Hollywood Hunter

Simon spent a week on the east coast and spent a weekend before returning to San Francisco on the west coast on January 25.

Failing to reach a cooperation agreement with Microsoft on the pre-installation of the IE browser, Eaglet has recently contacted PC manufacturers such as Apple, HP, and Compaq.

Compared with the original service provider installing browser software for users, pre-installing directly on the operating system can greatly increase the income of IE browser software.

Due to population restrictions, once the number of Internet access users reaches a certain scale, it is impossible to continue to increase rapidly. As a consumable, personal computers need to be continuously updated. Sales in the next ten years will continue to increase.

Moreover, adopting the model of software pre-installation can also completely consolidate the market position of IE browser software, which is actually a monopoly position, avoiding any opportunities for competitors.

In the past, Microsoft used this technique to defeat dozens of browser patent licensees, including Netscape.

Eaglet holds most of the core patents of World Wide Web technology, and it stands to reason that there is no need to worry about the monopoly of Internet Explorer. However, it has to be guarded before it happens.

Mainly also in terms of anti-monopoly.

If the federal government conducts an antitrust investigation on IE browser, this kind of voice has already appeared last year, then Igreat is likely to have to license this technology.

At that time, as long as the pre-installed mode of the IE browser has become an established fact, even if there are competitors, the threat will not be too great.

Therefore, Eaglet Corporation attaches great importance to this plan.

"Apple and IBM have rejected our cooperation plan. Apple believes that doing so will increase the user's purchase cost. IBM believes that since the software is to be pre-installed in each other's machine, we should pay the other party's fees instead of It should be charged. Several other manufacturers, such as HP, Compaq, and Dell, are still negotiating and can basically reach a cooperation agreement, but the pre-installation price has not yet been negotiated. I think these companies should have privately Contact has reached an alliance for advancement and retreat."

In the meeting room, Jeff Bezos introduced the general progress of the pre-installation plan.

In fact, Simon is also more concerned about the market advantages that the preinstallation plan brings to IE browser software. It is the most important to ensure that this operating software is an absolute Internet portal. As for the benefits of software preinstallation, he planned to gradually promote IE browsing. The free of charge makes this software a free "service" of Eaglet, which reduces the possibility of monopoly accusations. Therefore, even if the price is lowered, it does not matter.

Of course, it is unlikely that it will be free in the short term.

Eaglet is still very dependent on the IE browser's easy access to hundreds of millions of dollars each young.

In fact, Simon is very resistant to this dependence, but has to admit that the benefits of the IE browser can not only reduce Eaglet’s large demand for funds, but also improve Eaglet’s and the entire new technology field’s development of the Internet industry. Confidence in the prospects.

For emerging industries, only when they can obtain actual benefits can they attract more people to participate.

While listening to Bezos' introduction, Simon looked at a more detailed document in his hand, then raised his head a moment later and said, "Is there any possibility of continuing negotiations with Apple?"

Jeff Bezos shook his head and said: "I personally talked to John Sculley three times, but the other party refused. Apple has done very well in recent years, and their operating system has not been widely authorized. I don’t worry about competitors, so I don’t want to incur additional software pre-installation costs."

After the Gulf War, the U.S. stock market recovered and the PC market grew rapidly. Both in terms of capital and actual performance, Apple has been quite moisturized in recent years. Not only has its market value increased steadily, it still maintains a high position of more than 7 billion US dollars. The rate has also stabilized above 20%.

Moreover, unlike the Microsoft camp, Apple's Macintosh system is not authorized externally, so there is no competitor with compatible computers.

John Scully is probably determined that Eaglet is unable to give up the 20% PC market occupied by Apple, and does not want to bear the additional software procurement costs.

It is impossible for Eaglet to give up the Apple computer market.

Otherwise, Simon would not specifically ask about the possibility of no negotiation.

However, Apple CEO John Sculley obviously forgot that although Eaglet is unable to give up the Apple computer market, it can slow down the development progress of the Macintosh version of the IE browser.

In the next few years, the Internet will only become more and more important to PC users.

If the web browser software of the Apple Macintosh operating system platform is always not as easy to use as the Microsoft platform, and the negative reputation accumulates over time, it will be enough for Apple to feel uncomfortable.

What's more, there are pre-installed programs.

Different from Apple's arrogance and IBM's arrogance, the reasons why manufacturers such as HP and Compaq are willing to cooperate obviously also see the promotion of this plan to themselves.

When users access the World Wide Web, they can indeed obtain software installations from service providers, but this fee is actually clearly marked.

In the future, if there is a problem with the software or the computer needs to be replaced, the IE browser must be reinstalled, which is certainly not suitable for continuing to trouble the operator.

As we all know, labor in the United States is very expensive.

If you install the IE browser software for $10, the service fee may be more than that.

Of course, there are retail versions of IE, including online software stores, but doing so will eventually bring various inconveniences.

At this time, if a machine is pre-installed with IE browser, users will show a tendency unconsciously. The machine can be used directly after you buy it. If it fails, you may only need to restore the factory system. This is obviously much more convenient than those computers without a pre-installed browser.

Commercial competition is often this kind of competition in details accumulated bit by bit.

Apple is unwilling to cooperate, and only the other party will lose.

Simon also didn't spend too much time thinking about giving the opponent a trip. In a long-distance race, if a person stops and tries to trip the competitor, the result will only slow down his progress.

As for the future.

Think about the rapid decline of Apple after the release of Windows 95. If the other party wants to recover, it will definitely not work without paying the price.

The discussion about the pre-installation plan continued, and this topic ended, and Carol Bartz proposed another project.

About a brand new computer operating system.

Linux.

"This is a set of open source operating system kernels released by a Finnish programmer named Linus Tovac last year. After being released through the World Wide Web platform, many programmers around the world are now volunteering for this system. Follow-up development. We think this system is suitable to replace the Unix system currently used in the company's data center, so we plan to set up a team to take charge of this project."

Carol Bartz just introduced a rough idea. In fact, Simon had already seen the detailed planning of this project in advance on the plane to San Francisco.

The data center of Eaglet is still using Unix system at present. The licensing fee of Unix system is very expensive, and the degree of openness of this system is still not up to the level of Eaglet’s technical team can according to their own needs. The extent to which the lowest level modification is made.

The completely open source and free Linux will undoubtedly solve this problem.

In my memory, because of the free and open source properties, the Linux system's share of the server market later reached more than 90%.

Of course, it is not an easy task to develop an operating system.

Microsoft was founded in 1975, and it has been nearly 20 years now. The latest Windows 3.1 system still has various problems.

Simon appreciates that Carol Bartz discovered the potential value of this operating system shortly after the Linux system was born, but if it is really put into development, it will be a long-term project.

If you want to develop a brand new operating system, it is just a technical team, no one or two hundred people are not enough, and you must be the top software engineer.

At the same time, it is equally unrealistic to expect a set of operating systems to be completed in one or two years.

Finally, when the project is completed, it is still not an easy task to replace the existing Unix system.

Eaglet’s cloud computing technology is currently being developed based on the Unix system.

However, no matter how difficult this may be, Simon understands one thing, that a free and open source Linux system replaces a closed and paid Unix system. This way is absolutely correct.

Since it is determined to be on the right path, no matter how much investment is required in the process, it is worthwhile.

Everyone discussed for more than half an hour. Although Jeff Bezos had some criticisms about this plan that might occupy a large amount of funds and resources of Igreat, he did not object, so it was quickly finalized.

It was noon unconsciously.

Everyone had lunch together, returned to the company, and discussed with Steve Case, who is still in New York, about the next cooperation between Igreat and AOL through a conference call.

At the beginning, the headquarters of AOL moved to San Francisco, because the subsequent company's business scale on the east coast is much larger than that on the west coast, Steve Case's time in the east coast New York headquarters is much longer than the west coast, and the operation team is gradually tilting east. The West Coast headquarters now focuses more on technology research and development.

ADSL technology is to finalize the plan and complete the test on the west coast.

After finishing the trip on Eagle's side, Simon took the time to go to the Tincobair Company opened by C girl Claire Gein.

With the rise of the Internet, the demand for iCam digital cameras has been increasing.

In 1992, the shipment of iCam had unknowingly grown to about 50,000 units per month, and the annual shipment reached 610,000 units, with sales close to 300 million US dollars.

For a start-up electronic product company, this is already a pioneering move when a large number of well-established and established manufacturers have entered the market.

Following the rapidly rising Internet concept, Wall Street’s recent valuation of iCam has reached a maximum of $1 billion.

After another round of financing, Westeros’ shareholding in Tinkobel rose to 70%, and the two founders’ shareholding was reduced from 25% to 15%.

However, according to the recent valuation of 1 billion US dollars, only these 15% shares are worth 150 million US dollars.

Claire Gein has therefore become another billionaire who has emerged from the Westeros system, and, compared to the executives of the Westeros system, the identity of Girl C is even more contemplative: Simon Westero’s daughter commission.

More and more people in the outside world have learned the information of the four'ABCD' girls around Simon Westero, full of all kinds of ambiguous curiosity.

The third generation iCam-30 will still be released on Easter.

At the same time, Tinco Bayer has quietly started to develop digital music players, and the trademarks have already been registered, iPlayer.

This player will be mainly based on the MP3 audio format and micro hard disk storage technology provided by Eaglet.

It is also a product that appeared almost ten years in advance. However, because related technologies have been accumulated for many years, there are also no major obstacles to product development.

As long as the next USB is completed and promoted, AOL’s ADSL network is laid out, the digital music player can create a complete online music ecosystem.

At the end of the day's work, Simon stayed at the mountain villa in Woodside with the female assistant who came quietly, and returned to Los Angeles the next day.

This year's American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards will be held on Thursday, January 28.

The location is still the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Daenerys Entertainment has been nominated for many projects in film and TV, as usual it is the hot spot tonight.

The company also started preparing for the celebration party after the Golden Globe ceremony a week in advance.

Regardless of whether it can be awarded, the cumulative total of more than 30 nominations in film and television is enough for Daenerys Entertainment to celebrate.

Simon didn’t bother to go to the Hilton Hotel’s banquet hall to sit for a few hours. He still worked until six o’clock in the afternoon. He returned to Cape Dumei Manor to accompany Janet for dinner, and the two rushed to the second floor of Daenerys Studios ahead of schedule Activity center.

The celebration party tonight is still held here.

Many company executives and some celebrities who did not participate in the award ceremony arrived early. After the award ceremony, it was better to be more lively here.

A live broadcast of the Golden Globes was shown on the projection screen in the lobby of the event center. Simon, Amy Pascal and others greeted them and discussed the plan of the ‘Conspiracy Universe’ with Danny Morris.

"The Warrens and the Warrens published a biography in 1980 in cooperation with a writer called "The Warrens, the Ghost Scholars". At that time, they also signed an exclusive license agreement with each other. Authorize to other people. This is the most troublesome point. We contacted the writer and the other party made a $5 million offer, which was a joke. However, the news has spread recently, and now several other Hollywood studios are right. The right to adapt that book generated interest."