Hollywood Hunter

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

Failed to reach a cooperation agreement with Microsoft on the pre-installation of IE browser, Igerit has recently approached PC manufacturers such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq.

Compared with the original installation of browser software for users by service providers, pre-installed directly on the operating system can greatly increase the revenue of IE browser software.

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

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

Microsoft once used this trick to defeat dozens of browser patent license manufacturers including Netscape.

Eaglet holds most of the core patents of the World Wide Web technology, so it is reasonable not to worry about the monopoly of IE browser.However, it had to be prevented.

It is mainly antitrust.

If the federal government conducts an antitrust investigation of the IE browser, this voice has appeared last year, then, Igerett may have to license this technology.

By then, as long as the pre-installed mode of Internet Explorer has become an established fact, even if competitors appear, the threat will not be too great.

Therefore, Eaglet attaches great importance to this plan.

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

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

Simon is actually more interested in the market advantages that the pre-installation plan brings to the IE browser software. It is the most important to ensure the absolute Internet portal status of this operating software. As for the software pre-installation revenue, he had planned to gradually promote IE browsing The freeness of the device makes this software a free'service' of Igret, so as to reduce the possibility of monopoly charges, so even if the price is lowered, it does not matter.

Of course, short-term free is also unlikely.

Eaglet is very dependent on IE's easy access to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Simon is actually very resistant to this kind of dependence, but has to admit that the income of IE browser can not only reduce the huge demand for capital of Igret, but also enhance the development of the internet industry by Igret and even the entire new technology field. Confidence in the future.

For emerging industries, the actual benefits can be obtained to attract more people to participate.

While listening to Bezos' introduction, Simon looked at a more detailed document in his hand and looked up a moment later: "Is there any possibility of continuing negotiations over Apple?"

Jeff Bezos shook his head and said: "I personally talked to John Scali three times, but the other party refused. Apple's performance in recent years has been very good, and their operating system has not been widely authorized. I don’t worry about competitors, so I don’t want to bear the additional cost of pre-installing the software."

After the Gulf War, the US stock market recovered, and the PC market grew at a high speed. Both the capital level and actual performance, Apple has been quite moisturizing in recent years. Not only has the market value increased, but it still maintains a high of more than 7 billion U.S. dollars. The rate is also stable at over 20%.

Moreover, unlike the Microsoft camp, Apple’s Macintosh system is not authorized,

John Scali probably decided that Igrid could not give up the 20% PC market that Apple had, and he didn't want to bear the additional software purchase cost.

It is impossible for Eaglet to abandon the Apple computer market.

Otherwise, Simon will not specifically ask about the possibility of not negotiating.

It's just that Apple CEO John Scali apparently forgot that although Igrid could not abandon the Apple computer market, it could slow down the development progress of the Macintosh version of the Macintosh browser.

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

If the web browser software of the Apple Macintosh operating system platform is always not as good as the Microsoft platform, the negative word of mouth accumulated over time, which is enough for Apple to feel uncomfortable.

Not to mention there are pre-installed programs.

Unlike Apple's fearlessness and IBM's arrogance, the reason why HP, Compaq and other manufacturers are willing to cooperate is obviously to see that this plan has promoted themselves.

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

Later, if there is a problem with the software, or if you need to replace the computer, you must reinstall the IE browser, which is definitely not suitable for continuing to trouble operators.

As we all know, American labor is very expensive.

The $10 IE browser software, if people install it on site, the service fee may be more than this number.

Of course, there are retail versions of IE browser, including online software stores are also sold, but this will eventually bring all kinds of inconvenience.

At this time, if an IE browser is preinstalled on a machine itself, the user will show a tendency unconsciously.The machine can be used directly when it is bought. If there is a malfunction, it may only be necessary to restore the factory system, which is obviously more convenient than those computers without a pre-installed browser.

Commercial competition is often a competition of details accumulated little by little.

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

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

As for the future.

Think about Apple's rapid decline after the release of Windows95. If the other party wants to recover, then it will definitely not work without paying the price.

After continuing to discuss some pre-installation plans, 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 Linas Tovac last year. After the release 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 very 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. Simon actually read the detailed planning of this project in advance on the plane flying to San Francisco.

The current data center of Igret is still using Unix system. The licensing fee of Unix system is very expensive, and the degree of openness of this system is still not up to Igret technical team. The extent to which the bottom-most modification was made.

Linux, which is completely open source and free, will undoubtedly solve this problem.

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

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

Microsoft was established 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 protracted project.

If you want to develop a brand-new operating system, it is just a technical team, not one or two hundred people will not work, and must be the top software engineer.

At the same time, it is also unrealistic to expect an operating system to be completed within a year or two.

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

The cloud computing technology of Eaglet is currently developed based on Unix system.

However, no matter how difficult it is, Simon understands that the free and open source Linux system replaces the closed-charge Unix. This path is absolutely correct.

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

Everyone discussed for more than half an hour, and although Jeff Bezos had some rhetoric about this plan that might occupy Igret’s large amount of funds and resources, he did not object, so he quickly finalized it.

It was noon unconsciously.

Everyone ate lunch together, returned to the company, and discussed with Steve Case in New York through a conference call about the next cooperation between Igret and AOL.

At the beginning, the headquarters of AOL was moved to San Francisco, because the follow-up company's business scale on the East Coast is far greater than that on the West Coast. Steve Case spent more time on the East Coast New York headquarters than the West Coast, and the operation team gradually tilted eastward. 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.

At the end of the Igreat company's journey, Simon took the time to go to the Tin Cobell company founded by C girl Claire Gein.

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

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

For a start-up electronic product company, it is still a pioneering activity when a large number of well-established manufacturers have entered the market.

Because it closely follows the rapidly rising Internet concept, Wall Street's recent valuation of iCam has reached a maximum of 1 billion US dollars.

After another round of financing, Westeros's shareholding in Tin Cobalt rose to 70%, and the shareholdings of the two founders contracted from 25% to 15%.

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

Claire Gein has thus become another billionaire out of the Westeros system, and, compared to the Westeros system executives, the identity of the C girl is more contemplative: Simon Westeros’s female commission.

There are also more and more people in the outside world who know the information about the four girls'ABCD' around Simon Westeros, 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.

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

It is also a product that appeared almost ten years in advance, but because related technologies have been accumulated for many years, there is no big obstacle in product development.

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

After the day's work, Simon's female assistant who came over quietly stayed in Woodside's mountain villa for one night before returning to Los Angeles the next day.

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

The location is still the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Daenerys Entertainment has been nominated for many projects in film and television, and is routinely popular tonight.

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

Regardless of whether you can win the award, there are more than 30 nominations in film and television, which is enough for Daenerys Entertainment to celebrate.

Simon did not bother to sit in the banquet hall of the Hilton Hotel for a few hours. In the afternoon, he still worked until six o'clock in the afternoon. He returned to Dumei Point Estate and had dinner with Janet. The two rushed to the second floor of Daniels Studios in advance. Activity center.

The celebration party tonight is still held here.

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

The projection screen in the lobby of the event center broadcast the live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards. Simon and Amy Pascal greeted each other and discussed the plan of the "Soul Soul Universe" with Danny Morris.

"The Warrens and the author published a biography in 1980 in collaboration with a writer named "The Ghostologist and the Warrens". At that time, they also signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the other. Authorized to other people. This is the most troublesome point. We have contacted the writer, and the other party offered a $5 million quotation, which is just a joke. However, the news has recently spread, and now several other Hollywood movie companies are right. The right to adapt the book generated interest."