America: My Time

Chapter 437 Transformation
Chapter 437 Transformation

“John, I heard that United Press International’s information service has completed testing. We’ve been eagerly awaiting its launch!” Morgan approached United Press International to discuss the deal once the restructuring was complete.

"We'll be going public soon. Dream World has completed its final testing, and the results from Hurricane Investment are excellent. The tests in Japan and Hong Kong are also going well. If all goes well, we'll be going public soon. As for the mobile communication SMS service, Global Online is ready and can launch it at any time. I believe that once you start using United International's information services, you won't want to give up." John smiled calmly at the Morgan tycoon. It was normal for them to come to him. Now that Dream World was a listed company, it was natural for news to leak out. It was perfectly normal for someone to know about United International's professional workstations. Moreover, John had no intention of keeping the internal testing a secret.

"That's good. If there are no problems on your end, Morgan will make the reservation first! However, the change in United Press International has angered Bloomberg, which is now planning to sue Global Online for monopoly."

"Of course, there's no problem. We can have Dream World move its professional workstations over right now. As for Bloomberg, let them be. No matter how much we monopolize it, we'll still do international business. Besides, there are other companies besides Global Online in the US. Those guys would be better off focusing on improving their own communications. It's impossible for them to get help from Dream World. Neither Global Online nor Dream World will accept their arguments."

“John, this isn’t a matter of whether you accept it or not, but rather pressure from certain individuals. Global Online has essentially formed a monopoly. You control a large number of communication patents, which restricts the development of other technology companies. So this is just an excuse, an excuse for those technology companies to enter the market and reap profits!”

"I've said it before: we'll share this system for free in a few years. We haven't even recouped our R&D costs yet, so it's impossible for us to accept such a claim. If they want to sue us, we'll fight them to the end. Everyone knows how much it costs to develop new technologies. We can't accept their ridiculous claims. Dream World and Global Online have their own complete plans and won't be affected by them."

"It will probably be another year or two before John Global Online can be shared for free. As you know, Global Online's revenue currently comes from the financial industry and universities. There are still too few users at the grassroots level, which cannot support the R&D costs. Otherwise, I would not have turned my attention to financial information services. It is all to better recover the initial R&D costs."

Only they themselves know how high the R&D costs of Dreamworld and Bell Labs were. John's words had others to believe, whether they wanted to or not. Moreover, John had already stated that he would share the technology, and they could afford to wait a year or two. Everyone knew how many users Global Online had at the grassroots level; at least the general numbers were there. Recovering the initial R&D costs with just these users would be difficult. Therefore, although Morgan Stanley also desperately wanted John to relinquish internet patents, he restrained himself, only using Bloomberg as a pretext.

"John, if you can, you should hold a press conference to reiterate the position of Dream World and Global Online, and give everyone a clear timetable. Only in this way can you remain unaffected by external influences. Moreover, internet communication has great development potential, and many countries around the world are currently researching and developing it."

"I know that I will explain this change in United Press International to everyone. At the latest, we can release the patents on the Internet by early 1988. However, even if we release the patents, it is not certain that they can go further than me. By then, the system software of Dream World will have already included it."

“John, some departments want to take over your root servers because they think it's a matter of national security.”

"Impossible, we won't accept it. The root server is solely under the control of Global Online, and we will separate it and have Bell Labs take over. What they think is their own business, but they shouldn't even think about touching our technology. If they take over, I'm afraid it won't be long before our secrets are leaked, and more competitors will jump out to compete for the market. They have their own communication networks and can develop them on their own. It's impossible for them to take over Global Online's root server."

At this moment, John couldn't help but sigh. He had thought he had plenty of time, but now it seemed things weren't as he expected. Those guys had already set their sights on Global Online's root server, which was not a good thing. He needed to speed up the deployment of the root server, otherwise, unnecessary trouble would arise.

After UPI completed its comprehensive transformation, John held a press conference to announce UPI's full shift to financial information services. New products were launched, providing financial information services and mobile text messaging to financial professionals worldwide. This announcement shocked all the journalists. Although they had known UPI was undergoing a transformation, they hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, or that the company would abandon its role so readily. "Mr. John, what are your thoughts on Bloomberg's accusations? Global Online has now established a substantial monopoly on the internet!" At this moment, a Bloomberg reporter immediately jumped in to criticize John and Global Online.

“You’re a Bloomberg employee, right? I know what you’re thinking. You’re worried that Bloomberg can’t compete with UPI and you’re afraid of losing your job. But what I’m saying is that Global Online is not wrong. Developing a new technology requires a huge amount of money. In fact, I’ve said before that we will release the patents when the time is right. At least we have to recoup our R&D costs, otherwise it would be a fool’s move. Even the most powerful company cannot afford such losses.”

“Mr. John, this is the Associated Press. When will Global Online release its patent rights? We need a precise timeframe; you can’t keep stalling with these excuses.”

"By early 1988 at the latest, we currently have too few users and too little cost recovery, so it will take time. However, I can assure you that by early 1988, we will release the patents on the Internet. Regardless of whether we can recover the costs, the Internet belongs to everyone and is a public resource. In the future, everyone's communication may be inseparable from its help. At the same time, in order to ensure the security of the Internet and that freedom is not affected, we will separate the root server from Global Online and have Bell Labs take over. Global Online will no longer be responsible for maintaining the root server, and this will also prevent the leakage of user information."

John's words sounded convincing, but they were just fooling ordinary people who didn't know the ropes. Even the tech giants knew it was useless. Bell Labs taking over the root servers would have prevented information leaks, which was simply impossible.

"Hehe, see? This little guy is really decisive. He directly separated the root server from Global Online. It won't be easy for anyone to mess with it in the future. Bell Labs is just a research unit and doesn't get involved in business at all. It has no conflict of interest with anyone, at least that's how it appears on the surface."

“I told you long ago that those guys’ schemes would not succeed. This little fox is more powerful than they thought. Hoping to gain benefits from him is a huge joke. They want to list Global Online, but now it seems impossible. Once he makes his promise, even the White House wouldn’t dare to say such a thing.”

"Do internet patents really have that much potential, making it worthwhile for those guys to make such calculations?"

"The potential is limitless. When ASUS wasn't involved in the research and development of personal computers, the internet was just so-so. But now it's different. Their personal computers all have internet access capabilities. So, with the continuous expansion of personal computers, it won't be long before the number of users at the grassroots level grows rapidly. At that time, the potential will be limitless. I don't know if you've noticed, but Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Group both have their own websites, and John, that little fox, is even arranging for people to create their own portal website, which has surprised many people. However, there are still considerable patent barriers behind this. By the time this little guy opens up the patents, their company will have already grown into a large and powerful enterprise."

"With patents in hand, I own the world! Doesn't anyone want to bypass the patents of Dreamworld and Bell Labs?"

"Yes, of course they are. IBM and Apple have had similar ideas, but without any results. They concluded that bypassing the other party's patents would require at least several years of research and development. By then, the other party would have already fully opened up its patents, and no one could do anything about it. This is an open and aboveboard strategy; even if you knew it, you couldn't crack it. If you were in their shoes, would you be willing to invest a large amount of R&D funds and end up with nothing? Also, ASUS is now at the forefront in the personal computer field, backed by Nvidia and Dreamworld. And there are also companies like Sony."

"Although it's hard to admit, Dreamworld and Nvidia are developing too fast right now, far exceeding the R&D speed of other companies. If this continues, it will be hard for any company to compare with them. They have already gone much further in the fields of chips and software, especially in chips, where they are already a generation behind other companies. This is the biggest problem. Perhaps they really need to make changes!"

(End of this chapter)