"Dylan, are you crazy?"

"I'm wearing an evening gown, sleeveless, backless, and without a pocket! How can I take a camera to secretly take a picture of Bill Gates and Autumn?"

"No, no, no!

After Jennifer hung up the phone angrily, Du Qiu, who was tossing and bow-tie in front of the mirror, turned his head and asked, "What did Dylan tell you to do?"

"He asked me to invite Bill to sign up for iMail, which was unbelievable!"

Du Qiu and Chen Dayou are both rookies who started their own businesses for the first time, and they just got their driver's licenses to drive F1 cars, full of momentum, but they lack experience and often make mistakes, so the release of iMail is the same as the Internet conference in August, full of twists and turns, full of variables.

First decided to release by invitation, then changed to direct release, and then changed to a limited release, yesterday after repeated discussions with E public relations company, and finally made a mixed plan, November 1 to 11 invitation, after the 11th limited, and then according to market feedback, and then decide when to fully open.

Inviting Bill Gates to sign up for iMail is indeed a bit whimsical......

But this kind of thing is like chasing the goddess, if you don't open your mouth, there will definitely be no play, even if you don't have a play, there is no loss, if there is a play, then you will make a profit......

The theme of the charity dinner was environmental protection, starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m., and was divided into three sessions, starting with speeches by the organizers and environmental celebrities, followed by a charity auction, and finally a meal.

Du Qiu and Jennifer stayed in the luxury hotel where the dinner was held, and when they arrived at the speech venue about five minutes early, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda had already arrived and were chatting with a few friends.

"Hey, Uncle Bill. ”

"Little angel Jennifer, long time no see. Bill Gates is not as socially awkward as rumored to be, jokingly introducing: "Aside from my wife, you're the most beautiful lady tonight." Melinda, this is Jennifer, Pam's daughter. This should be Autumn?"

"Hello, Mr. Gates, I'm Autumn-Du. ”

"Call me Bill. Bill Gates shook hands with Du Qiu and said, "Congratulations on the success of your company's financing." ”

"Thank you, and I also congratulate the Indos 95 on its sales exceeding 10 million units. ”

After chatting a few words, Jennifer made an excuse for them and said, "Computers are the least environmentally friendly and most annoying thing in the world, so go outside and talk, don't bother us here." ”

The two of them left the lecture venue, found a corner in the café in the hotel, and sat down to talk about business.

Du Qiu originally thought that Bill Gates asked him to come to Seattle to make a big move in the browser market, get the source code of IE in advance or buy the entire iVie company, but after chatting for a while, he realized that he would be wrong, because Bill Gates talked to him about network computers and Java.

The so-called network computer is a cheap computer concept proposed by Larry Ellison, the boss of Oracle, at the information technology forum held in Paris on September 4, 1995, he believes that the traditional personal computer structure is complex, expensive, and outdated in the Internet era, and the new generation of computers should simplify the structure, cancel the hard disk, optical disc and even the operating system, and receive and store information directly through the network.

In 1995, personal computers were generally above $1,000, and the high-end ones even exceeded $2,000, and Larry Ellison's network computer was only about $500, so it immediately caused a sensation, became the headlines of major media, and also attracted the attention of all the powerful in the industry.

IBM was the first industry giant to respond, and the legendary CEO Gerstner defined network computers as IBM's future strategic development direction in an interview with Business Week in October, and soon Netscape and SUN also announced their support for the development of network computers.

IBM has chips, SUN has servers, Oracle has databases, Netscape has browsers, the four have joined forces, with Java as a link, forming a complete industrial chain, coupled with Motorola, Philips and other manufacturers cheering, there is really the momentum to get the network computer up, so that Microsoft is like a big enemy, feel pressure, and can't take care of IE this gadget.

"Autumn, how long do you think it will take for a network computer to replace a traditional personal computer?"

"It depends on how fast the telecommunications industry is developing...... Du Qiu originally wanted to do Tai Chi, but under Bill Gates's unusually focused eyes, he felt that he couldn't be perfunctory, so he said: "I don't think it will be possible to replace traditional computers in 20 years." ”

"Isn't your internet speed enough?"

"Yes, the idea of reading and storing information directly over the internet is not realistic unless the internet speed is measured in G. ”

In 1995, before even 28Kbps modems were popular, and the speed in gigabytes was as distant as a cloud on the horizon, Bill Gates seemed to be a little unconvinced, and asked, "Do you have to have such a fast speed?"

"In special areas such as education, ticketing, and banking, you may not need such a fast speed, but for ordinary daily use, the speed must not only be fast, but also be able to connect anytime, anywhere. ”

"So, iVie won't be involved in the development of network computers?"

"Yes, with the current state of the Internet, I don't think there is a future for network computers and I won't waste time on them. Du Qiu raised his right hand, stretched out his fingers in turn, and said: "Netscape, Oracle, IBM, SUN, else, connected to Noise, they are just noise." ”

The first letter of these four company names, plus a "other", just make up the English word "noise", this meme is actually made up by employees in order to ridicule competitors at the 1997 Microsoft annual meeting, Du Qiu plagiarized it at this time to adjust the atmosphere, and achieved good results, Bill Gates laughed and said: "Autumn, you are so funny." ”

In the following time, the two talked and laughed, as if they had forgotten the New Year's friend, and exchanged views on software development, hardware design, Internet development and other aspects, and many times the opinions were surprisingly unanimous, which made Bill Gates feel like a confidant, and Du Qiu also deeply felt that the richest man in the world is worthy of his name, and his vision and vision are far beyond ordinary people.

When it was close to 6 o'clock, the two left the café to go to the charity auction, and on the way Bill Gates suddenly asked, "Autumn, is iVie ready to buy a license to use Java?"

"We don't have the idea of buying a Java license at the moment. ”

"Why?"

"I think Java is the same as a network computer, the concept is good, but it is difficult to implement and takes time to polish ......"

Du Qiu was about to answer, when suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he guessed the purpose of Bill Gates inviting him to Seattle this time - Microsoft panicked and urgently needed allies!

In the computer industry, when a company proposes a new concept or new technology, it usually takes one or two years or even four or five years for other manufacturers to follow up, but when SUN released the Java language and Oracle proposed a network computer, in just a few months, a large number of manufacturers quickly followed up and formed an industry alliance.

Since the 80s, Microsoft has relied on the monopoly position of the operating system, attacking from all sides, making enemies everywhere, killing batch after batch of competitors, so when indos 95 was released, the extremely hot sales scene made all the companies in the industry feel cold, Java and network computers just came into being, one from the software, one from the hardware, as if the sword and the dragon knife, become the best tool to fight against Microsoft's hegemony.

Two fists are hard to beat four hands, in the face of an alliance formed by a large group of muscular hunks, Microsoft has Intel and AMD as helpers in hardware, and can still maintain calm, but the software is really at a loss, and there is no reliable helper, because almost all the companies that can be offended are offended, and those who are not offended are not helpful to the overall situation, so in the original time and space, the end of 1995 to the beginning of 1997 was the most panicked period for Microsoft, panicked to the extent of openly surrendering to competitors- Spent $16.5 million to purchase a 5-year Java license from SUN.

Java is a very good programming language, but its copyright and ownership belong to SUN, and SUN is a company with strong technical accumulation in chip design, operating system and server manufacturing, the U.S. government will definitely not allow Du Qiu to acquire it, once SUN is acquired by Oracle like the original time and space in the future, then when Snapdragon uses Java in the future, it is likely to encounter the same trouble as Google in 2010, and was sued by Oracle for billions of dollars in compensation......

Rather than being pinched by others, it is better to take out the C# developed by Microsoft to fight Java and compete for the throne of the future programming language boss......

"Bill, if I can develop a language similar to Java, will Microsoft be willing to support me?"

"As open source as iScript?"

"Yes, open source, free, cross-platform, compile once, run everywhere. Du Qiu gently straightened his bow tie and said very confidently: "If I can get enough support, I can develop a programming language that is better and more practical than Java in a year at most." ”

"Autumn, if you can develop a language like this, I will give you 100% support. Bill Gates put the final word and said, "Funding, talent, whatever you want, Microsoft can provide." ”

It's really wonderful to take Microsoft's products in the future and knock on Microsoft's bamboo bar now......

In the next charity auction, Bill Gates took a picture of a famous American photographer's work and gave it to Du Qiu, Du Qiu reciprocated by taking a handicraft made of environmentally friendly recycled materials and giving it to Bill Gates.

At the final dinner, Du Qiu used Jennifer's lipstick, wrote the URL of iMail and a string of invitation codes on a napkin, and said, "Bill, our company has developed a new product, are you interested in trying it?"

"Is that a form of support?"

"No, it's a testament to our friendship, and I'm sure Microsoft will be a competitor to iVie after you try it. Du Qiu raised his glass and said with a smile: "Of course, it is a benign competitor." ”

"Okay, I'll try. ”

Jennifer kicked Du Qiu with her foot next to her and whispered, "You are more shameless than Dylan." ”

"Thanks for the compliment. ”

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