Hollywood Hunter

The progress of the negotiations between Eaglet and the New York Times Group, the company’s recent response to a series of prosecutions, the free IE browser plan, the buyout-to-subscription plan for basic web tools, and the development of key start-ups supported by the venture capital department Overview and so on.

Although he didn't go to San Francisco, Simon stayed in his villa study all day Saturday to discuss various matters with Silicon Valley.

Simon has always tried to avoid becoming a micro-manager. However, as Eaglet's company becomes larger and larger, there are more and more things that require him to participate in the decision. It is not the distrust of the management, but the Internet, as an absolute emerging industry, has no precedent to compare. Once the initial development is in the wrong direction, it will be more difficult to reverse it.

For example, this cooperation with the New York Times Group.

Both Jeff Bezos and Carol Bartz, who is not in charge of the web portal department, said that they should refuse to join the New York Times Group's content resources in the news and information field where the company can already provide users with content on its own. Doing so may cause Eaglet’s media discourse power in the Internet field to be diverted by the New York Times Group.

To a large extent, they were right to think so.

Introducing the news content of the New York Times Group, and even directing traffic for the other's professional news websites, will inevitably cause many users to leave the Eaglet portal to seek more professional news information. On the surface, this is very detrimental to the Igreta portal's control of the Internet media wind.

However, if he refuses to cooperate, can Igreat really hold this position for a long time?

Not to mention, it is just a comparison of the staff size of the news and information team. The number of employees in the news and information department of Eaglet Portal is about 500 people, even less than one-third of the 1,600 employees of the New York Times.

The backwardness of paper media groups in the Internet field is by no means their inability to produce content, but the key is that traditional media must protect their vested interests.

Once the power of the paper media is completely liberalized and marching towards digitalization, the Eaglet portal will not be able to compete with the profound traditional media in terms of news and information.

Of course, unless facing a critical moment of life and death, it is unlikely that paper media will fully turn to digital for a long time in the future. However, even if it is only part of the effort, if the Eaglet portal refuses to cooperate with it, it will only push a large amount of content resources from traditional paper media to the competitor's side, and eventually may even cause the competitor to become bigger.

The most important point is that Simon has repeatedly emphasized since the beginning of Eaglet's development that portals are not the core of Eaglet.

In the field of network business, Igreat needs to protect only three items at all costs: search engines, social networks, and e-commerce.

Several previous executives may not understand that as the Internet continues to spread and users become more proficient in Internet surfing, the rapid growth of search engine business is completely visible to the naked eye. After all, after being familiar with the Internet, users will only become more and more inclined to bypass the portal’s recommendations and directly search for content that interests them.

As for social networks.

When everyone is concentrated in one social circle, it is basically impossible to change another network social environment, so it is difficult for latecomers to shake a social network that has formed a sufficient scale.

Mastering search engines and social networks will truly master the content interface of the Internet in the future.

At that time, through these two invisible big nets, what Yigrete wants users to see, they can only see what. No matter how professional and rich your news content is, if it cannot appear in search engines and social networks, or is deliberately hidden in the most inconspicuous corner, then everything is useless.

This is the truly indestructible right to speak!

Relatively speaking, it is much easier to copy a portal website.

If in the Internet 1.0 era when portals are still crucial at this stage, Yigrete will push a large amount of content resources to the side of its competitors, which is likely to bring opportunities for transformation to the other party, leading to the foundation of Yigrete’s Internet 2.0 model He was caught up and even overtaken without being entrenched.

On the contrary, liberalizing the acceptance of content resources will, to a large extent, also create the Matthew effect of the stronger the stronger.

Not only that, the digital content of traditional media seems to have gained more influence in this process, but many paper media want to get traffic from the Eaglet portal, whether they are active or passive, they must follow the Eaglet portal. Act according to the rules.

There is a very simple reason. Contents that tend to the Westeros system will inevitably be more easily recommended. Articles attacking the Westeros system will definitely be suppressed. This potential impact will be further transmitted to traditional paper media platforms, as long as a newspaper To cooperate with Eaglet Portal, even if you just want to publish an article on the Westeros system on a print media platform, you must also consider whether this will affect the cooperation between the two parties in the Internet field.

Therefore, introducing the content of the New York Times Group and even cooperating with more other paper media companies will not affect the Internet media influence of Eaglet, but will increase the right to speak.

In addition to content cooperation, the New York Times Group also proposed to take a stake in the online radio site Broadcast invested by Igreat, and at the same time obtain a patent license for online video broadcast technology.

Simon agreed all.

The online radio website Broadcast in my memory can be regarded as the most failed corporate model in the Internet 1.0 era. Yahoo spent billions of dollars to acquire this website in a share swap mode, and only got a mess in the end.

Since similar projects have also been launched, Simon does not want to repeat the same mistakes.

Therefore, in the process of project planning, Simon adopted more of the "Himalaya Net" model in memory. In addition to introducing traditional radio resources, the new Broadcast focuses more on the development of online film reviews such as personal radio stations, audio books, online music, educational courses, etc. .

Compared with the immediacy of traditional radio stations, the Broadcast invested by Eaglet will save a large number of fixed audio resources.

Simon even considered that when iPlayer is launched next year, Broadcast can be used directly as a content cooperation platform for this hardware player.

In the short term, it is not realistic to persuade large record companies to provide music resources to the Internet. However, besides music, the rich audio books, educational courses and other types of audio resources provided by Broadcast can also promote the promotion of iPlayer digital music players.

Since this Broadcast is no longer another Broadcast, sharing this website with the New York Times Group, Simon is actually a little reluctant.

Simon agreed only to consider that the large amount of paper media content owned by the New York Times Group could be converted into audio resources. However, he only agreed to give the other party 15% of the shares at most, and the price was 30 million US dollars. Therefore, the value of Broadcast website reached 200 million US dollars.

In contrast, when the project was launched last year, Eaglet acquired 80% of the Broadcast website for only US$10 million. Of course, the additional advertising resources and traffic import value given by Eaglet is not comparable to the mere US$10 million.

Another online video live broadcast technology is mainly because the recent live broadcast of London girls has made the public aware of the possibility of the Internet replacing the television industry.

Traditional paper media have always expected to enter the TV industry, but they are unable to do so under the long-term restrictions of the ‘cross-media ownership ban’. The New York Times Group sees the possibility of directly crossing the TV platform to the Internet video media, so it wants to take the pit in advance.

Except for this demonstration live broadcast, Egret has no plans to create a dedicated video website or live broadcast website in the short term, and will only open a small number of tests like the trailer of the movie section of the Egreat portal***.

At this stage, the network bandwidth and hardware equipment of most users cannot meet the process of watching online videos, and the storage and bandwidth consumption of video websites is too large. Opening a professional website can neither provide users with the best video experience, but also cost them too much. very expensive. So since the New York Times Group wants it, it can be taken away.

I personally decided on the cooperation with the New York Times Group. Another free IE browser plan and a buyout-to-subscription plan for basic tools of the World Wide Web were also determined in today's discussion.

Regarding the free plan of IE browser, after completing the communication with pre-installed hardware manufacturers and telecom operators, IE will officially announce that it will be free before May.

Another plan to change the sales model of basic web tools software from buyout to subscription was proposed by Carol Bartz. In fact, this matter was discussed after the birth of several basic software. At that time, Simon tended to buy one time. The decision was mainly due to the software sales environment at the time. After all, Microsoft's Windows and Oracle's database software were all one-time buyouts.

A few years later, Carol Bartz brought up the matter again, expressing his hope that buyouts would be switched to subscriptions, so as to obtain a more sustainable and stable income. On the other hand, it was also out of consideration for promoting the latest technology of the World Wide Web as soon as possible.

The Internet has entered an explosive period, and the update speed of the World Wide Web technology can be called a flying block.

The software version purchased by many users may have fallen behind in just one year, and timely updating will undoubtedly require an additional costly expense. If it is not updated, many new web technologies cannot be used. From the perspective of a software developer, Yigrete, constantly promoting users to purchase new versions of software is undoubtedly the best choice for maximizing profits, but everyone is not stupid, it is too easy to hate.

As a result, at this stage, there are signs of rampant pirated Ygritte series of basic tool software.

After buying a set of genuine software, many small start-up companies simply quietly turn to piracy because they are unwilling to pay for subsequent updates. Even if Yigrete officially pursues it, it can still make up the old version of the genuine software, which unknowingly brings great losses to Yigrete.

Therefore, switching from a buyout to a subscription can not only ensure that users can use the latest software at any time, but also avoid one-time expensive expenditures. The current Internet speed can basically support the online real-time update of software. For Eaglet, doing so may result in a significant decline in short-term sales of the software department, but it will bring more lasting long-term stable income. At the same time, the problem of piracy can be solved to the greatest extent through subscription user registration.

Until five o'clock in the afternoon, Janet came to the study, and Simon was still discussing the upcoming "Happy Farm" with the head of Igreat's online game department.

Just nodded with Simon, Janet sent away Girl A, who was collating a thick pile of information, and picked up a copy of it. This is a website called 33list that sued Eaglet’s advertising alliance. Plan litigation materials for alleged monopoly.

Just looking at the name 33list, Janet couldn't help but curl her lips.

Obviously follow the trend of 58list.

He threw it away and picked up another copy. This is an IE browser plug-in development studio sued by Eaglet to block the homepage change plug-in developed by it.

Gee.

Change the IE homepage.

Such an anti-human plug-in, I just want to go to heaven!

I threw it away again, and rummaged a few times, and finally saw a relatively “reliable” lawsuit. An Internet user who is a lawyer in New York State questioned Eaglet’s accurate advertising for allegedly infringing on his personal privacy. Initiated a class action lawsuit in conjunction with other users.

Selecting this information, Janet leaned on the sofa in the reception area and turned it over with relish.

Simon continued to discuss with San Francisco for more than ten minutes, finally turned off the call screen on the desk, and turned to the computer screen next to him to re-scan the general information of "Happy Farm" which will be officially launched next Friday.

The "Happy Farm" social game project was established in mid-January. The development cycle of this simple game in memory is only two weeks. Simon initially generously gave the development team a month.

Only after Simon gave a general plan, the game development team that moved to the Alabama farm was obviously a little free.

The development team maintains a strong interest in their own projects and generates a large number of ideas that need to be encouraged. In addition, Simon is very satisfied with the brand new solutions given by the team, so let them play freely. In order to support this game, the total number of small teams on a farm in Alabama has more than doubled unknowingly during the development process.

Of course, Simon also gave a deadline, the game must be launched before Easter.

Two months later, the brand new "Happy Farm" was finally completed.

Compared to the simple webpage Flas*** with only planting and vegetable stealing systems in my memory, it is probably because I am used to relatively complex stand-alone games. The development team from EA has added home upgrades to this small game in these two months. The system, beast attack setting, and pet raising system have also greatly increased the interaction between different players. Not only can they steal vegetables and take care of each other’s fields, but they can also help friends drive away beasts that attack the farm, help upgrade houses and even go. Farm adventure hunting by strangers.

Simon also deliberately provided some suggestions for the homeland upgrade system based on the game "Zhengtu 2" he played in his memory. The most important point is that the higher the level, the more beautiful the house. The development team asked him for the shell villa of Cape Dumei Manor. The image authorization is intended as one of the templates for the highest 12-level houses.

Simon did not agree to this request, but the team also collected a lot of beautiful drawings.

In the final game, all settings perfectly form a complete mini ecosystem.

After the output of farmland is sold, you can not only buy seeds, but also exchange for home building materials, which can be used to continuously upgrade more beautiful homes and other kennels, fences and other facilities.

Drive away beasts to get rations for all types of pets.

Pets have also added a simple attribute system. The better the pet, the stronger the ability to guard the farm. Pets between friends can also breed and trade with each other.

For stealing food, the game also adds trap tools. Once the thief is arrested, he needs to pay a ransom to escape.

For the house upgrade system, if the player does not spend a penny and works hard to ‘farming’ every day, it will take at least 1 year to reach the full level 12.

Of course, if you use ‘fertilizer items’ to produce output regardless of the cost, because the house, kennels, fences and other components have time limits for upgrading, and the items cannot be shortened, it will also take at least one week to reach the full level. Moreover, if you really do this, the whole process will cost 2 million US dollars in order to purchase fertilizer items, which is completely the cost of a real villa in reality.

Such all kinds.

The integrated playability has increased more than ten times compared to the simple games in Simon's memory.

In addition, ‘fertilizer items’ are still set as the final source of income for this mini game.

According to the theory that what you want to get must be given first, the game sets a sign-in system, and you can get a bag of fertilizer items that can only be bought with money every day.

Of course, the increase in playability will inevitably lead to this little game becoming more complicated.

Players who want to try this game need to download an installation package of about 15M, which is about the same size as the current IE software itself.

Fortunately, this process does not need to be completed overnight. After the user enters the game interface, clicks on the download license, the download can be quietly completed within 10 minutes according to the basic network speed of ADSL network 256K, and no special installation is required.

10 minutes is by no means long.

The user finishes the simple novice guidance process at the early stage and harvests a crop of crops. The game has been downloaded and installed unknowingly.

In order to support the promotion of the brand-new Flash technology, the IE software team of Eaglet has specially optimized the YgritteFlashPlayer software for this small game, and plans to develop a game once the game is accepted by users, even if it is not too successful. A more independent Flas*** supports the kernel.

This plan has been delivered to Simon from the head of the IE department, and everyone agrees.

Like the YgritteFlashPlayer software that focuses more on video support, adding a game kernel that is more suitable for web games to run can further strengthen the technical barriers of Yigritte IE browser software.

Even if the browser technology has to be authorized by the federal government's antitrust restrictions in the future, other software vendors will not be able to achieve the same powerful functions as IE in the short term.

Simon's personal opinion on this matter is that the game kernel must not slow down the overall running speed of the IE software. The user's software experience must always be put first. If this is not possible, he will cancel this project without hesitation in the future. . IE browser software is the core of Eaglet's core at this stage. This proposal has also been unanimously approved by several core executives such as Bezos.

After reading the information on "Happy Farm", Simon wrote some of the ideas he had just generated and sent them to San Francisco by email, and finally turned off the computer.

He got up and stretched his body. Seeing Janet who was not far away leaning on the sofa looking through the information, Simon walked around the desk to the reception area, reached out behind the sofa and kissed the woman’s face, and asked: What to look at?"

Janet leaned her head back and shook a piece of lawsuit material in her hand, but she just threw it away and rubbed her cheek affectionately on Simon's palm.

Simon felt Janet's dependence and said after a moment: "Or, can you and Janet live in Australia for a while?"

"Don't go, I want to stay with you here," Janet refused immediately, and said again: "Or shall we go together?"

Simon can only refuse: "You know, I've been a bit busy these days."

"Yeah," Janet said, grabbing Simone's hand to her, aiming to look at the man: "Little boy, are you afraid?"

Simon couldn't help but lowered his head and pecked on the woman's lips, and said, "I'm afraid, I'm worried that I can't protect you."

After that, the couple was a little silent.

In the incident last week, Janet did not appear to have such a sensitive reaction as the female assistant, but the woman has completely let go of Cersei Capital these days, helping Simon deal with the recent public opinion facing the Westeros family. Stress and various other matters.

Obviously, the woman's inner reaction to that incident is also not an understatement.

Simon knew better that Janet had too many similarities in her bones, and neither of them had much fear of death.

It's just that now both of them are bound.

Even if you don't care about yourself, and are even happy to have a vigorous fight with the world, you don't want the people around you to be harmed because of this.