Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 893
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The situation of mad cow disease and HIV is similar. Although people in a certain circle know the existence and harm of this new thing to varying degrees, due to various reasons, the government hopes to control it and prevent it from spreading to the public.

Take the United Kingdom as an example. Once the mad cow disease epidemic is confirmed, the agriculture will suffer heavy losses.As for how bad the result will be, no one dares to say that they can evaluate it accurately.

Therefore, since a banquet incident after the Mid-Autumn Festival last year lifted the cover of mad cow disease, the British government has been investigating the concerns of the domestic people and the most important beef exporters, the EU member states. , evaluation and other necessary procedures as an excuse, while procrastinating, while eagerly thinking about countermeasures; in addition, they did not forget to angrily suppress the authority of the report issued by the richest man.

As for the excuse, it’s so easy to find, the patent period of Viagra has not yet expired, so far, this little blue pill has not known how much money it has made, and it is rumored that even the Central Intelligence Agency is using it as a bargaining chip , It can be said to be famous all over the world, so a natural contempt has been launched from this - are you a research institution that started with aphrodisiacs, worthy of discussing the serious topic of mad cow disease?

In the process of such unclear delays, the British breeding industry, which has heard the news, has sped up the treatment of suspicious cattle in private, but the long-term irregular operation has detonated the powder keg—the mad cow disease epidemic in the UK has begun to spread widely. Spreading, No. 10 Downing Street completely panicked, to the point where it could no longer hold back and admit it.

At this time, the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly, while causing a global sensation, is tantamount to further safeguarding the authority of its own research institution - the previous report on mad cow disease is really correct!
The day after Dolly the cloned sheep was officially presented to the public, British Prime Minister John Major announced with a stern face that there was an outbreak of mad cow disease in the UK!

Suddenly, the world was once again in a sensation, even overshadowing Dolly the cloned sheep.

It is an undisputed scientific conclusion that humans will be infected by mad cow disease virus.And the corresponding hazard description of this terminal illness is also very vivid, that is, the brain tissue becomes spongy, and eventually dies of madness or stupid death-it is definitely more and more terrifying!The whole world is in panic.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that as soon as British Prime Minister John Major finished speaking, the European Union responded immediately-officially banned the import of British beef; other countries and regions followed suit.

The economic blow "heavenly disaster" that the British government is most afraid of has not escaped. First of all, it faces losses of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Don't forget, the sick cow is so big, it is not as easy to deal with as the protagonists involved in bird flu-chicken and ducklings.

Compared with the desperation in the UK and the panic of related beef importers, Mr. Richest Man is calm and relaxed.

Although he deliberately kept a low profile on this moment, the voice of praise from the British people, including the people in the UK, still rushed to his face. Even the British Prime Minister John Major, under the fierce media criticism, had to express his regret—— —If the report could have been taken seriously at the beginning, the current mad cow disease epidemic may not be so serious.

Tang Huan's side continued to keep a low profile and refused to comment on this - who told us to start researching and developing "autumn medicine"!Who is right is not so important, anyway, when the time comes, the British people will use their votes to make a ruling.

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The global panic caused by the outbreak of mad cow disease in the United Kingdom was not completely unhelpful.At least, to a certain extent, it eased and covered up the controversy caused by the public's "human clone" association caused by the cloned sheep Dolly, which made the praise more prominent.

It must be admitted that although the general principle of cloning is very simple, its specific operation process is much more complicated, and it cannot be done by simply relying on money and people - and this difference lies in the strength!
Dolly the cloned sheep, which has brought infinite breakthroughs to future medicine, has also attracted entertainment enthusiasm.

For example, "Dolly" developed from breast cells is named after Dolly Barton, the queen of American country music - you know, this big breasted lady is extremely plump.Size up to 40DDD.

Ever since, the video of Dolly the cloned sheep's life in the laboratory released on AOL was deliberately studied frame by frame by gossip people to prove what he said was true.

What's more interesting is that Dolly Barton, who heard the news, happily went to the appointment and made a special trip to the laboratory to see Dolly the cloned sheep up close.

It is no exaggeration to say that Dolly the cloned sheep will definitely surpass the polar bear "Xiaoqiang" brought back from the North Pole by the richest man and become the new most famous animal in the world.

The richest man has also been instrumental in trying to allay misgivings about "cloning" technology.

In the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States - "Scientific American", he published a popular science article called "Science Must Talk about Human Nature" to formally express his attitude towards "cloning" technology, that is, it must be Respect the ethics and morals of human society and abide by relevant laws and regulations.

……

Regardless of the global panic brought about by the mad cow disease epidemic, or the future imagination generated by the cloned sheep Dolly, in the process of dissemination, they all received a boost from the Internet that cannot be ignored.

Not long ago, the latest tariff policy launched by America Online - only 21.95 US dollars per month, you can freely surf the Internet, which can be said to have completely changed the rules of the game for network access services.

Gein, this package is not a promotional one-off, but a permanent way of doing business.

It must be pointed out that at this stage, the development of search engines like Yahoo is only at the peak of Xiaohe, while the online services represented by the troika of America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy are the most popular niche. .

Throughout the past decade or so, Internet access costs have naturally fallen as a whole—in the early 1980s, to access CompuServe, the earliest online service company, it was often necessary to pay as much as $30 per hour; Lower, down to $10; then to around $1990 in the early 2s.

America Online has been showing sincerity when it comes to Internet access charges.One of its longtime signature packages is an $18-a-month plan that includes a base rate of $9.95 a month for five hours, plus an additional $5 an hour.

Sometimes, in order to compete for users and beautify the data on the important indicator of "new users", AOL will aggressively launch a real monthly package with a time limit.

As a result of doing so, it often causes network congestion, server downtime and other signs of collapse.

Fortunately, the "herd effect" that is particularly evident in the Internet ecosystem has helped AOL not suffer too much negative impact.

Today, AOL has listed the flat-rate Internet access monthly package as an official permanent business item. Obviously, it has made preparations in terms of hardware such as lines, servers, etc., while other competitors seem to be caught off guard.

From the perspective of their respective backstage differences, there is no doubt that Tang IT is behind AOL; the main financial backer behind Prodigy is IBM; and the recent shareholding changes of CompuServe are somewhat intriguing.

The oldest online service provider, the original shareholder was a tax filing service company called H&R_Block; now it has just been replaced by Microsoft.

Just last December 12, Gates did a very famous thing.He declared in the company's internal email that this day is not just the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but also a turning point for Microsoft to survive in the face of the Internet age.From this moment on, all the operations of the company will put the Internet as a priority.

Gates can be said to do what he says, and as soon as the words fell, Microsoft efficiently acquired the controlling stake in CompuServe from H&R_Block, which was already under the pressure of competition. service area.

In the eyes of a discerning person, Gates did this largely in response to Wall Street's downgrade of Microsoft's stock from "buy" last year.

In fact, this phenomenon also shows that in the current competition in the IT field, the influence of capital games is growing.

In this way, CompuServe will fully embrace Microsoft's solutions centered on Windows_NT, just as AOL adopts Fangyuan and Zheru's technical solutions, and Prodigy adopts IBM's technical solutions.

However, no matter intentionally or unintentionally, it is such a coincidence that Microsoft is inevitably involved in the Internet tariff war launched by America Online.

At this time, the management of AOL, headed by the chairman of the board of directors Steve Case and CEO Robert Pittman, is reporting the company's operations to Tang's richest man-this is what it should mean before the annual report comes out.

Looking at the high-spirited looks of Steve Case, Robert Pittman and others, it is not difficult to imagine how proud America Online is at this stage.

The field of online services in the United States is basically AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe, and among them, AOL is the leader.

So far, AOL has close to 1500 million subscribers.

In other words, more than one-third of users in the United States access the Internet through services provided by America Online.

If these data still belong to the "false fire rise" unique to Internet companies, then the operating income of more than 10 billion US dollars and the market capital valuation of more than 100 billion US dollars are definitely considered real achievements.

The reason why America Online, which burns money and blazed a trail of blood, is able to take the lead is mainly reflected in two aspects-technologically, it benefits from the earliest introduction of graphical user interface technology, the adoption of the real public protocol of the Internet, TCP/IP, and the embrace of the World Wide Web. etc.; and the outstanding point of operation is that it can start from the user's point of view and be brave in the most sensitive tariff, which can be said to fully implement the concept of "traffic is everything".

In contrast, competitors such as Prodigy and CompuServe have always been unable to let go of their dignity—AOL lowered tariffs one step forward, and they had no choice but to follow suit, which seemed particularly passive.

As a result, the share of users each now has speaks for itself.

Afterwards, the investors headed by Tang's richest man also saw the brighter and clearer golden light ahead.

America Online, which sits at the top of online services, now launches a $21.95 monthly subscription package, which is obviously still not satisfied with the current achievements.

Steve Case revealed his ambitions in his work report, “AOL wants to use this marketing strategy to increase the share of Internet users in the United States from more than one-third at present to at least one-third. More than one-half."

The richest man nodded slightly—although it is difficult to make further progress, it is not a problem for America Online to achieve this goal by virtue of the "Matthew Effect" that the strong get stronger.

"As far as the operation of America Online is concerned, I appreciate the current management team very much." Tang IT said slowly: "I just remind everyone that the development of the Internet is not an exaggeration, and the industry competition brought about by it is not an exaggeration. The changes in the rules of the game are also dizzying - if you lose your original vigilance and fall into blind optimism, you may not be far from being pushed down from the throne of the king by Xinrui."

Looking around at the people listening carefully, the richest man placed his right hand on the armrest of the sofa, lifted it up and waved it, "Please consider a question carefully - in the past ten years, the Internet has been a wilderness, and what you have done , which is equivalent to planting crops, harvesting food, providing high-quality content services to users, and getting their subscription fees based on this.”

"But now, the World Wide Web is developing explosively—according to a rough estimate I got, the total number of all Web pages currently exceeds [-] million. And the creators of these web pages all hope that users will read their own content, Even at the expense of introducing all kinds of attractive value-added services.”

"It can be said that from now on, the Internet will inevitably look up and see green crops full of vitality, and your traditional business model - content subscription, will lose its former 'seller's market' status."

Steve Case immediately replied sternly: "Advertising has become the absolute protagonist of AOL's revenue, which has reminded us that free content will be the general trend."

"This $21.95 monthly tariff package actually puts the subscription fee in a secondary position, mainly considering the hardware costs such as lines; and the development direction of AOL will follow Tang's suggestion and become an Internet media portal. .”

The richest man laughed loudly, "Since you have such a clear mind, then I can rest assured."

When the tight work report was over and everyone else left, Steve Case said another thing, "Don, AOL's emerging media status has attracted some people's attention, and many of them have taken the initiative. contacts, to test the possibility of acquisition."

(End of this chapter)