親歷者詳解AMD與英特爾之戰內幕
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????魯毅智出生于一個名叫皮德拉斯內格拉斯的墨西哥小鎮。這個小鎮與美國德克薩斯州的鷹渡市只隔著一道格蘭德河，以產煤出名。魯毅智在書中寫道，小鎮的名字取自一句老話：“能讓少數幸運的人富起來的黑色石頭”。不過魯毅智的家庭并不在那幸運的少數人之列。所以他從一個寒門子弟成長成硅谷最負盛名的CEO之一的故事非常勵志。魯毅智這本書的書名“彈弓之戰”象征著AMD的“彈弓項目”——也就是AMD給那次以弱勝強的訴訟戰所起的內部代號（因為《圣經》里的大衛就是用彈弓打死了巨人歌利亞）。同時它也象征著魯毅智清貧的童年，也就是那時候，魯毅智學會了使用“由一根皮筋穿過一塊皮革制成的‘圣經式’彈弓。” ????和硅谷的許多創業英雄不同，魯毅智不是那種性急浮躁、頭戴光環、大學還沒念完就輟學辦公司的天才小子。相反，他憑借努力奮斗、堅強意志和耐心堅持，才獲得了萊斯大學（Rice University）的電子工程學博士學位，成為了美國公民。然后，他在德州儀器（Texas Instruments）和摩托羅拉（Motorola）一路事業上升。直到2000年，魯毅智已經55歲的時候，AMD才將他聘為首席運營官，同時也將他作為AMD創始人杰瑞?桑德斯的接班人來培養。 ????從這本書的風格和內容來看，魯毅智是個工程師和經理人，而不是一名企業家。無論是他本人還是他的作品，都既不幽默諧趣，也談不上文采飛揚。他表現出了一些熱情，但是又嚴格地收斂住了。（這本書是與居住在墨西哥城的一名《基督教科學葴言報》（Christian Science Monitor）記者勞倫?維拉格蘭合著的。） |
????Ruiz was born poor in Piedras Negras, a Mexican village across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas. A coal-mining town, it drew its name from the "black rocks ... that had made a few lucky people rich," Ruiz writes. Ruiz's family was not among those lucky few, so his rise to become CEO of one of Silicon Valley's most significant companies is inspirational. The title of Ruiz's book, Slingshot, references Project Slingshot, AMD's in-house term for its David and Goliath battle against Intel. It's also a reference to Ruiz's humble childhood, during which he learned to use slingshots made "in the biblical style: with a pocket of leather looped with a string." ????Unlike many Silicon Valley heros, Ruiz is no brash, flashy, wunderkind who dropped out of college to found his own company. He is, rather, someone who through hard work, formidable will, and patient perseverance, earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Rice University, became a U.S. citizen, and worked his way up the ladders at Texas Instruments and Motorola until, in 2000, at age 55, AMD hired him as chief operating officer and heir apparent to its more charismatic founder, Jerry Sanders. ????In style as well as substance, then, Ruiz is an engineer and manager, not an entrepreneur. Neither he nor his writing are witty or incandescent; they are straightforward, clear, understated, and a bit plodding. He evinces passion, but it is tightly reined in. (The book is written with Lauren Villagran, a Mexico City-based journalist who writes for the Christian Science Monitor.) |
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????魯毅智的《彈弓之戰》用一名CEO的視野回顧了AMD與英特爾的訴訟戰，當然它的視角與法律從業者的視角很不同。如果你想了解關于AMD訴訟戰的新鮮細節，這本書或許并不適合你。事實上，在美國地方法官約瑟夫?法爾南對本案律師下達了廣泛的“封口令”后，魯毅智也和媒體一樣，在訴訟的前四年里對證據采取了很大程度的保密。直到2009年，歐盟委員會決定對英特爾征收罰款，并于四個月后起草了一份長達542頁的意見書。但是，這本意見書也經過了大量修改，沒有透露太多證據。最終在2009年11月時，時任紐約州檢察長的安德魯?科莫在對英特爾提起訴訟時披露了大量電子郵件證據，才終結了法爾南法官的封口令，使相關細節大白于天下。（雖然魯毅智在書中沒有談及“封口令”的事，不過以我的愚見，法爾南法官的封口令也是導致英特爾在訴訟戰中長期不向AMD低頭的重要原因，它差點把這場十年來最重要的反壟斷訴訟變成一場實質上的私人仲裁——只不過買單的人莫名其妙地變成納稅人。） |
????Slingshot provides a CEO's-eye view of AMD's war with Intel, which is, of course, very different from a litigator's. If you are hoping to learn fresh details of AMD's legal battle, this is not the book for you. In fact, under the terms of a very broad gag order imposed upon the litigators by U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan, Jr., who presided over AMD's civil suit against Intel in Delaware, Ruiz was, just like the press, kept largely in the dark about the evidence as it emerged during the first four years of litigation. Cracks did not appear in this judicially imposed cone of silence until May 2009, when the European Commission leveled its fine against Intel and then, four months later, issued a (still heavily redacted) 542-page opinion. The cone was at last more seriously compromised in November 2009, when then-New York State attorney general Andrew Cuomofiled his own tell-all, email-laden complaint against Intel, doing an end-run around Judge Farnan's strictures. (Though Ruiz doesn't discuss it, in my humble opinion Judge Farnan's gag order was both severely overbroad and crucial to Intel's long holdout against AMD. It very nearly converted the most important competition litigation of the decade into de facto private arbitration -- inexplicably funded by taxpayers.) |
