Chapter 1397 Strong Enemy

The window was open, and a cool breeze blew in with the green air of the flourishing vegetation. It was actually very cool, but Feng Yiping still felt very hot.

He rolled up his sleeves out of habit, but what he felt was his sweaty arms. He was now wearing a short-sleeved white T-shirt from Google.

You must know that this is Silicon Valley in May, and it is still indoors. This situation should not happen.

Because the Bay Area is surrounded by the sea on three sides and affected by the California cold current, Silicon Valley has a typical Mediterranean climate, which means cool summers.

Regarding the climate here, the American writer Mark Twain, who we all know at least, has a very classic summary, "The coldest winter I have ever experienced was the summer in San Francisco."

Although the sun looks bright, the temperature is actually not high, with an average of only about 20 degrees. Today's forecast is only 18 degrees.

In such weather, Feng Yiping, who is now good at cultivating qi and rarely suffers from violent mood swings, is naturally not an ordinary person who is sweating like this. The main one is Paige, who is also wearing a gray company T-shirt.

"Business is business," Feng Yiping couldn't help but knock on the table a few times. "Yes, all the services we launch are to serve the public, change the world, and make the world a better place. I completely agree with this, and Very supportive,"

"However, an IPO is an IPO, and a subscription is a subscription. When investors subscribe for our shares, their first thought is not to make the world a better place. They think of good returns, right? We can't require everyone to agree with our point of view. ,"

"What's more, our IPO, because it is auction-style pricing, will give more ordinary people the opportunity to subscribe for our shares. How can we expect them to use their limited funds to support us in realizing our dreams?"

"First of all, many people recognize our idea. Secondly, it's not that we have no returns. I insist on not paying dividends. I just firmly believe that we can bring them greater returns and let them not pay too much attention to short-term stock price fluctuations," Page Still water can't be poured in.

What they are arguing about now is naturally some issues in the prospectus, about his statement that "no dividends will be paid".

In fact, the conference room in these two days was the most eye-catching place at Google, which was relatively not busy at the moment. Many guys either passed by with excuses, or simply passed by openly, just to see how the three of them looked inside. Very intense "discussion,"

Especially Feng Yiping, he has always been remembered by Google people as a very gentle person.

But his performance in the past few days has completely changed everyone's image of him. Some senior guys even said happily, "See, this is a real Googler!"

The reason why they say this is because under the influence of these two weirdos, Page and Brin, early meetings at Google have always been full of fists, bloody, and ruthless arguments.

The reason why Feng Yiping is acting so aggressively now is because the two guys opposite him are his partners rather than subordinates, and they can only persuade rather than give orders.

But to convince them, Feng Yiping sometimes really wants to hit the wall.

"Yes, of course I believe that we can bring very large returns to investors, hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars, or even tens of billions of dollars,"

After hearing this, Brin touched Page and said to himself that Feng is really confident in the company and can bring investors a return of 1 billion. They have thought about it, but 10 billion has not been clearly thought about.

"However, you have to understand that in the eyes of many investors, the possibility that we can bring everyone a return of US$1 billion will definitely not be greater than 10%, right?"

This is certainly true. No matter how good a company is, no one will definitely think that it will definitely bring high returns. Otherwise, people like Mr. Buffett would not be so rare.

"Besides, in actual operation, we can do this, so there is no need to add such a strong emotional color in the prospectus, which can easily lead to adverse effects, okay?"

Feng Yiping, who has participated in two listing preparations, truly feels that this is the most difficult time. In the past, he only had to encourage the preparatory team to work hard. This time, he first had to get the work of these two guys through.

"Okay, I agree to delete this one, but I insist on the other ones. This is me...,"

Before Page finished speaking, the door of the conference room was pushed open with a bang, and Schmidt walked in anxiously, "Everyone, we are in trouble,"

"I can tell by the look on your face," Paige, who had just made some concessions, was not too happy.

"What's wrong?" Feng Yiping and Brin both asked.

"Microsoft has officially responded to our browser," Schmidt said, raising the newspaper in his hand. "Dean, the head of their IE department, told reporters that our product is full of loopholes, and the forced bundling of search items also restricts It’s everyone’s choice,”

"They have the nerve to say such things?" Page immediately burst into flames.

Indeed, this is really inappropriate for Microsoft to say.

Vulnerabilities break out from time to time in the IE browser and in the Microsoft operating system. Just like those experts who are always slapped in the face, it is no longer news.

This year is a period of high incidence, with IE address spoofing vulnerabilities, system running program bypass vulnerabilities, triggering pop-up advertising vulnerabilities...

The most serious one is naturally the spreading "shock wave" worm vulnerability that broke out at the end of April and has just subsided.

As for forced bundling, come on, this is simply synonymous with Microsoft, and Microsoft has been troubled by a country more than once because of the help of sales.

"I have to remind you that we are in a period of silence right now," Schmidt said.

"Despicable!" Feng Yiping and the others said almost at the same time.

Unexpectedly, giants like Microsoft would also take advantage of the loopholes that they have been unable to speak out for a while.

"That's not all," Schmidt took out a document. "We received feedback. Some users said that Microsoft's own security software treated our browser as a virus and uninstalled our browser from his device. ," (Yes, Microsoft has also done this, which is as shameless as some domestic companies)

"Ah?" The third brother opened his mouth wide when he heard this. Is there such a thing?

"Yes," Schmidt nodded with approval, "We have received more than one feedback on the forum,"

"Shameless!" The three said one word at the same time as if they had rehearsed.

This time, even Brin slapped the table.

"How to deal with this matter?" Schmidt walked around the conference room with his hands on his hips. "Look, I have already said that we must be cautious about the browser. We must be cautious. We are now far behind Microsoft in terms of strength. It’s very big, but you just insist,”

He looked like he didn't listen to the old man's words, "Now take a look,"

In fact, what he said is indeed not unreasonable.

The reason why Microsoft is so classless and graceless this time is because the free browser launched by Google does pose a threat to it.

Especially this year, when it can be said that IE was launched in a bad year, Microsoft is really annoyed.

Before Google Chrome was launched, Microsoft's IE had already suffered a revenge this year. Another major browser on the market, which had just been renamed Firefox, took advantage of the problems that Microsoft IE exposed. In some areas, The market share has exceeded 30%, and it has successfully become a serious problem for Microsoft.

The reason why it is said to be revenge is that to a certain extent, Firefox has inherited the mantle of Netscape.

It can be said that Netscape, which was once so brilliant, was ruined by Microsoft.

But Netscape also had some foresight.

In January 1998, in response to the reality of losing ground in the competition with Microsoft IE, Netscape began to implement the "Mozilla Project." Even after Netscape was acquired by AOL in November of that year, in terms of research and development, Mozilla organized Still didn't stop.

By May last year, AOL reached a settlement in its monopoly case against Microsoft. One of the conditions was that AOL agreed to dissolve Netscape and suspend its business. This shows that Microsoft is still very afraid of Netscape.

On July 15 of the same year (the day AOL shut down all Netscape operations), the Mozilla organization officially registered as a non-profit organization, officially changed its name to the Mozilla Foundation, and launched the Phoenix browser, the predecessor of Firefox.

As a result, the famous Murphy's Law also applies to giants like Microsoft. Netscape, which has always been lingering, actually used this method to give them a heavy blow this year.

You must know that at the end of last year, Microsoft occupied at least 96% of the entire browser market share.

But one wave after another, Firefox is conquering the city with great pride, and Google will suddenly come out and stab Microsoft in the waist - they also launched their own browser without any sound.

Like Firefox, it is also free, and the installed base is rising rapidly.

Microsoft clearly knows that compared to the Firefox browser, which has a mission of revenge to a certain extent, because of its success in the search business, the threat posed by Google's browser is more deadly.

So they reacted quickly, and they must order colorsseesee for this disobedient junior as soon as possible. If a tiger does not send a cat, do you think I am critically ill?

Because of the intense reaction, their timing was indeed a bit unauthentic.

Of course, the approach, especially the latter approach, is even less authentic.

Because Schmidt's questioning was vaguely directed at Feng Yiping - after all, it was he who proposed the development of a browser, and Page and Brin immediately expressed their opposition.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with our insistence. Didn't you see that after the browser was launched, the data of our business increased significantly? So this is a good decision and this is a good product. ," Page said.

"Yes, Microsoft's response is a powerful illustration of this," Brin said.

"The problem is, if the browser is not launched at this critical time, our IPO will be smooth, but now, because of Microsoft's reaction, it is likely to have an impact on our IPO,"

Schmidt knew that Microsoft's influence, whether in the government or private sector, was not comparable to that of Google at this time.

"No matter what, as the entrance to the Internet, the browser is a product that we must not give up," Page said.

Feng Yiping, who had remained silent, also spoke, "I think the impact of this incident may not be that serious,"

"Yes, I admit that Microsoft is indeed not easy to mess with, but their so-called accusations will only make everyone laugh, right?"

Schmidt could not object to this, it was just the way it was.

"Besides, what's so strange about publicly criticizing competitors in the media? Do the public believe what they say?"

"What if they uninstall our browser as a virus?" Schmidt asked, "What can we do? Can we stand up and explain that our browser is not a virus?"

"In order to make our IPO go smoothly and not let the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) catch a handle, I strongly recommend that everyone not make such a move during the silent period," he glanced at Page.

His worry was not wrong. If the number of shareholders had not exceeded 500 last year, and if federal law had not stipulated that a year after reaching this threshold, the company must either offer its shares for sale or disclose its detailed cost information, Page would not agree to let the company go public.

Maybe he still has this resistance now, and just took this opportunity to go out and yell a few words, so that the SEC would not approve it.

Besides, Page has a bad temper, and he cherishes and cares for the products he developed. How could he tolerate those guys treating the products he worked so hard to develop like this?

"Schmidt, I don't think you need to worry too much about uninstalling the virus," Feng Yiping said.