Variation on a Theme, Book 7
Copyright© 2026 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 30: Computers, Delivered
Friday, September 19, 1986
Our delivery appeared just after we got home, and I signed for it. This was quite the delivery! There were four rather large boxes. Two were clearly P.C.’s Limited-branded monitors. The others were unmarked. Once we unboxed them, they turned out to be ‘P.C’s Limited 386’ systems, complete with hard drives loaded with prototype versions of Microsoft’s entire product suite plus pre-release versions of WordPerfect and Lotus 1 2 3. We were on our own for a printer, and I wasn’t sure if we could convince the LaserWriter to talk to a DOS machine. Dot-matrix printers weren’t that expensive, though, and we could easily get one or two.
Along with them came a note from Lee saying, ‘Encourage your two engineers to beat these up and let us know if anything breaks.’ There were also some papers I, as a corporate officer, needed to have Mel and Amy fill out and sign before I could give them their new toys. Included was a non-disclosure agreement.
Amusingly, there was a third set earmarked for Cammie, with a note saying, ‘Wouldn’t want your fiancée to be unable to talk to you.’ Also amusingly, the NDA’s were open-ended (though could be terminated by either side with notification) and covered anything those of us already under NDA might say. Intentionally or not — and I was sure it was intentional — Lee had solved a potential problem in the future, by letting me talk to them about whatever was going on.
Mel and Amy were both thrilled. Mel’s thrill came with a scream, while Amy’s was just a bit of bouncing in her Doc Martens, but there was no question: Lee had made two young women very happy.
Later, Cammie pointed out that the retail price of their systems was about $6,500, not including software. I wasn’t sure if that made Mel and Amy happier, more daunted, or both. Not that it was easy to break a personal computer, but I imagined they would be extra-careful.
I told them not to worry about it. If, somehow, they did manage to break one through anything resembling ‘normal use,’ that would be information Lee could use. It fell entirely within the area of beta testing.
We got the Management Militia together tonight. Our biggest priority was The Management Process, in which we would have our first test next Wednesday. It felt a bit early for this meeting, but we had a lot of stuff between tonight and next Wednesday, so it was good to get this done. Thus far it hadn’t felt like a difficult class, and we were all pretty confident.
After studying, we headed off to Midnight Yell Practice. We’d missed the one in Baton Rouge, thanks to staying in New Orleans, so this was our first of the year. Everyone was pumped up from the LSU game, and we had a string of four games coming up where A&M would be highly favored. Baylor, currently only two places behind A&M at number nine, would be a challenging game, no doubt. At least it was a home game this year!
Midnight Yell Practice also comes with kissing practice, of course. This was hardly my first time kissing two girls. After I’d kissed Jas and moved to Amy, I got a few whoops from nearby, and also a glare from one woman.
Angie and Paige got more of a reaction. There were some whoops and a couple of hisses. One of the people near us yelled, “Hey! It’s the girls from the Batt article!”
Angie and Paige smiled, waved, and bowed after that, getting more whoops. The same woman who glared at me glared at them, too. I figured she was just very conservative.
Cammie, Mel, Candice, and Sherry barely drew any attention, but that was largely because Angie and Paige had gotten the lion’s share thanks to the article.
Tonight wound up being an Amy night, with Jas off to visit Angie and Paige. I told her several times I hadn’t been responsible for the computer, but she felt I was more than responsible enough to deserve a thorough reward. We had a great time before eventually getting to sleep fairly late. At least we could sleep late tomorrow!
Saturday, September 20, 1986
Everyone slept late, so breakfast wasn’t until around ten. We didn’t have to be anywhere until nearly two, so that was fine.
“Tell us about this thing,” Mel said, as we ate. “What’re they doing?”
“It’s nominally about ‘the future of the computer industry,’” I said. “From what I gather, a big point of it is going to be whether a direct sales model will work, or whether it’s going to require a strong retail presence.”
Cammie frowned. “Isn’t P.C.’s Limited proof that it works?”
“That’s Lee’s point, but he thinks the McKinsey guys will dispute that,” I said.
“And we’re...?” Mel asked.
I said, “Ringers, pretty much. On P.C.’s Limited’s ‘side.’ More...”
Angie stepped in, saying, “Keeping them honest. What data do they really have? Who’s the current industry leader? What model do they use?”
Amy chuckled. “This is interesting. And sneaky!”
“Nah,” Angie said. “We have conflicts of interest, certainly. But we’ll disclose them.”
“And it doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s for fun. The winner doesn’t get anything. The loser might be embarrassed, but they could simply decide the audience voted incorrectly.”
“God knows I’ve been in rounds where the judge voted incorrectly!” Cammie said.
“Haven’t we all?” Angie sighed.
“Not me!” Amy said.
Mel chuckled. “Nor me!”
“Fine! Be that way! It’s good experience!” Angie said, smiling.
“It is!” Cammie said.
The Debate was held in Rudder Forum, where Amy and I had seen Dan Peek many months ago. We both had fond memories of that concert. Not life-changing, but it had opened up the world of concerts to Amy, and was a lot of fun.
We took seats near each other, but with the couples separated. That was strategic. We didn’t want to appear as one partisan pro-P.C.’s Limited block.
I headed up to the stage before things got going, shook hands with Lee, and talked with him a bit, letting him know Angie was pretty likely to jump into things. He was fully in favor. Wisely so! It’s seldom good to get in Angie’s way.
Angie talked to him next. Whatever she said, he nodded quickly a few times, smiled, and then shook her hand. She hugged him after the handshake.
The debate (such as it was) went about the way I expected it to. The McKinsey team (David Winston and Mark Partridge) talked about how explosively the PC market had grown, and were projecting both pushback from IBM and consolidation as the lesser players dropped out or were acquired.
They then went on to a discussion of retail versus direct customer sales (aka ‘mail-order’). The McKinsey people were strongly of the opinion that only businesses with a retail presence would survive.
Mark Partridge said, “These are big-ticket items. If you were buying a car, would you just order one, or would you want to run your fingers over the rich Corinthian leather first?”
Mel, surprisingly, asked the first question from our group. When the moderator called on her, she said, “I have two questions, one for each of you. Mr. Walker, you currently have the highest-performance personal computer out there, totally state-of-the-art. If there’s a consolidation, how does your current position affect your ability to survive?”
The McKinsey people looked at each other. I wondered if they’d missed the 386 announcement.
Mel continued, saying, “And, Mr. Partridge, this is partly an observation, but I’d like your take on it. I’m an engineer. I look at products based on capability. If I wanted an oscilloscope, I would read reviews and pick the best one. Touching the controls in a store wouldn’t tell me anything. But oscilloscopes are also big-ticket items. Where’s the disconnect here?”
Lee and Mark looked at each other, and Mark nodded.
Lee said, “Since you asked me first, I’ll answer first. I would say it puts us in an excellent position. We have solid partnerships with Intel and Microsoft. No one’s doing anything in PCs without them. There are challenges, but we’re the ones pushing the industry along right now. Now, you have to earn it every day, but we’re in a strong position to manage turbulence, especially since we’re at least months ahead of everyone else.”
Mark said, “The difference in the products you’re discussing is that a large part of the personal computer market is just that: personal. Sure, businesses buy cars for fleet purchases, and those might be purchased without personal contact, just like your oscilloscope. But an individual makes decisions based partly on feel, and you can’t get ‘feel’ from an ad.”
Things went back and forth for a bit. The McKinsey people kept referring back to their slides full of market research.
After four other people had asked questions, Angie was recognized.
She said, “Just so we’re clear: I’m a P.C.’s Limited supporter. Have been since before any of you even heard of them! On a first-name basis with everyone on their board of directors, even! But this isn’t about that. I just don’t want to be accused of being a plant.”
Some people chuckled at that.