM. In 1949, Wang, with his wife's encouragement, applied for a patent of this concept.
Wang回忆道，当我走过哈佛庭院时，意识到读取信息后是否销毁它都并不重要。我可以立即重新编写信息，而不需要做出任何真正的牺牲或影响速度。这个概念后来被纳入了磁芯存储器，或者核心存储器，它是磁鼓的后继者，也是RAM的祖先。1949年，受妻子鼓励，王提交了这个概念的专利申请。
Today, there are university policies for this, but back then, Harvard only reserved patent rights relating to public health. Wang's patent application, however, angered his Harvard lab colleagues who believed that such knowledge should be for the public. Howard Aiken later said that Wang, quote, ran away with Harvard's stuff and claimed it as a zone.
今天，大学已有相关政策，但当时，哈佛只保留了与公共健康相关的专利权。然而，王的专利申请却激怒了他的哈佛实验室同事，他们认为这样的知识应该为公众所用。霍华德·艾肯后来说，王“夺走了哈佛的东西并声称它属于自己的区域”。
In 1950, Harvard started moving away from fields with commercial applications, which included computers. Dr. Wang, as he would often be called, disagreed with the decision. He wanted to strike out on his own and start a company. Wang's friends tried to disweight him. It was a different time. They only recently repealed Chinese Exclusion Act had relegated the Chinese to second-class citizens only for the laundries and restaurants. But despite the racism, his challenges with English and lack of money, Wang had unshakable confidence in what he could do. Even naming the company after himself and never entertaining the notion of changing it.
1950年，哈佛开始逐渐远离商业应用领域，包括计算机领域。常被称为王博士的王先生对此表示不同意。他想要独立创业，开办一家公司。王先生的朋友们试图劝阻他。那时候，还刚刚废除了排华法案，将华人仅限于洗衣和餐馆等二流公民。但是，尽管面对种族歧视、英语困难和缺乏资金的挑战，王先生对自己的能力始终有着坚定的信心。他甚至将公司命名为自己的名字，并从未考虑过改变它的想法。
Later on, when a senior official bluntly suggested changing to something more, quote, unquote, American, he angrily replied in a stuttering English, quote, if you don't like a name of company, you go work for company you like name better. He quit Harvard in April 1951, giving up a comfortable $5,400 annual salary just as his wife Lorraine was giving birth to their first son. Founded in June 30, 1951, Wang Laboratories had just $600 of savings and Dr. Wang, but one in assets that was.
后来，一位高级官员毫不客气地建议换掉某些，引号中说，更“美国化”的东西，然而他用结巴的英语愤怒地回答说：“如果你不喜欢公司的名字，那你去找你喜欢名字更好的公司工作。”他放弃了每年5400美元的舒适工资，于1951年4月离开哈佛，就在他的妻子Lorraine刚刚生下他们的第一个儿子。1951年6月30日成立的王实验室仅有600美元的积蓄和王医生，但他却拥有一项重要的资产。
Wang started by producing and selling core memories for about $4 each. Has the only employee in a dusty office, Wang did all the selling himself. He methodically called or wrote clients about what he had. And in 1952, he reached out to IBM about licensing his pending patent on core memory. The computer giant had started using the memory for their electronic calculating machines, the talks dragged on for a year.
Wang最初以每个约4美元的价格生产和销售核心存储器件。作为唯一的员工，他在一个灰尘飞扬的办公室里自己做所有的销售工作。他有条不紊地给客户打电话或写信介绍自己的产品。在1952年，他向IBM提出了授权其即将获得专利的核心存储器件的要求。这家电脑巨头已经开始使用这种存储器件用于其电子计算机上，但谈判拖延了一年。
Things were slow at the start and Wang had to supplement his income by teaching a course at night. But slowly, he gained a reputation and custom consulting jobs came in. He would tell one client, first you show me all the ways you know how to do it, after you have done that I will show you how to do it better. And of course, he followed through. Over time, Wang secured more custom design business. In 1953, he struck a deal with IBM for some consulting revenue and a future option to buy his patent. This gave the company the stability to hire employees.
一开始，王的生意很慢，不得不在晚上授课来增加收入。但渐渐地，他赢得了声誉，开始接受定制咨询项目。他告诉客户：“一开始，您可以展示出您知道的所有方法，然后我会告诉你如何更好地去实现它。” 他当然会跟进。随着时间的推移，王获得了更多的定制设计业务。1953年，他与IBM达成协议，获得了一些咨询收入和未来购买专利的选择权。这为该公司提供了稳定的招聘员工的机会。
Wang was not only a brilliant engineer who saw all parts of the problem, he was also a sharp, very tough businessman, unafraid to go head to head with IBM. The doctor was also totally consumed by his work. He obsessed over every little thing in his company, even reviewing all the mail his company received.
Wang不仅是一个聪明的工程师，能够看到问题的各个方面，而且还是一位敏锐、非常强硬的商人，不怕与IBM针锋相对。这位医生也被工作完全占据了。他对公司的每一个小事都着迷，甚至要审核公司收到的所有信件。
When I say Wang, am I talking about the company or the person? It doesn't matter, the two are one and one. That is how involved he was in the business. And unfortunately, Wang was not a great boss, a micromanager. He demanded a lot from people and saw the company has something he fully controlled. And critically, he envisioned eventually passing it over to his son.
当我说“王”，是指公司还是人？这并不重要，因为两者是相互联系的。这就是他对公司事务的投入程度。不幸的是，王并不是一位伟大的老板，而是一个喜欢过分干涉管理的人。他要求员工做出很多努力，并将公司视为他完全控制的东西。而且，关键是他计划最终将公司移交给他的儿子。
In 1955, IBM paid Wang some 400,000 to $500,000 roughly about $4.4 to $5.5 million for his patent. Good money, but Wang's patent only covered a small piece of the final core memory product. IBM ended up paying Jay Wright for a stir, $13 million for a more practical and complete application of the concept. Wang kicked himself for being so close yet so far, telling a friend, why not I think of that. IBM's money finally freed Wang to move away from consulting towards products. Nevertheless, he would harbor special ill will towards the American giant for a long time afterwards.
1955年，IBM向王有13万美元到15.5万美元（约440万美元到550万美元）支付他的专利费。这是很不错的价钱，但是王的专利仅涵盖了最终核心存储器产品的一小部分。IBM最终为更实用和完整的概念的应用向Jay Wright支付了1300万美元。王打击自己为什么如此接近却又如此遥远，告诉一个朋友，为什么我没有想到。IBM的钱最终使王从咨询转向产品。然而，他对这家美国巨头长期怀有特殊敌意。
In the early 1960s, Wang partnered with a small Boston based company called CompuGraphic. The CompuGraphic guys had an idea for a nifty machine that justified lines of text for publishing companies. Wang helped design and produce the machine which CompuGraphic sold as the Linessec. Linessec, named for a line per second, was a hit. In 1962, Wang laboratories made $427,000 in revenue. The next year, they made $643,000 and then $1.4 million a year after that. A success, but a quiet and shared one.
在20世纪60年代初，王富之与一家名为CompuGraphic的波士顿小公司合作。CompuGraphic的人想出了一种聪明的机器，可以为出版公司调整行文格式。王富之帮助设计和制造了这台机器，CompuGraphic将其市场化并命名为“Linessec”。Linessec因每秒可以调整一行文本而大受欢迎。在1962年，王实验室创造了427,000美元的收入。接下来的一年，他们创造了643,000美元的收入，之后的一年收入达到了1.4百万美元。虽然取得了成功，但显得低调而且是分享的成功。
When competitors entered the market, Wang refused CompuGraphic's request to lower the price. CompuGraphic thus started producing the machine themselves, cutting Wang out of a million dollars of future additional revenue. Wang then told CompuGraphic that he patented the machine's original design and threatened an infringement lawsuit. The lawsuit never happened, but it shows Wang's hard-headed style. He learned then never to produce a product that he did not have full control over.
当竞争者进入市场时，王不同意CompuGraphic降低价格的请求。因此，CompuGraphic开始自行生产机器，削减了王未来100万美元的额外收入。随后，王告诉CompuGraphic他已经获得了该机器的原始设计专利，并威胁要提起侵权诉讼。尽管最后没有诉讼，但这件事表明了王的顽固风格。他从中学到，从不生产他没有完全控制的产品。
Wang's first big, fully controlled hit, came in 1964. The calculator industry was transitioning from mechanical to solid state transistor-based electronics. Wang wanted to take advantage of this trend. Wang wanted to produce a calculator far smaller than a mainframe computer, but with the same capabilities. He used natural logarithms to do this. If you recall from calculus class, you can easily multiply or divide two numbers if you have their logarithms.
1964年，王先生打下了他的第一个大型、完全可控的成功。当时计算器行业从机械式转向基于固态晶体管的电子产品。王先生想要利用这个趋势。他希望能够生产出一种比大型计算机小得多，但拥有相同功能的计算器。他使用自然对数来实现这一点。如果你还记得微积分课上的知识，你可以很容易地通过两个数的对数来进行乘除运算。
But how to get the logarithms? One might think to pre-calculate the values to get a table and store that table in memory, but that would use too much memory. So Dr. Wang and a colleague developed a patent transistor logic capable of getting the natural logarithmic value of any number with just six natural logarithmic values. 10 to 0.9, 1.01, 0.9999, and 1.001. These six values can be easily stored in ROM, thus we have the logarithmic calculating instrument or low-ci.
但如何获得对数呢？有人可能想预先计算这些值，得出一张表并将该表存储在内存中，但这会使用太多的内存。所以，王博士和一位同事开发了一种专利晶体管逻辑，能够仅使用六个自然对数值获得任何数字的自然对数值。这六个值为10到0.9、1.01、0.9999和1.001。这些六个值可以轻松存储在只读存储器（ROM）中，从而我们拥有了对数计算仪或低CI。
During his debut in January 1965, the low-ci looked like a typewriter fused to a box, but it was small and powerful, capable of finding advanced logarithms using less than 300 logic transistors. The low-ci became Wang's first big hit, selling about 10 to 20 a month at $6,500 to science labs. But it was also difficult to use with its intimidating keyboard requiring knowledge of logarithms. So Wang geared down to produce the Wang 300 calculator. Introduced in 1966, the 300 was an immediate hit, easy to use and costing just $1,695. It not only sold well to scientists and researchers, but also to stock brokers and insurance companies.
1965年1月当低CI诞生时，它看上去像是一台打字机与一个盒子融合在一起，但是尽管它小巧强大，在不到300个逻辑晶体管的条件下，它可以找到先进的对数。低CI成为了王氏公司的第一个摆脱困境的大卖产品，每个月的销售量在10到20台之间，售价为每台6500美元，主要面向科研实验室。但是它的键盘操作方式对于常人来说十分困难，需要对对数有所了解。于是王氏公司推出了Wang 300计算器来取代低CI。Wang 300在1966年发售，十分畅销且易于操作，售价只有1695美元。它不仅受到科学家和研究人员的青睐，还得到了股票经纪人和保险公司的认可。
On Wall Street, the Wang 300 became a legend for revealing a calculating error in a bond trading table that had been in use for three decades. He cared that it had a Chinese name. People joked Wang stood for wild-ass number grinders. Wang set up a direct sales team to promote the product. Revenue is nearly tripled from 2.5 million in 1965 to 6.9 million in 1967. And that year, Wang laboratories went public in a highly publicized IPO. Wang's personal stock holdings were then worth $50 million.
在华尔街，Wang 300因揭示一个长达三十年的债券交易表中的计算错误而成为传奇。他关心它有一个中国名字。人们开玩笑称Wang代表野蛮数字磨坊。Wang成立了一个直销团队来推广产品。从1965年的250万美元增加到1967年的690万美元，收入近三倍增长。在那一年，Wang实验室进行了一次备受关注的公开募股。当时，Wang个人的股票持有价值为5000万美元。
Wang helped make Wang rich, but he wanted the next big thing. In 1968, the advent of the computer language basic convinced Wang that that would be a computer. He acquired a data processing company called Phil Hankins Inc. for help. They began working on two new computers, the Wang 700 and Wang 3300 basic. But then he will have Packard announced their new HP 9100 calculator. The 9100 was really a computer, but they decided to call the calculator because only IBM made computers. The 9100 had a CRT display, magnetic card storage, and made calculating as easy as pushing a button.
王志刚通过自己的努力成为富豪，但他想追求更大的目标。1968年，基础语言计算机编程语言的出现让王志刚相信计算机将成为下一个大热门。他收购了一家名为菲尔汉金斯公司的数据处理公司来帮助他。他们开始研发两款新计算机，分别是王氏700和王氏3300基础版。但后来惠普公司宣布他们推出了新的HP 9100计算器。虽然9100实际上是台计算机，但他们决定将其称为计算器，因为只有IBM生产计算机。9100有CRT显示器、磁卡存储器，只需要按一下按钮就能轻易地进行计算。
Realizing the series challenge the 9100 presented to the 300, Wang rushed out the 700 in mid-1969 as a response. Just like with the 9100, Wang called the 700 a calculator rather than a computer. A year after production, the 700 became Wang's most important product, pushing revenues to $25 million.
为了应对9100所带来的挑战，王半山在1969年中期紧急推出了700系列计算器。就像9100一样，王半山将700称为计算器而不是电脑。在生产一年后，700成为王半山公司最重要的产品之一，推动收入达到2500万美元。
The Wang knew that the calculator market was getting difficult. By 1971, the Wang 300 wasn't declined, costing just $600 each. 1971 was also the year Intel introduced their first micro-processor. Analysts now predicted a future in where you could put an entire calculator onto a single chip. Dr. Wang believed that such a thing would push calculator prices from $600 to just $100. He was wrong here. Prices would eventually go even lower than that.
旺公司知道计算器市场正在变得困难。到了1971年，华盈300仅售600美元，但它的销售不受欢迎。同时，英特尔推出了他们的第一款微处理器。分析师预测未来会出现将整个计算器集成至一颗芯片上的情况。王博士认为，这样的技术会将计算器价格从600美元降至100美元。但他的看法是错误的，价格最终会降得比100美元还低。
Aware of the coming storm, in 1971, Wang made the incredibly ballsy decision to pull out of the calculator market, starting with the lower end markets. It seemed crazy back then. Calculators made up 75% of the company's total revenue, but Wang had nothing but confidence in himself. He knew that the computer was the future, and he had a two-pronged strategy for getting there.
在1971年，王察觉到即将到来的风暴，做出了极为勇敢的决定，退出计算器市场，从低端市场开始。当时看起来很疯狂，因为计算器占公司总收入的75％，但王富贵对自己充满信心。他知道计算机是未来的趋势，并制定了一项双管齐下的战略来实现这一目标。
The strategy would have Wang develop two computer products for different parts of the market. First was your more traditional general-purpose computer that was the aforementioned Wang 3300 basic. The Wang 3300 reached the market in 1970, but the calculated computer as it was called wasn't successful. It took 40 minutes to program, and you loaded programs into it using paper.
这一策略是让王敛开发两种适应不同市场的计算机产品。首先是传统的通用计算机，就是之前提到过的王敛3300基础版。王敛3300于1970年上市，但它被称为计算机的那款产品并不成功。它需要40分钟编程，并且使用纸张来加载程序。
The second product would be a word processor to replace IBM's magnetic tape-selectric electric tight-rider in the general corporate environment. IBM had 80% of the word processing market, but they didn't particularly give it a lot of attention. The space made for a great first move. The first iteration of the product was the Wang 1200 word processor, or just model 1200. It announced in November 1971, before it was widely available.
第二个产品将是一个文字处理器，旨在取代IBM在一般企业环境中使用的磁带-电选择式电打字器。IBM在文字处理市场占有80％的份额，但他们并没有特别重视它。这个领域为首次进军市场提供了绝佳的机会。该产品的首个版本是Wang 1200文字处理器，或者称为1200型。该产品于1971年11月推出，尽管它还未普及。
The 1200 was really a modified Wang 700 calculator connected to an IBM's electric tight-rider. The tight-rider's job was to render the type of words, but unfortunately, its connection failed due to improper components causing reliability problems. The eventually fixed it, but sales nevertheless slumped to below expectations.
1200实际上是一个改装过的王700计算器，连接了IBM的电动打字机。 打字机的工作是将文字呈现出来，但不幸的是，它的连接由于不良部件而失败，导致可靠性问题。最终他们修复了连接问题，但销售量仍然低于预期。
Three products brought Wang back from the brink of death and beyond. In May 1973, Wang came out with a successor to its 3300 basic calculator slash computer, the 2200. The 2200 still used basic computer language for easy programmability, but stored program information on Intel's ROM chips. This gave the computer instant wake capability. Price between $6,000 to $8,000, quite affordable at the time. The 2200 became a capable small business computer and sold extremely well for a decade and a half.
三个产品让王氏公司重新站在了死亡边缘之外。1973年5月，王氏公司推出了3300基本计算器并兼备计算机功能的继任者——2200。2200仍然使用基本的计算机编程语言，但将程序信息存储在英特尔的ROM芯片上，使计算机具有即时唤醒功能。这使得2200成为一款功能强大的小型企业计算机，并在一代半的时间内大卖。价格在6000美元至8000美元之间，当时相当实惠。
The second product would be its biggest. The 1200 fell short, but it taught the company some important lessons. In September 1975, Dr. Wang called two of his veteran product guys, Harold Copplao and David Moros, and asked them to try again. Copplao and Moros thought hard about what such a product should look like. They redesigned the system from the ground up to be powerful, upgradable, and radically easy to use. Developed a network of powerful machines. Each machine had its own 8080 Intel microprocessor.
第二个产品是该公司最大的产品。1200不尽人意，但它让公司学到了一些重要的教训。1975年9月，王卓义博士召集两位公司老产品经理哈罗德·科普拉奥和大卫·莫罗斯，要求他们再试一次。科普拉奥和莫罗斯认真考虑了这个产品应该是怎样的。他们从深层次上重新设计了这个系统，要求它功能强大，可升级，并且极其易于使用。他们开发了一套强大的机器网络。每台机器都有自己的8080英特尔微处理器。
It was powerful enough to work independently, but can also share text or send documents to a central storage unit. And they ditched the IBM Selectric, relying on a competitor's product seemed like poor strategy. Instead they used a CRT screen to display words on the screen. The doctor himself ironed out the final kinks in the hardware connections. And finally they simplified. Previous word process required secretaries to learn various codes to do editing or formatting tasks.
这款软件非常强大，可以独立工作，也可将文本共享或发送到中央存储单元。他们放弃了IBM Selectric的使用，依靠竞争对手的产品似乎是不明智的策略。相反，他们使用CRT屏幕在屏幕上显示字词。医生本人解决了硬件连接的最后问题。最后，他们简化流程。以前的文字处理需要秘书们学习各种代码以完成编辑或格式化任务。
The new system showed built-in prompts and had a menu system for navigation. Introduced in 1976, the Wang word processing system, or WPS, was an immediate hit and brought the company back from the brink. The accounting firm Tush Ross signed a $142,000 deal before the product was even finished. At its introduction at a New York trade show, huge lines formed to see the new device. Wang had to bring in new squadrons of salespeople to relieve tired ones. The immediate hit that we always wish we come across in our careers.
新系统显示了内置提示，并具有导航菜单系统。1976年推出的Wang文字处理系统（WPS）立即大受欢迎，并使公司重回悬崖边缘。在产品甚至未完成之前，会计公司Tush Ross签署了一份价值142,000美元的交易。在纽约贸易展上推出时，人们排起了长队去看这个新设备。Wang不得不引进新的销售人员来缓解疲惫的人员。这是我们在职业生涯中经常希望遇到的立即成功。
And then in 1977, Wang's third big product, the VES Mini Computer. The Mini Computer is smaller and cheaper than IBM's big mainframe computers. They do not require a big team of technicians, but are still powerful enough to run commercial applications like spreadsheets. Competing against digital equipment corporations, Vax line of computers, the VES held its own. It was almost as powerful as a mainframe, essentially being modeled after an IBM 360, but the doctor avoided calling it that.
1977年，王建智推出了他的第三款重要产品：VES迷你电脑。迷你电脑比IBM的大型主机电脑更小更便宜。它们不需要一个庞大的技术团队，但足够强大，可以运行商业应用程序，如电子表格。在竞争对手数字设备公司的Vax系列计算机中，VES表现出色。它几乎和大型主机一样强大，实质上是按照IBM 360的模式设计的，但是王医生避免称其为这样。
Three incredible products brought out in quick succession. They would generate billions for Wang. By the late 1970s, Wang was the world's largest supplier of CRT-based word processing systems. But despite that, it was still largely unknown, and those who knew them, mostly knew them, has a calculator maker.
很快推出了三种不可思议的产品，为王先生带来了数十亿美元的收益。到了1970年代末期，王先生成为了以CRT为基础的文字处理系统的全球最大供应商。但尽管如此，它仍然大多数人不知道，知道的人也主要知道他们作为一个计算器制造商。
So in 1978, the company famously launched a massive three-month TV ad blitz positioning them as a leading computer maker. It culminated in a 30-second Super Bowl ad. It cost $150,000 or $5,000 a second. Despite only being the 30-second largest computer maker, Wang was the only such company advertising on TV other than IBM. Their attention grabbing David versus Goliath Spot in particular directly attacked IBM and caught a lot of people's attention. Tens of millions of people saw it and it put Wang on the map. Awareness went from 3% to 14%.
1978年，这家公司著名地开展了为期三个月的电视广告攻势，将自己定位为一家领先的计算机制造商。这场攻势以一个30秒的超级杯广告为高潮。广告费用为150,000美元，平均每秒5000美元。尽管只是第30大计算机制造商，但王氏公司是除IBM之外唯一一家在电视上投放广告的计算机制造商。他们那个引人注目的大卫与歌利亚广告尤其直接攻击了IBM，并吸引了很多人的注意。数千万人看到了这个广告，这把王氏公司推上了地图。知名度从3%提高到了14%。
The campaign worked so beautifully that Wang's executives were afraid to say how well it worked so to discourage copycats. Wang revenues doubled again two years later from 1978 to 1980, and then again once more two years after that. Sales reached $1 billion in 1982 and then $2 billion in 1984. 80% of the US's biggest firm spot Wang Equipment. In 1983, nearly half of the company's revenues came from Fortune 500 companies.
这项营销活动取得了巨大成功，让Wang公司的高管们害怕表露太多，以避免被竞争对手模仿。两年后，在1978年到1980年间，Wang公司的收入再次翻了一倍，再过两年后又再次翻了一倍。1982年销售额达到10亿美元，1984年达到20亿美元。美国最大企业的80%使用Wang设备。到1983年，该公司将近一半的收入来自《财富》500强企业。
Dr. Wang turned 60 in 1980 and he started to slow down. In 1982, he started to spend less time around the office. The year after that, he formally retired. He remained chairman with John A. Cunningham, a 16-year Wang sales employee, taking the head spot. The doctor and Cunningham were very close, Lorraine called him their American son. Cunningham was well respected and built a powerful fast growing sales force. That any successor would have to fill big shoes.
1980年，王博士60岁生日，开始放缓工作节奏。1982年，他开始少在办公室待。接着，一年后，他正式退休了。他仍是董事长，由具有16年王氏公司销售经验的约翰·A·坎宁安接任总裁一职。王博士和坎宁安关系密切，Lorraine称之为“我们的美国儿子”。坎宁安备受尊重，建立了一个强大而快速增长的销售团队。下一位继任者的角色将非常重要。
Dr. Wang was not only CEO but also chief of product development. He was intimately involved day in and day out on crafting Wang's most successful products, spending an estimated 65% of his time there. He was not only incredibly technical but also an extraordinary manager of the company's sprawling R&D operations. Imagine taking on such a job. Now imagine also being on Wang's son.
王博士不仅是CEO，还是产品开发主管。他每天都亲自参与打造王公司最成功的产品，估计他花费了65%的时间。他不仅技术精湛，而且还是公司庞大的研发业务的杰出经理。想象一下承担这样的工作。现在想象一下也是王的儿子。
In some ways, Fred Wang took after his father. He was a bit shy, good at math and sciences but not so much the other stuff. Unlike his father, however, he grew up immersed in wealth and privilege. Both of his parents were strong-willed traditional Asian-style parents. His mother wanted him to go to Harvard and constantly harped on him to do so. Fred eventually got into Brown, a perfectly fine school, which his mother could not accept. She harped on him to get a Harvard PhD.
弗雷德·王在某些方面像他的父亲。他有点害羞，擅长数学和科学，但并不擅长其他东西。不过，他不同于他的父亲，他成长在财富和特权的环境中。他的父母都是意志坚强的传统亚洲风格的父母。他的母亲希望他去哈佛，并不断嘱咐他这样做。弗雷德最终进了布朗大学，这是一所非常好的学校，但他的母亲无法接受。她不停地嘱咐他去哈佛攻读博士学位。
Fred switched his major six to eight times. After graduating, he was not sure what to do. He defaulted to work full time at the family business as a low-level programmer. He did that for two years before switching to a marketing position. Then he was pulled out of that to shadow his dad around the company has a glorified gofer.
弗雷德曾转换专业六至八次。毕业后，他不确定该怎么做。最终，他默认全职在家族企业工作，当了两年基层程序员。之后，他转到一个市场职位，但随后又被拉出来陪同他的父亲在公司里担任一名有尊严的杂工。
In 1978, on Wang sat down with the then 28-year-old Fred. He explained his plan to have son's Fred and later Courtney eventually take over Wang Labs. In 1980, the doctor put his son in charge of the critical R&D department. But Fred, despite being a smart and decent guy, was not his father. Finding him into the delicate, high-performance triumvirate alongside on Wang and Cunningham turned out to be a disaster.
1978年，王博士与当时28岁的弗雷德坐下来谈话。他解释了自己的计划，让儿子弗雷德和后来的科特尼接管王实验室。1980年，王博士让他的儿子负责关键的研发部门。但是，尽管弗雷德聪明又正派，他并不是他父亲。在王和坎宁安的高度紧张的三人领导层中让他加入，最终导致了失败。
As with many companies, Wang Labs turning point began with the products. In October 1983, Wang Labs announced 14 new products with the hope of taking on IBM. The most important of which was the Wang Professional Image Computer, armed with image processing technology to manage images in real time. Other products included the Wang Office, a software product that allowed different machines to communicate.
和许多公司一样，旺达实验室的转折点始于产品。1983年10月，旺达实验室宣布推出14款新产品，希望与IBM竞争。其中最重要的是旺达专业影像计算机，配备了实时管理影像的图像处理技术。其他产品包括旺达办公室软件，允许不同的机器进行通信。
The market loved it and the stock soared reaching $36.50 immediately after the announcement. The stock price peaked in 1984 at $42.50. The doctor's stake was then worth north of $1.6 billion, making him the richest man in New England and a fifth richest man in America. But that would be the very top of Wang's fortunes.
市场非常喜欢这个消息，股价一经宣布就飙升到了36.5美元。1984年，股票价格最高达到42.5美元。医生所持股份的价值超过16亿美元，让他成为新英格兰最富有的人和美国第五富有的人。但这只是王的财富巅峰。
The problem was that all of the October 1983 products came very late, and in some cases, years late. Fred wanted to show that he could develop products like his father and rushed out the announcements, but the delays instead badly hurt his credibility in and outside the company. And it was the wrong time for Wang to be putting out vaporware. Competition was heating up. Two years earlier, IBM released the IBM PC and it took the world by storm. Wang's PCs equipped with word processing and spreadsheet software immediately began eroding Wang's two specialized word processors and 2,200 computers.
问题在于，1983年10月的所有产品都迟迟未能到货，有些甚至延迟了数年。弗雷德想展示他能够像他父亲一样开发产品，并匆忙发布了公告，但延迟反而严重损害了他在公司内外的信誉。而且，现在是王雁发布虚拟产品的错误时机。竞争正在加剧，两年前，IBM发布了IBM PC，一炮而红。王的电脑配备了文字处理和电子表格软件，立即开始侵蚀王雁的两款专业文字处理器和2200台电脑的市场。
Wang revenues kept growing, but it was all maintenance revenues for existing customers, rather than new customers buying new things. On Wang resisted the PC, he thought it would be another calculator, a future dead end commodity. Fred eventually pushed the company to build their own anyway, but without compatibility with the IBM PC's massive software ecosystem, it was dead on arrival.
旺公司的营收持续增长，但都是来自于现有客户的维护收入，而不是新客户购买新产品带来的收益。旺一直抵制个人电脑，因为他认为这只是另一种计算器，是一种未来绝对死胡同的商品。然而，弗雷德最终推动公司自主生产，但由于没有与IBM PC的大型软件生态系统兼容，该产品最终走向了失败。
The company never really recovered from its botched 1983 announcement. Cunningham, then president, came to believe that Fred could not manage the R&D division. Fred tried his best, but he lacked a doctor's touch and handling and moderating these powerful egos. In October 1984, a year after the disastrous product announcement, Dr. Wang moved Fred to run manufacturing, replacing the excellent John Cropper. Cunningham argued with this, but Wang overruled him.
这家公司从1983年计划失误的公告中从未真正恢复过来。当时的总裁坎宁安逐渐认为弗雷德无法管理研发部门。虽然弗雷德尽力了，但他缺乏医生般的技巧来处理和调节这些强大的自我意识。在灾难性的产品公布一年后的1984年10月，王博士调动了弗雷德来管理制造业，取代了优秀的约翰·克罗珀。坎宁安反对这一决定，但王博士覆盖了他的意见。
The R&D department continued to turn out duds. Dead piled up as the company recklessly expanded. Wang would turn down potential mergers with Exxon's computer subsidiary and the ITT conglomerate. These mergers could have short up the company's debt position, but were rejected, because it potentially would have taken control away from the Wang family. For a very long time, Dr. Wang had seen the future, but now the doctor was passed his prime, and his loyalty to his family was taking the company down the wrong path.
研发部门持续推出无用之物，公司因不计后果地扩张而积聚了一堆死亡遗体。王先生曾拒绝了与埃克森计算机子公司和ITT集团的潜在合并。这些合并本可以缓解公司的债务状况，但因可能会削弱王家控制力而被拒绝。很长一段时间以来，王博士一直看到未来，但现在他已经过了巅峰期，他对家族的忠诚却使公司走向了错误的道路。
In April 1985, Wang labs announced the stunning 66% quarterly profit decline. In July 1985, the respected Cunningham resigned, selling all of his stock. A magical nine-year joyride came to a smashing halt. It was the beginning of the end. Dr. Wang briefly took over for Cunningham again, but in 1987 he made Fred the company president. The company experienced unsteady profits over the next two years, laying off a thousand people.
1985年4月，王实验室宣布季度利润惊人地下降了66%。1985年7月，备受尊重的康宁汉姆辞职，出售了他所有的股票。那段美好的九年快车道到达了终点，砰然停止。这是末路的开始。王院士暂时接管了康宁汉姆的职位，但在1987年，他让弗雷德成为公司总裁。接下来的两年中，公司的利润不稳定，裁员了一千人。
Wang labs board of directors asked to bring in a professional manager to work with Fred. They asked five times throughout 1987. But on Wang refused every time, famously telling them, he is my son and he can do it. Losses grew throughout 1988, poisoning the company's relations with its banks. Finally in July 1989, Wang posted a $424 million annual loss, suspending dividends, and laying off more people. The stock crashed from $43 to just $5 a share.
王实验室董事会要求请来一名专业经理与弗雷德共同工作。他们在1987年期间多次提出要求。但王实验室每一次都拒绝了，声称他是我的儿子，可以胜任。1988年公司亏损不断增加，使公司与银行的关系恶化。最终在1989年7月，王实验室发布了4.24亿美元的年度亏损，暂停股息，并裁员。股价由43美元暴跌至每股5美元。
The board became increasingly concerned about their own liability amidst all this shareholder value destruction. Also in 1989, Dr. Wang who smoked nearly his entire adult life was diagnosed with the Sophical Cancer, a very dangerous cancer. It had an 80-90% mortality rate. Finally, in August 1989, a few weeks after undergoing surgery for the cancer, on Wang had to fire his own son.
在所有这些股东价值破坏之中，董事会越来越关注他们自己的义务责任。此外，1989年，烟瘾成瘾的王博士被诊断出患有Sophical癌症，这是一种非常危险的癌症，其死亡率为80-90%。最后，在1989年8月，在接受癌症手术几周后，王被迫解雇了自己的儿子。
Richard Miller, a turnaround expert with no computer industry experience, was appointed president. Miller oversaw a massive $200 million asset sale in an attempt to cut down the debt, and he also laid off 2,000 more employees. And yet the company still showed a $715.9 million loss in 1990, a stunning loss considering the company had $2.5 billion in revenues that year.
理查德·米勒是一位没有计算机行业经验的转型专家，被任命为总裁。米勒监控了一项价值2亿美元的大规模资产销售，以试图减少债务，并裁员了2,000名员工。然而，该公司在1990年仍然出现了7.159亿美元的亏损，考虑到该公司当年有25亿美元的收入，这是一个惊人的损失。
Looking back on it, pinning Wang Labs' troubles entirely on Fred would be a huge mistake. Wang's failure traces back to on-Wong missing the PC revolution. The power of office software and the company's failure to find the next hit product. There were unlikely to survive this generational transition from the very beginning, few companies did, but the turmoil overhanging the company's secession certainly did not help.
回顾过去，把王实验室的问题完全归咎于弗雷德是一个巨大的错误。王实验室的失败可以追溯到安王错过了个人电脑革命，以及办公软件的力量和公司未能找到下一个热门产品。从一开始，他们便很难在这代交替中生存，少数企业能够挺过去，但公司继承的混乱无疑没有帮助。
In January 1990, the cancer came back with a vengeance despite the surgery and chemotherapy. Wang lost his ability to speak. He finally gave up on running the company and allowed Miller to do what had to be done. Whenever a present father in their youth, Wang spent the last months of his life with his children. His daughter remembers him writing, I love you, in big underlying letters with exclamation points after them. On a cold morning, 541 AM March 24, 1990, UnWong died alone in his room at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was 70.
1990年1月，尽管接受了手术和化疗，但癌症卷土重来，王先生失去了说话的能力。他终于放弃了经营公司的想法，让米勒做必要的事情。作为年轻时的一个关心子女的好父亲，王先生在生命的最后几个月与孩子们在一起。他的女儿记得他写下了“我爱你”的大号字，并在后面加了感叹号。在1990年3月24日，一天清晨的5点41分，王先生在马萨诸塞州普通医院的房间里离世了。他享年70岁。
In their last conversation, Dr. Wang asked Miller to try and save Wang Labs. Whatever you do, he said, try and preserve name. I want it remembered as company founded by immigrant. Despite the acid sales and an alliance with IBM, Wang Laboratories passed into bankruptcy two years after its founder's death in 1992. It would be acquired in 1999 by the Dutch company Gettronics and renamed to Gettronics North America.
在他们最后一次交谈中，王博士要求米勒尽力拯救王实验室。他说，无论如何，尽量保留名字，我希望它被记为一家由移民创办的公司。尽管进行了激烈的销售和与IBM的联盟，王实验室在其创始人1992年去世的两年后破产了。1999年，它被荷兰公司盖特朗尼克斯收购，并更名为盖特朗尼克斯北美公司。
Alright, everyone, that's it for tonight. I'll see you guys next time.
大伙儿，今晚就到这了。下次再见咯。意思是讲主持人今晚结束了节目，告别听众，下次节目再见。