wild 1995

Chapter 98 Dilemma
In March 1995, there were about 3 websites and 2 million Internet users in the world, and more than 4000% of them were in the United States. As we all know, there are many lawyers in the United States, and lawyers especially like to fight copyright and patent lawsuits because they can make a lot of money.

Under the pressure of the high patent fees of JPEG and GIF, WebP picture viewing software spread rapidly on the Internet like a snowball. It was released on March 3, and the number of downloads exceeded 15 on March 3. On March 16, it exceeded 1000. By March 3, the number of downloads had exceeded 18.

The power of role models is infinite. The popularity of WebP not only attracted more people's attention to the concept of open source, but also greatly increased the popularity of Athlon browser, forcing Netscape into a dilemma.

Netscape was the first successful Internet company in the world. There was no precedent to follow. Therefore, it still developed software according to the traditional model, and the cycle was extremely long. Since the release of Netscape 1994 in December 12, the version number had not changed.

In February, Netscape’s main investor, Jim Clark, began planning for an IPO. He recruited Jim Barksdale, head of AT&T’s wireless communications business, to serve as CEO. Barksdale is a 2-year-old man with conservative thinking and dislikes the free strategy. After taking office, he immediately asked the R&D department to come up with an “attractive” version 50 of Netscape, and began charging for software upgrades.

This requirement disrupted the rhythm of the R&D department and made them at a loss. Since the SSL and cookie technologies were not yet mature, they had to use GIF support to make up the number. After all, in the era without Javascript, dynamic graphics were the only thing that could make web pages more cool and attractive.

Barksdale was very satisfied with the effect of the GIF, and planned to release Netscape 4 in April, and then charge commercial and individual users. However, the appearance of the Athlon browser shattered his wishful thinking.

Under the control of Di Ye, Athlon has adopted a dual-version update model, one is the beta version, which is updated once a day, and the other is the official version, which is updated once a month.

This update speed has completely subverted the traditional software development model. When it was first launched on March 3, Athlon could only provide about 15% of the functions of Netscape. However, in the past 80 days, on March 10, the beta version of Athlon not only added all the missing functions, but also added some innovative functions, such as hyperlink color-changing reminders, bookmark classification, history lists, etc.

The tragedy of WebP crushing JPEG and GIF is just around the corner. Netscape will definitely not be able to charge, and now the speed of research and development can’t keep up. Barksdale has no choice but to call all employees together on March 3 for a brainstorming meeting, trying to find a reason to persuade Wall Street to buy Netscape stock.

Netscape had about 80 employees at this time, and they huddled together to discuss for a long time. Finally, Monica Pascoe from the media public relations department came up with an answer that satisfied Barksdale but dissatisfied the R&D personnel.

"Many companies in the world use corn syrup to make cola, but only Coca-Cola is the most successful. We can become Coca-Cola in the Internet field, using Athlon's code as a raw material, focusing on building the company's brand, so that when everyone in the world mentions a browser, the first thing that comes to mind is Netscape."

"Without our own unique technology, how can we build a brand?"

"What does Compaq say? They use Intel chips and Microsoft systems. They don't have their own technology, but they have become the world's number one selling computer brand."

"The Little Red Flower License is very business-friendly and not as contagious as the GPL. We can develop some new closed-source functions based on it, which not only saves costs, but also attracts users to pay, just like tap water and Evian mineral water."

"Doing so would cause Netscape to lose its market leadership and become a second-rate generic browser company!"

Barksdale pretended to be neutral, collected all the arguments from both sides, and held a separate high-level meeting with Jim Clark and Mark Anderson in his office after the meeting.

Clark is the world's top computer graphics expert. He founded SGI in 1982, specializing in the research and development of high-end graphics workstations, and laid the technical foundation for Hollywood special effects blockbusters. In 1993, he lost in the internal struggle of SGI and was kicked out by the board of directors.

But this time, it was Barksdale who took the initiative to seek advice, which was not considered interference. Therefore, as a computer expert, Clark expressed his opinion: "Netscape is a technology-centric company. If it loses its leading edge in technology, its brand value will be greatly reduced."

Anderson recently looked through the open source articles written by Di Ye. He had a lot of insights and said helplessly: "Clark, LRF believes that if there are enough eyes, bugs will have nowhere to hide. Athlon is open source. Thousands of Internet users help to test and find bugs every day, and all of our Netscape testers add up to only 10 people, and the efficiency cannot be compared with it."

"Then buy the Athlon."

"I asked LRF once and he had no idea of ​​selling."

Barksdale felt that Anderson was too young to understand negotiating skills, and said, "Maybe the way you asked is wrong, give me his email address, and I'll get in touch."

Anderson didn't like Baxdale's rigidity, and was happy to see him deflated. He reported his email address, and then said: "LRF would like to cooperate with us to jointly formulate some technical standards for the World Wide Web. I think it should be accepted. This is beneficial to both parties, and it can combat potential competitors, such as Microsoft."

Clark nodded in agreement, saying, "It's a good idea, and setting standards will help keep Netscape the industry leader."

Barksdale felt that this was an excellent reason to convince Wall Street. To confirm the feasibility, he asked: "It is the job of W3C to formulate World Wide Web standards. Do we have the ability?"

"What W3C makes is just a recommended standard, we can use browsers to make de facto standards."

After Anderson explained, he recalled LRF’s analogy with the sheriff, and added: “Just like in California in the 19th century, the laws promulgated by Washington are just waste paper. What is really useful is what the local sheriff said, such as image format. If our browser only supports WebP, then W3C can’t do anything about it.”

"When will the official version of Athlon support WebP be released?"

"November 4."

"Then release Netscape 1.1 on April 4, and ask Monica to formulate a publicity plan to make Netscape the leading party in setting standards. I need to use the power of public opinion to convince Wall Street."

Both Clark and Anderson thought it was a good strategy, discussed the details, and left. After the two left, Barksdale checked the world time and found that it was 8:[-] in the morning in China, so he wrote an email to Di Ye, proposing to buy Athlon with Netscape's stock, and cooperate for a win-win situation.

However, Barksdale did not receive a reply from Di Ye immediately, because he returned to Yuncheng yesterday and was eating breakfast at home.

Many people don’t feel it when they see each other every day, but after a few days, they find something different. For example, when Di Ye came back this time, he found that Di Yongchang had become fatter, and he was more cheerful than before, always with a smile on his face.

"Xiaoye, after you're done with school work today, accompany Xiaoya to the villa and study how to decorate it."

"it is good."

"Xiaoye, I think you'll be busier and busier in the future. Why don't you have a baby with Xiaoya while you're still free? When the villa is finished, my father and I will help bring up the baby. You two can go to work."

The so-called Xiaobie is better than a newlywed. Huang Ya and Di Ye had been lingering for a long time last night. Now hearing Zhang Xiuzhi say this, she shyly said: "Mom, Di Ye will go to school next semester."

"PhDs are not undergraduates, and they are allowed to marry and have children. I think many Ph.D.s have families with them, which will not affect their studies."

"Mom, Xiaoya and I are still very young now, so don't rush, you will definitely have a grandson or granddaughter in your arms in a few years."

"How long is it in a few years?"

"The year 2000, when the century just passed, and my father happened to have his 60th birthday."

"Then we have to wait four or five years!"

(End of this chapter)