Back to 1995

Chapter 458
Terry Meyerson, who is just 32 years old this year, is now the director of Microsoft's mobile device department. Except for the "old people" in China, it is becoming more and more difficult now.

In the eyes of the outside world, Microsoft is still a high-tech company, and it has always been a high-profile role in the impression. No matter whether you hate Microsoft or not, you cannot deny this.

Terry Melson's ability is naturally out of the question for being able to fight against all competitors, but under the behemoth of Microsoft, after all, some departments are important departments, and some are not so popular...

The mobile device department is undoubtedly one of them. If compared with the game console department that will appear in a few years, then this department is probably raised by a stepmother. The console department can burn billions of dollars a year. Microsoft's mobile device division has been beaten.

This time I finally found an opportunity, Terry Myerson wanted to change the mobile device department, the situation within Microsoft!
When entering the office, Terry Myerson saw that Bill Gates looked a bit unhappy. Most of the people in the office, Meyerson did not know, but Brad Smith, Meyerson has met, He knew that Bill Gates must be having a headache with Netscape's lawsuit, and now Microsoft is starting to feel a little uneasy about this matter.

"It's still the same sentence, I can go to the hearing on Capitol Hill, but this lawsuit, Microsoft must win, no matter what method is used!"

Knowing that this trip to Capitol Hill might be unavoidable, Bill Gates pinched his nose and admitted it, but he also issued a death order to Brad and the entire legal team. Microsoft must not lose this time.

Hearing that Bill Gates was going to be questioned on Capitol Hill, Terry Myerson was shocked. He didn't expect the matter to be so serious, but those who were asked to attend the hearing on Capitol Hill rarely ended well.

After letting Brad Smith and a group of lawyers leave, Bill Gates took a deep breath and said to Terry Melson, "Okay, sir, can you tell me now, what happened?"

"We may lose the mobile operating system market. In the mobile device operating system industry, Microsoft may have to face a new opponent, not the Palm OS system, nor the Linux system, etc., it may be Symbian!"

Terry Myerson said seriously to Bill Gates that Terry Myerson's technology, ability, vision, etc. are all top-notch in the industry to be able to climb to the current position.

Bill Gates frowned, "Bruno Song's Symbian mobile phone system?"

Since the beginning of this year, Bill Gates has been focusing on the lawsuit with Netscape, especially recently, the situation has become more and more serious. Microsoft, which is busy with the lawsuit, has obviously declined in control over the technology industry. , It also gives other technology companies some breathing space.

Bill Gates naturally knows about Song Yang's acquisition of the reorganized Alcatel mobile phone, and even some people he knows use P1 mobile phones, but for Alcatel P1 mobile phones and Symbian systems, Bill Gates has not yet There is time to pay attention, after all, mobile phones are not the industry that Microsoft mainly focuses on.

"The mainstream of mobile devices in the future may not be PDAs, but mobile phones!"

Terry Meyerson put forward a bold idea. When he said this, he felt a little apprehensive. This is equivalent to overturning everything Microsoft has done in the field of mobile devices in the past few years. That is to say, Bill Bill Gates, Ballmer, and the others at Microsoft are blindsided by this matter. Betting on the handheld operating system is a mistake!
"continue!"

To Melson's surprise, Bill Gates was unusually calm when he heard this, without any sign of irritation at all.

Terry Meyerson took out a copy of the compiled data and put it in front of Bill Gates, "I have to say that Bruno Song is indeed a genius. He combined the mobile phone with the operating system. In my opinion, he Possibly creating a whole new product!"

"The Symbian system is the key to the P1 mobile phone. The mobile phone is a market with an annual shipment volume of more than [-] million units. Symbian may now occupy this market. In the future, Symbian may become the Microsoft of mobile operating systems. !"

Hearing Melson's words, Bill Gates looked at the sales of P1 mobile phones in the data, as well as the announcements of Nokia, Motorola and other brands joining the Symbian camp. At this time, what Palm handheld, what Jeff Hawking Si and the like were all left behind by him.

Before, Bill Gates was only obsessed with Netscape and didn't pay attention to it. Now that he saw these things that Terry Myerson brought over, how could he not react!
"Saipan also launched the Firefox mobile browser?!"

After Bill Gates saw the Firefox browser, he couldn't help but raise his voice a little bit. Microsoft and Netscape, because of the browser market, have their brains out. Song Yang's side is good, and they played it quietly. It is a mobile browser, and it is also predicted that the global installed capacity of the Firefox browser may exceed 2000 million this year!
The P1 mobile phones sold this year are all equipped with the Firefox browser. Other mobile phone brands, as long as they are equipped with the Symbian system, are required to be equipped with mobile version ICQ, Firefox browser, Hotmail mailbox and other products. After all, Symbian is free for those The mobile phone brand has been used by the user, and by the way, a family bucket package is given away, isn't it too much? !
This year, the global shipments of mobile phones equipped with Symbian system, Alcatel mobile phones sold by itself, plus other brands, a conservative estimate, will sell 2000 million phones, or even more, which naturally means that, The users of the mobile version of ICQ and Firefox have also skyrocketed to this scale, which is much faster than the growth rate of PC users!

At this time, Melson added another fire, "It is reported that the Symbian system is in contact with Sun, and wants to obtain a Java license. In the future, the software of the Symbian system platform will be developed using Java technology. .”

Bill Gates finally couldn't bear it at this time. Microsoft is now secretly developing C language technology to replace Java. They just don't want to be controlled by Sun. Fortunately, Microsoft has not had time in the PC industry. Competing with Sun, the result is that the mobile phone software development market has been completely lost.

"Microsoft can't lose mobile device operating systems, and Symbian can't choose Java!"

"Symbian chose Java to declare war on Microsoft. We will use the most extreme means to destroy them. Bruno Song..."

Bill Gates, who was originally furious, stopped suddenly when he mentioned Song Yang.

Is Microsoft afraid of Symbian or Song Yang? For Bill Gates, hearing such remarks is probably a joke. Microsoft has had many opponents, including Oracle, Sun, IBM and the latest Netscape, these opponents have posed a threat to Microsoft.

But for Song Yang, Bill Gates was indeed interested, but he didn't regard it as an opponent, because the business of the two sides didn't actually have much competition, and Microsoft didn't feel threatened, so why talk about opponents?

But now, in the mobile operating system, Bill Gates feels threatened. Song Yang did not provoke Microsoft on the PC operating system, but his ambitions on the mobile operating system are clear at a glance.

Unless Bill Gates gives up the mobile phone operating system, the two sides will inevitably have to wrestle their wrists, but at this time, Bill Gates is a little uncertain.

For Song Yang and the Symbian system, Bill Gates is naturally not afraid, but at this time, Bill Gates feels that it seems that Song Yang deliberately picked the timing. Microsoft, which is fighting an anti-monopoly lawsuit, if In the mobile operating system, another wave, Bill Gates feels that Microsoft is going to be blown up...

Bill Gates felt aggrieved by this situation where he had nowhere to use his strength and wanted to give his opponent a heavy punch, but was afraid that if he hit the opponent, he would be finished.

"Mobile phone system, Microsoft can't give up, but now, it's not a time to confront Symbian head-on, Microsoft enters the mobile phone operating system industry, and it can't promote it with great fanfare..."

After a while, Bill Gates still felt a little helpless, and said to Terry Melson that it is impossible for Microsoft to give up the mobile phone system, but now they can't kill each other with great fanfare like in the browser industry. Microsoft can't take any more risks.

"You go to Alcatel Mobile Phone Company, if the other party is willing to sell Symbian..."

Speaking of this, Bill Gates himself is a little unconvinced, "Or, if you accept Microsoft's investment, Microsoft can cooperate with Symbian. If you can't get a controlling stake, then Microsoft will launch its own mobile operating system, or even a mobile phone. The board of directors of Microsoft will provide enough funding for you and the mobile device department!"

Terry Myerson cheered up, "I am going to overthrow the Microsoft CE handheld operating system, which is out of date, and create a new set of Microsoft WP mobile phone system from scratch that surpasses Symbian, so that more mobile phone manufacturers support WP system!

In the future, I hope that the WP system can become a cross-platform operating system that can support the operation of handhelds, mobile phones, computers and other mobile devices. "

Terry Melson was talking to Bill Gates about his plan for the new system. Melson hopes to build the WP system into the most important platform besides the Microsoft PC system.

After Terry Melson left, Bill Gates glanced at his figure. He gave Melson enough authority and enough funds to report directly to him in the future.

When the development of the WP system is completed, Terry Meyerson will be the general manager of the WP system department. In the future, as long as WP can make achievements, Terry Meyerson will still be the president of the mobile operating system department, on an equal footing with the PC operating system. But which step can be achieved depends on Melson's own ability. Bill Gates hopes to see the day when Melson becomes the president...

(End of this chapter)