[Chapter 854: The Rival That Gave Bill Gates a Headache]
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
"My gosh, this little girl is such a handful. I have a really bad feeling; I think she's been sent by the universe to torment me."
"Come on, it's just kids being kids. Hurry up; I need to jump in the shower too."
"Natalie, I can't wash for three days; I can only wipe down a bit."
"Don't be ridiculous. What kind of tradition is that? Three days? You can smell it already after one!"
"Well, it seems manageable. At least I can't wash my hair, and I'm sticking to that rule. Three days is three days; you need to follow it."
Natalie rolled her eyes at him, reluctantly agreeing. It wasn't that she believed in this so-called tradition; she just enjoyed the attention.
"Bill, what happened to you? Did Melinda kick you out?" Seeing Bill Gates looking exhausted and worn down, William White was a bit surprised. Hadn't Bill been riding high lately? He couldn't think of another reason besides being caught by his wife.
Bill adjusted his glasses and replied disdainfully, "Look who's talking; your state isn't exactly impressive either."
"Hahaha! Not the same; I just had a daughter! By the way, how about a little gift? One hundred shares of Microsoft would do."
Bill nearly choked at this joke. This guy had just welcomed another daughter. Easy for him to say; he didn't have that many shares to give away.
"Netscape? I've told you a hundred times that your browser needs an upgrade. I'm amazed that you could lose sixty percent of your users even with an early lead."
"Honestly, if So Easy didn't support Navigator, how could they have such market share?"
William burst out laughing, incredulous. That logic was absurd. He was offering a free bundle, while they had to pay for theirs. And yet, their official software was flying off the shelves. Did he really not feel embarrassed about that?
"Bill, even my office computers are using Netscape. You should check out my floor; over seventy percent of the employees use it. Seriously, you better find a way to bring them under your wing. Don't tell me you're short on cash; you're only left with money, right?"
Bill was at a loss for words. He thought about acquisitions the moment he realized the issue. Unfortunately, those two were particularly stubborn and unfriendly toward money.
Now, word was they were planning to go public, so there wasn't much left to say. If it came down to a direct competition, that seemed like the only option.
"Buddy, bundling too much isn't beneficial. Luckily, So Easy and ICQ didn't fall into your hands; that would have been disastrous."
"Stop it. If they were with me, things wouldn't be like this."
Bill was just rambling; William wasn't buying it. He needed to focus on taking down Netscape first. Their presence posed a serious threat.
"Ha! This version of the Windows system looks much better. Seems like you put in a lot of effort here. If it's not working out, just sell me the browser. Give me three years, and I can acquire dominance."
Bill scoffed, "Three years? I plan to take down Netscape in one."
After visiting William's software center, Bill felt increasingly uneasy. The ICQ team had over a thousand members. That was more than their entire browser team.
ICQ was a whole different deal. High-level security features like encryption and fingerprint recognition meant they were miles ahead of FBI-level security standards.
"William, you must have a market for that product."
"Not selling. Don't pretend you don't know the reason. Those guys would never let you off easy."
"Okay, fine, but that's quite boujee," Bill responded, dismissing William's caution.
William ignored him. This wasn't pretentious; it was a matter of technical accumulation, broadening the horizons for his software designers.
Though Bill was a bit disappointed, it fell within the realm of expectation. William had always been careful to avoid scrutiny from the Justice Department, which was no secret in the industry.
No matter who was in charge of the Justice Department, they wanted to take him down. The risks were substantial, but so were the rewards. If William ever softened his stance, his position would change dramatically.
Bill realized that William wasn't looking to branch out. As for his initial investments, they were simply investments.
Alright, dealing with Netscape required expanding the team. He currently had just a handful of people; it was a joke.
Unbeknownst to him, as soon as he left, William started cursing under his breath.
"Idiot! You had the first-mover advantage, and still managed to bungle it. And now you want to eye ICQ and So Easy? You must be out of your mind."
"Uh, boss, your care time is up."
"Alright, let them know they can head to the bedroom, and once it's done, they can leave. I need to catch a couple of hours of sleep."
"Sure thing, boss. I'll have them be quiet. Do you need some music?"
"No, I should be able to fall asleep right away."
The assistant rolled her eyes secretly; he was certainly not being honest lately.
The moment William lay down, he fell into a deep sleep. Today, had it not been for Bill Gates, he wouldn't have come into the office.
In 1995 America, the notion that computers were useless was long gone. In a country of over two hundred million, there were more than one hundred million computers in use. Imagine how staggering that was!
Of course, the number of active Internet users wasn't as high, but even if there were only twenty million, that was still impressive.
Just to put it into perspective, most American television shows didn't even reach a viewership of twenty million.
Who had more disposable income, computer users or television viewers? It was obvious. Most people who used computers were in a highly educated demographic.
What? Internet cafes were filled with manual laborers? High education? Not even close.
Guys, you were talking about things that would happen after the year 2000. The rapid popularization of computers really started around '99. As for today, you still had to change into slippers when entering a computer room.
He just couldn't understand why personal PCs were so hard to maintain.
In reality, you could eat instant noodles and play games at the same time, and that wouldn't harm the computer. The machines tossed aside weren't broken; their processing speeds just couldn't keep up.
"Man, is it really this bad? I didn't dream of anything embarrassing, did I?" William sighed in frustration, upset that at his age things could still take a toll. God, those bullets were precious, after all.
William didn't know that similar symptoms could arise from over-exhaustion. To avoid the risk of ruin, he needed to take it easy.
Not focusing on William's issues, Bill Gates returned to the office and immediately gathered the troops. This version just wasn't cutting it; they had to wrap things up before the Win95 launch.
An unstable operating system was bad enough with historical reasons behind it; the Windows system was essentially cobbled together. Without dozens, if not hundreds, of patches, Bill would feel uneasy with it.
It was what it was. But a blue screen in the browser? That was asking too much! They let their upgrade roll out when it was worse than the first version; now that was unacceptable.
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