Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 173 In fact, they have a backstage

As far as Microsoft's current scale is concerned, there is really nothing to visit, and the focus is on talking with Gates and others.

"With the liberty to ask, isn't Microsoft a joint stock company now?" Tang Huan glanced at the nameplate and asked casually.

"We are considering changing the type of company registration." Gates was a little embarrassed when he answered. Compared with the vigorous development of Silicon Valley companies, Microsoft, which lives in Seattle, is indeed a little behind in some mechanisms.

But this cannot be blamed on Gates. He was really frightened by the first patent dispute lawsuit in his career.

Originally, he got the first pot of gold from Edward Roberts' MITS company, and the development was quite smooth, but with the fierce business competition brought about by various counterfeit Altair computers, the debt-ridden company, which had experienced a disastrous defeat in the calculator price war, Roberts withdrew, and finally sold MITS to Canada's Pertec in 1977. With the $200 million he received, he went to a rural town in Georgia to be a happy farmer.

After Pertec obtained MITS, Altair BASIC followed suit and declared to the outside world that it had the patent right of the microcomputer version of BASIC. Other companies and individuals had no right to continue selling this product, which directly pushed Microsoft to a dead end.

The young and energetic Gates immediately fought back and filed a legal lawsuit. Pertec was overjoyed when he saw this, and he just showed you, a little guy, to kill a chicken, so he gladly accepted the challenge.

Although Gates also studied law, he obviously didn’t know the sinister world. The court froze the BASIC income related to Microsoft and Intel 8080 CPU at that time. Although there were still funds for MOS 6052 and MC6800 version BASIC, this was only a small part. Immediately ran into trouble.

Fortunately, Gates can turn to his father, a famous lawyer, and ask someone to come forward to fight the lawsuit. In the end, the court ruled that Pertec only obtained the right to use BASIC, while Microsoft enjoyed the ownership of BASIC.

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

After that, Gates moved Microsoft back to his hometown of Seattle, and it is not surprising that he was cautious in his business strategy.

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

IBM Chairman Frank Cary is retiring soon and will hand over the baton to John Opel this year. Opel, who sat in this position until 1986, and Gates' mother are both members of the United Way, the United Way of the United States. With a crooked mouth, Gates hugged him, and the market value of the blue giant has already been tens of billions of dollars. As long as the gap between his fingers is leaking just a little bit, Microsoft will be full of food.

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

Although on the surface it seems that Microsoft is not in a hurry to transform, Tang Huan still tried it openly, "Except for BASIC, Microsoft has no plans to get involved in other software, such as spreadsheets, word processing and the like."

"Of course I thought about it, but the competition is too fierce, especially since your brother has already formed a monopoly. I don't want to bump my head into the iron plate." Gates replied with a smile, his attitude can be described as honest and humble.

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

Gates shook his head, then changed the topic and said, "I have an idea of ​​cooperation, I wonder if you are interested?"

"All ears." Tang Huan squinted his eyes, thinking that my brother was thinking about how to keep a backer at Microsoft, but you took the first step and plotted against me.

"You see, the information management system built around EBase is very popular now, but the built-in SQL scripting language is limited in function, and Microsoft's BASIC can just make up for it. This kind of tacit cooperation has been used by many instances. It's proven to work."

Speaking of this, Gates showed a sincere smile on his face, "It would be a pity if we don't make good use of this win-win situation. Why don't we increase the intensity of cooperation? The interface is shared."

"You, you are really shrewd. If I come to eat your meal and be robbed by you, the loss outweighs the gain." While joking, Tang Huan quickly calculated the gains and losses in his mind.

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

"You should know that now EBase has developed into an independent platform. Even if it has some shortcomings, it still has its flaws. Users will only increase their love for it. The recent cooperation with BASIC is not indispensable. Your proposal can't let me Heart-beating." Tang Huan's expression was very sunny, but what he said was very philistine.

"What kind of exchange do you guys want? If Microsoft has something you can see, then just ask." Full of helplessness, Gates put on the air that a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, and visited the first place for many years. In the online marketing work, I have long practiced talking to people and talking nonsense.

"Microsoft doesn't have a platform like EBase now, but that doesn't mean there won't be one in the future. I'm very optimistic about your development prospects." Tang Huan complimented, and then murmured: "Let's focus on the future. If Microsoft has If platforms such as personal computers and operating systems are developed, or BASIC develops into a more powerful application environment, the interface must also be opened to Zheru’s software without reservation.”

Hearing Tang Huan's request, Gates, Allen, and Ballmer all showed strange expressions on their faces, thinking that you are too good at flattering us, what platforms like personal computers and operating systems, we I never thought about this plan at all.

Gates, who was deep in thought, began to sway again, while Tang Huan waited patiently for the other party's reply.

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

After thinking about it, Gates felt that he had not suffered a disadvantage, and finally nodded in agreement.

"In order to express sincerity, it is best to agree on legal documents with Zheru for this cooperation." Tang Huan showed a look of consideration for the other party, "It happens that my private jet has already entered service, and you can take it to Silicon Valley for free Cupertino."

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

With a more solid cooperative relationship, the atmosphere of everyone eating together is harmonious, not to mention.

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

Originally, Gates thought that Zheru had made so much money, and it was not surprising that Tang Huan, who was in control of the power, used the name of the company to satisfy his preferences and fly ordinary private jets, but instead he saw the latest model Boeing 747, especially after hearing the name "Silicon Valley One", is even more envious and jealous.

Even if you make a lot of money, you don't need to be so high-profile, especially with such expensive red wine, and you can pretend to be elegant with your female partner.

Although Gates was a little disdainful, his mouth was not idle. At least a bottle of red wine entered his stomach.

After finally spending about two hours in San Francisco, Gates concluded in his heart, "Waste."

Tang Huan naturally attaches great importance to the cooperation agreement reached between himself and Gates. Although Gates still has no way of knowing his plan at this time, according to the historical development, this backup is enough to ensure that Zheru's software products can be steadily logged into IBM Personal PC platform, and let Microsoft escort.

When he saw that the cooperation period was five years for Microsoft and ten years for Zheru, although Gates agreed with this rule. After all, Tang Huan was betting on the future, but he still instinctively objected.

"Let's say nine years. If it's less, you really have no sincerity." Tang Huan joked.

Seeing this situation, Gates also understood that there was nothing to worry about, so he signed the contract happily.

The corner of Tang Huan's mouth curled up. Nine years is enough to cope with the DOS stage of the operating system, and after the big waves, the types of hardware platforms have long been stable.

After the two parties put away the documents, Tang Huan took Gates to the database department for another round. Now that Zheru has passed the initial stage of development, he is not afraid of stealing from others.

Tang Huanzheng warmly entertained Gates, and his subordinates reported the news that the cultural counselor of the Soviet Union's consulate in the United States wanted to meet him.

He had already accepted the invitation to participate in the opening ceremony of the Moscow Olympics, and the other party should have come to further build a relationship, Tang Huan thought to himself.

However, as long as it helps expand the market, Tang Huan doesn't mind being used by the other party to build momentum.

Sure enough, when Tang Huan met the other party at the consulate, there were reporters beside him.

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

Tang Huan stretched out his fingers and counted without humility, "Mr. Ivanov, I can say responsibly that Chinese, Russian, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, these eight languages ​​I They are all proficient.”

Ivanov's eyes lit up, and he thought that if this young rich man really had this ability, it might be of great use.

"Your company's game "Tetris" and Xiaobawang game consoles are very popular in our country. I am really curious why you gave the game such a distinctive name as "Tetris" in the United States, which is thousands of miles away. Woolen cloth?"

Of course, it is for the positioning of space-time coordinates and to make up for the guilt of plagiarists. Otherwise, why do you have a good impression just by looking at the name?

Although Tang Huan was muttering so much in his heart, he said what the other party loved most, "It's not surprising, I know something about Russian culture, and I think the name "Tetris" is cool enough, so it's settled like this? "

(End of this chapter)