Գտել եմ հրաշալի հոդված։ Երկար, սակայն հետաքրքիր։

Դավեր, խարդավանքներ, հետազոտություններ։ Ինչպես էր ստեղծվում Սիմբիանը ու Վինդովս ՑԵ-ն։

The new machine received much praise; it was far superior to the Windows devices shown at Comdex. It required learning a new system, but at one level retained source compatibility with the BASIC-like language interpretor that thousands of programmers used to create programs for its predecessor – so it hit the ground running.

The sophistication and superiority of Epoc, compared to Windows CE, were evident to the pundits, who threw laurels at Psion’s new machine. Psion users were used to a month on two AA batteries – and the Series 5 very nearly matched that. But it had striven to match the flexibility of paper (Psion had viewed Filofax users as their traditional competition) with a 32bit world. Pictures could be embedded in a diary entry, for example.

“He said, ‘We have a ticket to Microsoft. That’s our future’.”

Potter explained that Psion couldn’t compete with Microsoft’s vast resources. Psion would license Windows CE, and Psion Computer would compete on its hardware excellence.

There was disbelief around the table.

Psion’s superior computers owed much to the deep integration of hardware with its own purpose-built operating system and frameworks. When Psion’s engineers tested Windows CE on the same hardware as Psion’s own Epoc, they found the Microsoft software was four times as power hungry.

“There’s no way our engineers are going to go to Windows,” piped up one attendee.

On a brilliantly sunny June day in London, 130 Psion Software staff arrived at work and found they had a new employer, with an unfamiliar name. Most had been completely unaware of the development.

The day before, they had been working at a tiny company, trying to crack into new markets dominated by giants. Now they learned that the mobile industry’s giants had entrusted their futures to them. And Epoc, the operating system that had been put on life support three months earlier, now looked to have a boundless future. They were now at the centre of the fastest growing, wealthiest sector of the technology industry.

It was the start of an intoxicating time. Two years later, Symbian would reach a valuation of £11bn, by some estimates, and be cited as the most important technology company on the planet. It seemed to be a new kind of business, and a validation of the European model of competition based on co-operation at deep technical levels, the model that had created the GSM mobile success story.

Symbian owned the future. Or so it seemed.

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