Back to 1995

Chapter 131
When Microsoft acquired Hotmail, what people didn't expect was that it was not Netscape and Microsoft that first became lively, but Song Yang and Netscape.

While mobilizing public opinion, Netscape threatened that Song Yang had betrayed Silicon Valley, and at the same time asked the Communications Commission to regulate the Internet advertising industry in America, which was obviously aimed at Song Yang.

And Song Yang was not to be outdone, after scolding Netscape several times, Song Yang made a sudden move.

He got hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from Microsoft. Given the current situation of the Internet industry, it is enough for Song Yang to acquire a large number of Internet companies.

Song Yang sent Greg and Marcus out, and first bought a small software company called Vermeer. This company holds the development software and patents for developing the "front page" of the Internet!

Then, for US$120 million, two patents related to dynamic web page generation and management were obtained from Internet company InfoSpinner.

With Netscape already torn apart, double-clicking naturally wouldn't swallow his anger. Netscape wanted to use double-clicking to stand out, and Song Yang wanted to make Netscape break a few teeth!

Double-click announced that it would cut off all cooperation with Netscape, and would no longer place advertisements on Netscape, removed Netscape from the IAB, the Interactive Advertising Association of America, and introduced Microsoft to replace Netscape as a director. Mark Anderson also resigned from the position of IAB chairman On departure, Erin Dougherty temporarily manages the entire IAB Advertising Interactive Association!

As soon as this news came out, the entire Silicon Valley and the technology industry stared wide-eyed for a moment. No one thought that Double-click would dare to attack Netscape and drive Netscape away from the IAB. You must know that at this moment , Netscape is still the overlord of the Internet...

However, Song Yang and Double-click’s counterattack against Netscape has not yet ended. After severing the cooperative relationship with Netscape, Gleick represented Song Yang and Double-click to the San Jose court, San Francisco court, Houston court, and New York State court. Netscape sued.

Sue Netscape for infringing on the "interactive network" technology held by Song Yang, that is, at the beginning of the year, when Song Yang established the double-click company, one of the technologies such as "one-click ordering" and "one-click payment" registered As for the so-called "interactive network", it is the action of opening a web page. As long as you do this action, it means you have used this technology...

This technology is a completely rogue patent, but in the first year when the Internet was just emerging, the patent office of America did not have enough knowledge of this technology, so Song Yang took advantage of the loophole and applied for it. Now Song Yang is going to set off the first patent war in the Internet industry.

Greg, on behalf of Song Yang, sued Netscape for infringing the patents held by Song Yang in several states of America, and asked Texas, New York, California and other places to prohibit local users from using the Netscape browser to prevent Netscape users from infringing Use the "interactive network patent" to restore the use of the Netscape browser after the case is over.

The entire Silicon Valley was stunned to see Song Yang's magical operation. No one expected that the "interactive network" patent could be applied for. The entire Silicon Valley Internet companies, large and small, felt deep malice. The thing is just an Internet company, and they can't escape the butcher's knife of the "interactive network patent".

The American Patent Office did not expect that the patent applied for at the beginning of the year would be such a big mine. Even if it wants to cancel the patent now, it is impossible to cancel it immediately. At least the federal court must decide that the patent is invalid. OK……

Netscape also did not expect that Jim Clark would know the patents that Song Yang held in his hands when he was investigating Song Yang before. At that time, he was still in front of the TV station, secretly laughing at who would Hit Song Yang's patented muzzle.

But I never expected that the first unlucky person would be Netscape. Netscape was the first company in the Internet industry to be sued for patents. This made Jim Clark and Netscape a little annoyed for a while. According to the implementation of the "interactive network patent", even if it is not Netscape, it will close down!
Not only the "Interactive Network Patent", but also the newly acquired "Internet Front Page Development Software", "Dynamic Web Page Patent" and other technologies, Song Yang here prohibits the use of Netscape, that is, the Netscape browser cannot develop "dynamic webpages"!
Dynamic web pages are one of the hottest technologies in the Internet industry at the moment. The development of Internet software throughout America is transitioning from static web pages to dynamic web pages. Compared with static web pages, the most intuitive change of dynamic web pages is that the computer page codes have not changed. , but the content of computer web pages will directly change with time, environment and database changes, which is equivalent to being more intelligent.

The dynamic webpage patents held by the several small companies that Song Yang bought are only a few items in the dynamic webpage patent library, but these are enough, and they have not been authorized by these patents. The Netscape browser and the software attached to Netscape The company cannot develop dynamic webpages, or it will be sued by Song Yang to death!

If these were just means of secret poking, and Netscape felt uncomfortable but couldn't speak out, then what happened next almost didn't make Netscape furious.

Christmas is approaching, and before Christmas, countless people who are busy with office work open their Hotmail mailboxes as usual, and when they check the received emails, they press the anti-virus function embedded in the Hotmail mailbox.

This function is a function that countless users in Hotmail mailboxes press every day. Fortinet not only provides anti-virus for Hotmail mailboxes, but also finds computer software bugs and clears garbage for users. It has become a daily favorite of many people. software in use.

And the people working today, as usual, after pressing the Fortigate anti-virus software, the result is a different scene from the usual one. After the Fortigate scans the mailbox and computer security, a message prompting "risky software" suddenly appears. Warning, and this "riskware" is the Netscape browser!

In just one morning, "Netscape Browser" contained viruses, software loopholes, insecure rumors, etc., and began to spread wildly among users.

"Netscape browser does not have any security risks. This is completely unfair competition of Hotmail mailboxes. I don't know the origin of that Fortinet security network company, but Netscape browser is acquired by McAfee, It is supported by Symantec and other professional antivirus software companies!"

Baxter, who was busy protesting against Song Yang's prosecution to the procuratorates of various states in America, immediately returned to Netscape headquarters after hearing the news, and then held a press conference to angrily denounce that this was a competitor maliciously smearing Netscape browser.

What does it mean to spread rumors, open your mouth to refute the rumors, no matter how Baxter refutes it, and bring the technical certification of McAfee and other anti-virus software, it will not affect the continued occurrence of rumors.

As for Feita, whether it was intentional or not, of course it was intentional. As for whether it was framing Netscape Browser, that is of course impossible. The current Internet software, which dare to say that there are no loopholes or program bugs, is just a matter of more or less .

Not to mention that Netscape is still a browser. Even if Netscape's software has no loopholes, can the webpages it searches be guaranteed to be ok?

This is a Rashomon. After Netscape held a press conference, Fortinet officially appeared in front of its peers, and also held a huge press conference.

Said it was a press conference, but more like an official debut. Xie Qing led a group of Feita personnel to release a "America Network Security White Paper" at the press conference. officially revealed his identity.

At the press conference, Xie Qing also responded to the topic of Netscape, and directly took out a thick document, claiming that the security problems and loopholes were discovered from the Netscape browser. These problems are actually not too big. Some have almost no effect, but for computer novice, it is hard to say what it feels like to see this scene...

I don’t know if Netscape has been affected, but Fortinet is almost “famous” in the first battle. There are not many Internet companies that dare to fight against Netscape. The popularity of Fortinet became “famous” in America almost overnight. One of the Internet security products of Fortinet, countless users have started to download the client launched by Fortinet.

The conference room at Microsoft headquarters is full of laughter at the moment. The dark clouds that shrouded Microsoft headquarters some time ago seem to have disappeared.

"Look at Baxter's expression, I can see his eyes are breathing fire..."

At this moment, in the Microsoft board meeting room, the rumor-refuting news from Baxter's press conference was playing. All the directors of Microsoft laughed out loud when they saw Baxter's distress.

"Director Gates, your decision to acquire Hotmail is really a wonderful decision. I have to say that the purchase price of US$[-] million is worth more than we imagined!" A representative of a Wall Street investment bank turned to Bill. Gates complimented.

The credit for the acquisition of the Hotmail mailbox was placed on Bill Gates who "turned the tide". Microsoft's skyrocketing stock price made Wall Street's investment banks begin to regard Microsoft as "Wall Street's darling". Bill Gates returned to technology The throne of the emperor.

Bill Gates was also in a good mood. He turned his head and glanced at Greg Maffei and Todd, who were in charge of acquiring the Hotmail mailbox, with approval in their eyes.

"It seems that our "ally" is even better than we expected, and that Feita Network Security Company is also..."

They are all veterans of the rivers and lakes. Bill Gates can think about the operation of the flying tower and the timing of jumping out.

Ballmer continued, "We found out that it is an Internet security company invested by Bruno Song in San Jose!"

Glancing at the Microsoft executives in the conference room, Bill Gates' expression became serious, "Our allies have shown us a war on the Internet..."

(End of this chapter)