For users at that time, Yuxing Computer VCD was the first player to combine VCD player with basic computer functions. High-end models are even equipped with floppy drives to support data reading and writing. But like learning machines, for most children, the main function of Yuxing VCD is to play games.
In the business world at that time, Yuxing was the first mainland private enterprise to land on the Growth Enterprise Market in Hong Kong, and its pre-listing valuation had exceeded 100 million yuan. Although its name has long been forgotten by players, in fact, Yuxing is still the main exporter of domestic set-top boxes. According to public information, in 20 16 years, Yuxing has been a large enterprise with a market value of 4 billion.
A computer VCD that few people use to surf the Internet.
Yuxing's first computer VCD was launched in June 1998.
In the middle and late 1990s, video recorders with high consumables cost were gradually eliminated, and DVD players stood out. In order to cope with the special market environment of domestic pirated CDs flooding, "super error correction" is generally the main selling point of VCD.
At that time, the most popular computer substitute was a learning machine that could insert cards, a product that combined FC keyboard and FC ontology. Because it is under the guise of "learning", it has a great market in China. Although Yuxing also has learning machine products, and earlier than Xiaobawang, it can't compete with them because of poor marketing.
So Yuxing broke away from convention and prepared to apply his learning machine technology to VCD. After several years of research and development,111 holiday in 998, Yuxing's computer VCD went on the market. Because of its low price and rich functions, Yuxing VCD was out of stock all over the country immediately, and dealers all over the country kept grabbing goods, and some people blocked the office door with cash.
There is an unconfirmed rumor, which may reflect the popularity of Yuxing at that time: It is said that a northeast dealer met a robber on the way back to Liaoning with goods, and the other party didn't want cash, but only took a box of brand-new computer VCD.
In addition to the remote control, this VCD is equipped with a keyboard, a mouse, two handles and a bunch of random CDs, including WPS97, Chinese BASIC, LOGO drawing and so on. Some high-end models also have floppy drives, which can read and write 3.5-inch floppy disks normally and realize basic access functions.
Yuxing computer VCD 35 1D model
A basic configuration of Yuxing computer VCD costs about 1000 yuan. If the Internet access function is needed, after purchasing a separately sold modem, the whole set of equipment only needs 1600 yuan (excluding the Internet access fee)-compared with a computer with 1998, the Internet access fee with Yuxing VCD is much cheaper.
In the shopping mall's Yuxing counter, you can also buy special software for VCD developed by Yuxing, ranging from auxiliary software for students' teaching materials to multimedia interactive platform of Window of the World. The price is only twenty or thirty yuan-the average price of genuine PC software in the same period is around 200 yuan.
Because the main architecture is the same as Nintendo FC and learning machine, in fact, the function of Yuxing is very limited. The so-called online function is just browsing the text page, not the multimedia website now. Even in that era when multimedia content was scarce, this restriction still caused some doubts.
At a press conference of the Yuxing computer VCD, someone asked: "Why can't the Yuxing learning machine look at pictures on the Internet?" Yuxing personnel are "witty" to answer:
"Because there are many unhealthy pictures on the Internet, it will have a bad influence on children who use learning machines, so we don't let them look at pictures."
In fact, it was an extravagant hope for most families at that time to let Yuxing realize the function of "surfing the Internet". In the 1990s, the domestic network infrastructure construction was very rudimentary, and the dial-up Internet needed Modem cooperation, and the Internet access fee was calculated by minutes. Yuxing's partner is Ying Haiwei, the leader of Internet access provider (ISP) in China and the earliest ISP in China, who has educated almost a generation of China people about the basic concepts of the Internet. But even with such a suitable partner from the beginning, a very small number of supporting hardware and extremely high internet fees still stop most people who are interested in "surfing".
Log in to Ying Haiwei Time and Space with Yuxing VCD.
Fortunately, not many people expected to surf the Internet with Yuxing VCD at that time. Just as the purpose of buying a learning machine is not to study, the reason why many children ask their parents to buy a satellite is not to watch movies and surf. Therefore, in many families, the first damage is not the optical head of the VCD drive, but the 1P handle.
Because Yuxing VCD is based on optical disc, the data capacity it can carry is much larger than FC tape. Only the attached three CDs contain nearly 500 games, and the repetition rate is extremely low. Unlike some 999 1, contra 1~8 counts as 8 games. A CD also contains many large-capacity "smart cards" of 5 12k, including many China cultural works of alien technology, which can be archived, imported and exported by floppy drive.
Yuxing game CD catalogue
The price of Yuxing computer VCD is around 1000 yuan, even if the value of the game disk is only calculated, it is affordable enough for users-after all, the cheapest pirated Huang Ka around 1998 also wants 20 yuan, and it feels like getting rich overnight if you plug hundreds of games at once.
Of course, Yuxing uses pirated ROM without authorization. However, the mainstream environment at that time was generally so, so Yuxing's practice was not criticized by any public opinion, but was considered by players as the product of Lei Feng. In addition to the free CD, the high-end VCD with its own floppy drive can also be used to copy games at the point of sale for two yuan each time, which is far cheaper than buying a box of erasable pirated Huang Ka.
However, at the beginning of the 20th century, manufacturers who came from behind, such as Xintianli, integrated more advanced 16-bit game machines such as MD and SFC into VCD. Yuxing, which can only be used to play FC, suddenly lost its biggest advantage and gradually withdrew from the mainstream market.
Entrepreneur Zhu Weisha and His Yuxing Technology
Yuxing Technology was founded in 199 1 with its headquarters in Beijing. Its founder was Zhu Weisha, who was born in the Institute of Economics of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhu Weisha was 35 when she decided to start a business. Seeing the business opportunities of reform and opening up, he resigned from public office and raised 654.38 million yuan with three other partners to do business in the sea.
Juvisha
The initial office of the team is located in No.35 Courtyard, Xijiaochang, Beijing, not far from Houhai. The name listed at that time was "Yuxing Electromechanical Research Institute". More than a dozen employees, most of them ride bicycles to and from work, make a fire and cook in the kitchen of several square meters, and stay in the compound day and night to program, draw pictures and write plans. Now they have moved to Tiancheng Science and Technology Building near Deshengmen, but for the old employees, what they miss most is the dormitory-style quadrangle.
Xijiaochang No.35 Courtyard, 1993. The motorcycle in the picture is a "mount" that Zhu Weisha sent in the past.
Before entering the field of "mass computers", Zhu Weisha and several partners made their first pot of money by maintaining medical computer equipment.
As early as before the bully spread all over the country, Yuxing had been involved in the development of learning machines. At that time, the research and development of learning machines in China was divided into north and south, the pyramids and Kurt centered on Shenzhen in the south, and the technology-leading Yuxing Technology in the north. Compared with other manufacturers, Yuxing further optimized the function of "computer learning" and introduced corresponding auxiliary software. The time is 1993.
The biggest difference between the learning machine at that time and the familiar form of players now is that the cassette and the learning machine itself are integrated. At the end of 1993, a technician from Apollo Electronics Company cracked the pyramid and successfully separated the contents of the cassette, which on the one hand marked the birth of a new form of learning machine, and on the other hand announced the death penalty of the integrated learning machine.
The early integrated learning machine of Yuxing
The future overlord learning machine was launched after the release of version 3.0 of 1994. This rising star, led by Jackie Chan's TV advertisement and Donald Duck's dubbing by Li Yang, once became synonymous with "learning machine", turning Yuxing and Pyramid into non-mainstream brands.
At the end of 1996, VCD began to be popularized in China families. Zhu Weisha immediately saw the business opportunity, and planned to combine the DVD player with the learning machine, so that the VCD could not only read discs, but also have the functions of surfing the Internet and interacting with multimedia.
Two years later, at the beginning of 1998, their attempt made initial progress: the first learning machine with modem and Internet access function (called "popular computer" by Yuxing) went on the market, which could dial up the Internet through telephone lines like a real computer. Many years later, someone took apart the Yuxing learning machine when I was a child and found that the CPU inside was exactly the same as the 8-bit CPU of AppleI and AppleII, and so was Nintendo FC. Although the learning machine and AppleII are not the products of the same era, it is really no problem to call them "mass computers".
What really makes Yuxing shine is the Yuxing computer VCD mentioned at the beginning.
After the success of the Internet learning machine experiment, it didn't take long to make a VCD that can access the Internet. As Zhu Weisha expected, once the new product was launched, it immediately received a good market response-a Yuxing VCD can meet the needs of watching DVD, surfing the Internet, learning computers and playing games at the same time. Moreover, the price of mainstream VCD is around 1,000 yuan, and the price of Yuxing computer VCD is the same, with obvious advantages.
Although the official never announced the final sales volume of Yuxing computer VCD, it did achieve Yuxing: In June 2000, Yuxing Company was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market in Hong Kong, becoming the first mainland private enterprise to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market.
On June 5438+1October 3 1, 2000, Yuxing was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Yuxing is lucky to be listed in Hong Kong. A large part of the reason comes from a photo of the "Venus Project" conference released by the Hong Kong media, in which Zhu Weisha is shaking hands with Bill Gates, the richest man in the world. This photo was reprinted by the Hong Kong media, which laid a good public opinion foundation for Yuxing's listing.
From 65438 to 0999, Bill Gates visited Shenzhen, China, and promoted the "Venus Project"-by installing Windows CE in set-top boxes and VCDs, the cost of accessing the Internet was reduced, and the purpose of popularizing and popularizing the Internet was achieved. In addition to computer manufacturers such as Lenovo, Zhu Weisha also came to the event site with their computer VCD and was photographed.
Unfortunately, due to the poor Internet infrastructure in China at the end of the 20th century, dealing with existing netizens has become a problem, and there is no energy to take care of new users. At the beginning of the new century, Microsoft's grand plan finally failed. Even if Yuxing hugs Microsoft's thigh, it can't reverse the fact that computer VCD equipment is gradually replaced by real computers.
In May, 20001year, Zhu Weisha hoped to make a breakthrough in new fields, so he organized a number of enterprises to control Founder's technology brand with the intention of becoming the main controlling shareholder of Founder. However, this placard ended in failure, with a loss of tens of millions of yuan.
During this period, Zhu Weisha met Zhang Hai, the youngest chairman of a listed company in China, and sponsored Zhang Hai to acquire Jianlibao. The following thing may have been heard by many friends: In 2005, Zhang Hai, chairman of Jianlibao, who was keen on gambling, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for alleged corruption and misappropriation of funds. The story behind this acquisition is very long. Interested readers can search "Jianlibao", "Li Jingwei" and "Zhang Hai" to find out, so I won't go into details here.
In 2005, Zhang Hai, former chairman of Jianlibao, was sentenced for corruption and misappropriation of funds.
On the other hand, several manufacturers, such as Kewang, Xintianli, and Doctor Long, suddenly launched a round of attacks on Yuxing-learning machines have overlord, repeater has BBK, electronic dictionary has satellites, and computer VCD is no longer the only one of Yuxing.
These events made the once-infinite Yuxing gradually move from the foreground to the background. As a corporate image spokesperson, Zhu Weisha doesn't often show up and basically fades out of public view.
Yuxing, which withdrew from the DVD player market, focused on the set-top box-the so-called set-top box is not the familiar home TV boxes such as Xiaomi and LeTV, but the customized products in the commercial fields such as enterprises, hotels and automobiles, and a large part of them are specially customized for overseas markets. Yuxing is only the manufacturer of these set-top boxes, not a brand, so we rarely see the familiar sonic Logo on the set-top boxes.
Yuxing Technology official website
In an interview with Investment Express, Zhu Weisha explained this change as follows: enterprises should appear as enterprises, not as individuals, and consciously put themselves under the company. When the business owner is above the business, the business will have problems.
But for those of us who bought Yuxing just to play games, the Yuxing computer VCD, which brought countless happy hours, and the game disks that we never tire of playing, will always remain in the memory of 20 years ago.