At Microsoft's current scale, there's really nothing to visit, and the focus is on talking to Gates and others.

"I would venture to ask, isn't Microsoft a company limited by shares now?" Tang Huan glanced at the nameplate and asked casually.

"Changing the type of company registration is being considered." Gates replied a little embarrassed, compared with the booming development of Silicon Valley companies, Microsoft, which lives in Seattle, is indeed a little out of step in some mechanisms.

But this can't be blamed on Gates, who was really tormented by the lawsuit over the first patent dispute in his career.

Originally he was from Edward? Roberts's MITS company dug the first pot of gold there, and the development was quite smooth, but with the fierce business competition brought by various copycat Cowherd Star computers, Roberts, who had experienced a fiasco in the calculator price war and was heavily in debt, retreated, and finally sold MITS to Pertec in Canada in 1977, and he took the share of $2 million to a rural town in Georgia to be a happy farmer.

After Pertec got MITS, AltairBASIC claimed that it owned the patent rights for the microcomputer version of BASIC, and other companies and individuals had no right to continue selling this product, which directly pushed Microsoft to a dead end.

The young and vigorous Gates immediately fought back and filed a lawsuit, and Pertec was overjoyed to see this, and just showed the monkey that you little guy was killing chickens, so he gladly responded.

Although Gates also studied law, he obviously didn't know the sinister world, and the court froze Microsoft's BASIC income related to Intel8080CPUs at that time. Although there are still funds for MOS6052 and MC6800 version BASIC. But that's only a small part. The company then fell into trouble.

Fortunately, Gates was able to turn to his father, a well-known lawyer, and by asking someone to intervene in the lawsuit, the court finally ruled that Pertec only obtained the right to use BASIC, and Microsoft had ownership of BASIC.

Originally, a lawsuit like this would drag on for several years according to the normal process, but this lawsuit was concluded in only half a year, which shows how much of a role Gates's father played in it.

After that, Gates moved Microsoft back to his hometown of Seattle. It is not surprising that the subsequent cautiousness in business strategy is not surprising.

Tang Huan nodded, now Gates's business idea is still at the level of "as long as it is a personal computer, it will be used in BASIC", the scale and mechanism in front of him are enough to cope with the situation, I have to say, brother, you have the capital to develop slowly.

IBM Chairman Frank Cary is about to retire and will hand over the baton to John Opel this year, a position he held until 1986. Gates hugged his thighs, and the turnover was already tens of billions of dollars blue giant. As long as the fingers leak a little bit, Microsoft will have a mouthful of oil.

In the final analysis, in fact, people have a backstage, and this kind of opportunity is not something that can be encountered casually, and everyone can't envy it.

Although on the surface, Microsoft does not seem to be in a hurry to transform, Tang Huan still openly and honestly probed, "Except for BASIC, Microsoft does not plan to get involved in other aspects of software, such as spreadsheets, word processing, etc." ”

"Of course I thought about it, but the competition is too fierce, especially since your brother has formed a monopoly, I don't want to hit the iron plate headlong." Gates replied with a smile, honest and modest.

"That's just a matter on the Mac platform, and the space on the CP/M platform is still very loose." Tang Huan laughed.

Gates shook his head, and then said, "I have an idea for cooperation, I don't know if you're interested?" ”

"Listen up." Tang Huan narrowed his eyes, and said in his heart Brother is thinking about how to leave a backhand here at Microsoft, but you are one step ahead and calculate me.

"You see, the information management system built around EBase is very popular, but the built-in SQL scripting language is limited in terms of functionality, and Microsoft's BASIC can make up for it, and this tacit understanding has been proven to be effective in many examples."

Speaking of this, Gates showed a sincere smile on his face, "This win-win situation, if not used well, it would be a pity, why don't we increase cooperation, for example, Zheru shares some of EBase's programming interfaces." ”

"You, you're really shrewd enough, I came to eat your meal, and I was robbed by you, it's really worth the loss." While Tang Huan was joking, he quickly calculated the gains and losses in his heart.

Gates shrugged, "Your family has a big business, even if it is robbed, it won't be heartbroken." ”

"You should know that now EBase has developed into an independent platform, even if there are shortcomings, but the flaws are not hidden, the user's favor for it will only increase day by day, and the recent cooperation with BASIC is not indispensable, your proposal, can not make me excited." Tang Huan's expression was very sunny, but the words he said were very meritorious.

"What do you want in exchange, if Microsoft has something you can see, then just ask." Gates, who is full of helplessness, put on a posture that a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, and has been on the front line of marketing work for many years, and has long been able to practice talking about people and talking nonsense.

"Microsoft doesn't have a platform like EBase right now, but that doesn't mean it won't be in the future, and I'm very optimistic about your development prospects." Tang Huan complimented, and then muttered: "Then focus on the future, if Microsoft has a platform such as personal computers and operating systems in the future, or BASIC develops into a more powerful application environment, it is also necessary to open the interface to Zheru's software without reservation." ”

Hearing Tang Huan's request, Gates, Allen, and Ballmer all showed strange looks on their faces, and said in their hearts You are too good at lifting us, what kind of personal computer, operating system and other platforms. We didn't even think about it.

Gates lost in thought. The body began to sway again. Tang Huan patiently waited for the other party's reply.

According to his understanding of Tang Huan, Gates thinks that the other party will not be untargeted, but after all, that is only the future, no one can say, maybe this guy is also like Jobs, he takes it for granted, and the profits earned through EBase peripheral programs in front of him are real.

Gates, who felt that he had not suffered a loss after thinking about it, finally nodded in agreement.

"To show sincerity. It's better to agree on a legal document on the side of Zheru for this cooperation. Tang Huan showed a thoughtful expression on his face, "It just so happens that my private jet has already been put into service, and you can take a free ride to Cupertino in Silicon Valley." ”

"Then I'm going to see it." Gates readily agreed.

With a more tangible partnership, the atmosphere in which everyone eats together is not to mention.

The next day, Gates rushed to the airport with the company's lawyer, and when he saw the private jet that Tang Huan said, he was so surprised that his jaw almost fell to the ground.

Originally, Gates thought that Zheru had made so much money, and it was not surprising that Tang Huan, who had the sole power, used the name of the company to satisfy his preferences and get a private jet of ordinary models, but he saw the latest Boeing 747. Especially after hearing the name of "Silicon Valley No. 1", there are all kinds of envy and jealousy.

Even if you make a lot of money. There is no need to be so high-profile, especially with such a precious red wine, and pull the female companion to pretend to be elegant.

Although Gates was a little disdainful in his heart, he was not idle, and at least a bottle of red wine entered his stomach.

After spending about two hours in San Francisco, Gates summed it up in his heart, "Waste." ”

Tang Huan naturally attaches great importance to the cooperation agreement reached between himself and Gates, although Gates is not yet able to know his own plans, but according to the historical trajectory, this backhand is enough to ensure that Zheru's software products are stably logged into the IBM personal computer platform, and let Microsoft escort it.

When he saw that the cooperation time was five years on Microsoft's side and ten years on Zheru's side, although Gates agreed with this rule, after all, Tang Huan was betting on the future, but he still instinctively objected to it.

"Then nine years, if you have any less, you are really insincere." Tang Huan quipped.

Seeing this scene, Gates also understood that there was nothing to worry about, and signed happily.

The corners of Tang Huan's mouth curled, nine years is enough to deal with the operating system is the stage of DOS, and after the big waves, the type of hardware platform has long been stable.

After the two sides put away the documents, Tang Huan took Gates to the database department again, and now that Zheru has passed the early stage of development, he is not afraid of stealing teachers, so he can be regarded as giving him some sweetness first.

Tang Huan was warmly entertaining Gates, and his subordinates reported that the cultural counselor of the Soviet Consulate in the United States wanted to meet him.

He has accepted the invitation to participate in the opening ceremony of the Moscow Olympics, and the other party should have come to further strengthen the relationship, Tang Huan pondered in his heart.

However, as long as it is conducive to developing the market, Tang Huan doesn't mind being used by the other party to build momentum with his name.

Sure enough, when Tang Huan saw the other party in the consulate, there was a reporter next to him.

He greeted the big nose directly in Russian, which surprised the other party.

Tang Huan stretched out his fingers without modesty and counted, "Mr. Ivanov, I can say responsibly that I am proficient in Chinese, Russian, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. ”

Ivanov's eyes lit up, and he said in his heart that if this young rich man really had this ability, maybe it would come in handy.

"Your company's game "Tetris" and the "Little Overlord" game console are very popular in our country, and I am really curious, why in the United States, thousands of miles away, you would give the game such a distinctive name as "Tetris"?"

Of course, it's for the sake of space-time coordinates positioning and making up for the plagiarist's guilt, otherwise why would you feel good just by looking at the name.

Although Tang Huan muttered so in his heart, he said the other party's favorite words, "There is nothing strange about it, I know something about Russian culture, and I feel that the name "Tetris" is handsome enough, so it was settled." (To be continued......)