Chapter 485 Windows

When Yang Xing successfully laid the foundation for the domestic 4G communication standard, his foreign peers were still in a fog and could not extricate themselves. After the Nasdaq collapse, there was constant bad news in the IT industry. On June 7, 2000, the darkest moment came.

On this day, after more than two years of antitrust investigation and debate, the US District Judge Jackson, who has been the chief judge of Microsoft's monopoly case, tried Microsoft's monopoly case. In order to punish Microsoft for refusing to admit that it violated the US antitrust law, he divided Microsoft into two according to relevant US legal rulings - one company makes operating systems and one company makes application software and the Internet.

The news came and the industry was in an uproar, which meant that the entire industry was at risk of a reshuffle. The only thing that was a little gratifying was that the judgment was not executed immediately, and the judge still left a little room to announce that Microsoft could still remain the same and conduct normal business until the appeal process was exhausted.

Affected by this news, Microsoft's stock market index fell sharply, allowing Yang Xing's long-term short-selling contract to make a fortune in vain. But when Yang Xing sat in a Hong Kong company and made a cross-border video call with Microsoft's soul and former president Bill Gates, Gates' voice from the other end of the phone was not very frustrated.

"Dear Yang, we haven't lost yet. *** Those conservative guys can no longer keep up with the development of this information age. Our company's legal team has been ready. As soon as the harsh judge makes a judgment, we immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. I believe that time is on my side, and I will definitely not lose." Gates, who looks a little shy and introverted, rarely emits a confident light in his eyes. He obviously wanted to cheer up Yang Xing, but his slightly trembling fingers made Yang Xing realize that he was not as confident as he did on the surface.

Of course, Yang Xing would not take the initiative to expose the disguise behind Gates' forced smile, because with the cheating device of Rebirth, Yang Xing knew that Microsoft would never be split. He just wanted to make a deal with Microsoft when it was weakest to get more benefits.

Microsoft was filed for antitrust lawsuits in May 1998. In November last year, Judge Jackson's preliminary ruling determined that Microsoft's monopoly was established, which became one of the fuses of the Nasdaq collapse at the beginning of the year. Although Yang Xing has always liked to take your life while you are sick, in the face of a behemoth like Microsoft, even if he covets his mind, he knows the importance of it. Now is not a good time to move Microsoft. So he adhered to the principle of "it is better to help charcoal in time than to add icing on the cake" and decided to work with Gates, an old friend, to deepen cooperation between the two sides.

The cooperation between the two sides had begun as early as 1998. At that time, Yang Xing raised funds for domestic floods, found the Gates Fund, and donated a huge amount of US$1 billion in disaster relief funds to the country. The two sides have formed a good foundation for cooperation. With the rapid development of Zhongxing International, they have extensive business cooperation with Microsoft in many aspects such as office automation, industry and consumer digital products.

After all, the Windows system developed by Microsoft accounts for 90% of the share of personal computers, and even Microsoft's operating systems are a strong competitor in the fields of supercomputers and servers. Zhongxing International's annual centralized procurement of various types of Microsoft software is not a small amount, but is Microsoft's largest customer. The two parties have also carried out multiple cooperation projects in the fields of industrial automation, office, digital communication, etc.

For example, among the several smartphones that Stardust Communications has just launched, in addition to its own "starwar" operating system, it also uses Microsoft's Windows for pocket pc operating system. This system derived from Windows We. Because the interface is similar to the desktop operating system, it is very popular among business people once it was launched.

The "Star Wars" operating system developed by Stardust Communications itself uses Linux because its kernel uses Linux, and Microsoft also owns many patents on Linux. Stardust Communication must be authorized by Microsoft to use it. There are many areas of cooperation between the two parties in this way.

Since Yang Xing knew that Microsoft would not be hurt by this judgment, it was time to take advantage of Microsoft's Jedi counterattack and propose some cooperation projects that are beneficial to China Star International. Now he has a brand new product that wants to be launched into the market. Microsoft's operating system is an important part to ensure that it can succeed. So while cheering Bill Gates and supporting Microsoft, he also looked for opportunities to throw out his plans.

"Of course I believe that Microsoft will not be defeated because of the judgment of an idiot judge, but Bill, confidence in the market is sometimes more important than anything else. You see, there have been many rumors about Microsoft in the market. The stock price has exceeded US$500 billion at its peak, and has dropped to about half of its current level. In order to inspire market confidence, I think what can we do to attract market attention?" Yang Xing pretended to share Gates' worries. Bill Gates on the other end of the video frowned, feeling that Yang Xing was saying it was reasonable, but how could he have some major measures to attract everyone's attention when he was anxious?

"I heard that your company is developing the next-generation operating system that replaces the win98 operating system?" Yang Xing saw that his purpose was achieved, and he didn't go around the circle and asked directly. "Yes, we are developing a new generation of Windows Whistler based on the win2000 operating system. Are you interested in it? But we have signed a confidentiality agreement. Except for Intel, others cannot get the review version for the time being." Gates realized that Yang Xing was ambitious out of business sensitivity, but even a good partner, he remained sufficiently alert to his core product ideas. After all, friendship belongs to friendship and business belongs to business. Although he admires Yang Xing very much, it does not mean that he will give up the company's principles and confidentiality agreement.

There have always been rumors in the computer industry that Microsoft, as the software leader, has privately signed a secret offensive and defensive alliance with Intel, the leader of the hardware industry. Microsoft's Windows operating system has the best support for Intel's CPUs to ensure the position of Intel's industry leader. In turn, Intel CPU, which occupies the dominant position in the market, provides timely assistance to every upgrade of Windows. Free and open source Linux software can never compete with the expensive Windows system. The main reason is this. Even if Microsoft is facing the biggest crisis since its establishment, Gates does not want to give up his secret agreement with Intel.

Yang Xing dispelled his concern and said, "You are wrong. I'm talking about the final version of your win98 system, Windows ME. Since you said that the next generation of versions are under development, can you sell this outdated version to us a little cheaper?"

The Windows Me mentioned by Yang Xing is actually the latest upgrade version of Microsoft's Windows 98 operating system that has received great praise, and it is also Microsoft's last generation of 16/32-bit system. As for the next generation of Windows whistler system mentioned by Gates, Yang Xing knows that it is the predecessor of the most successful and longest-lived Windows XP system in the Windows operating system that Microsoft will launch next year.

Windows XP marks the entry of a new 32-bit era for computer software, and a complete farewell to the Dos operating system on which Microsoft relies on. It is a great leap forward for the entire computer industry. Therefore, Windows XP is Microsoft's most core secret, and Gates will certainly not show it to others easily. But Yang Xing's goal is to obtain Windows Me as the previous generation of product. It is only a small improvement made in the Windows 98 operating system. The surplus value of Windows 98 has been almost squeezed out. Yang Xing believes that his suggestion is very likely to be adopted by Gates.

Although the Windows Me system has not been launched yet, it is not ideal judging from the released beta version. The Windows Me Me actually contains the triple meaning, which represents the millennium, also refers to the English "me" and the multimedia processing.

Compared with the original version of Windows 98 system, it solved the problem that has long plagued the unstable operation of Windows 98 system, and also has relatively sufficient hardware support. Compared with the senior brothers, Windows 2000 system developed based on the winnt system kernel running on the server, Windows 2000 not only adopts the well-received user interface of Windows 2000, but also has stronger multimedia processing capabilities, and has better support for emerging network media format file playback. Therefore, Microsoft initially had expectations for this system that was covered in Windows 2000 but actually had Windows 98 kernel, hoping that it could occupy the market as a transitional product before the birth of Windows 2000.

But Yang Xing knew that Windows ME was a failed product. Windows ME was roaming at 16-bit and 32-bit walls, which dragged down the system itself. Windows ME was more unstable than Windows 98 in actual operation, and often crashed blue screens. Not only was it incompatible with some Windows 98 drivers, it caused the system to be slower than Windows 98 for some time, and after using it for a period of time, the system would experience a significant slowdown. This also led to its poor sales and its market share was less than 0.01%.

Due to lack of confidence in Windows Me, even Microsoft believes that it is at most a transitional product. Gates did not expect that Yang Xing would be interested in it. He only considered it for a while and decided that this business could be done. "What product do you want to use Windows Me for? Do you want to use Windows Me for the latest laptop?" Gates was a little curious after reaching the agreement.
Chapter completed!