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Chapter 307 The Ladder Over the Wall

When Microsoft required all its partner computer manufacturers to include MSN by default in their new machines, the entire United States was in an uproar, sparking nationwide condemnation.

Various media outlets, including major newspapers and television stations, seemed to have agreed in advance to condemn Microsoft's bundled sales and hegemonic practices.

Then came the users. Someone posted on the forum, showing a screenshot of themselves uninstalling MSN, with the caption, "It's as hard to delete as a virus. If Microsoft used this technology for anti-hacking, they would have won a Nobel Prize long ago."

Even more extreme, some people called Microsoft customer service directly, saying, "My mom knows not to force you to wear socks with your clothes, how come you don't understand?"

Finally, there's the competition of riding the coattails of trending topics in American politics. American politicians never miss any opportunity to attract attention, and this Microsoft controversy naturally became their stage.

Whether they were donkeys or elephants, they all seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, rushing to the front of the media cameras to speak out.

They stated that Microsoft's behavior trampled on market fairness, and called for anti-monopoly measures to be more than just slogans; the judiciary should act as soon as possible to prevent one company from monopolizing the entire technology industry.

"Microsoft's PR team knows how to do PR; they're really quite capable."

Mountain View, Google headquarters.

Ernst flew over that afternoon, showing how much importance he attached to the matter.

Hamilton sat on the sofa, a newspaper in his hand, a cold smile on his lips. "How insidious and ruthless, resorting to such methods to clear their name."

There are reports everywhere now condemning Microsoft, making it seem like Microsoft is the villain and everyone is on the side of justice.

But in reality, much of what's in there is an attempt to whitewash Microsoft.

The reports that truly condemned Microsoft focused on its monopoly practices, emphasizing that the judiciary must intervene as soon as possible to investigate Microsoft's antitrust behavior, maintain normal business order, and allow the US technology industry to be a place where the fittest survive, rather than one company dominating.

But what did some media outlets and officials say?

Overbearing and rude.

They portray Microsoft as an unreasonable bastard, but never mention the issue of monopolies.

Even when the involvement of the judicial authorities is mentioned, it only refers to investigating whether Microsoft's actions violate relevant laws, rather than an antitrust investigation. This is clearly an attempt to guide public opinion and downplay the seriousness of the matter.

Bill Gates knew he was in the wrong, and that forcing an explanation would only increase the user's resistance, so he used a strategy of shifting the focus of their emotions.

Therefore, they deliberately used public relations tactics to steer the discussion towards attitude issues rather than illegal behavior.

"But no matter how they try to whitewash it, they can't change the fact that they have a monopoly." Hamilton's eyes became confident. "No matter what methods they use, we are determined to win this lawsuit, and Microsoft will definitely lose."

Google has contacted several companies, preparing to jointly file a lawsuit against Microsoft, including AOL and I.

Industry giants like BM.

Unlike Hamilton, Ernst did not place all his hopes on winning the case. "But we cannot be completely unprepared."

Bill Gates's bundling of MSN wasn't just about promoting MSN; more importantly, it was about disgusting him and Google.

"It's obvious that Microsoft is just stalling for time. As long as the lawsuit isn't decided, they'll keep bundling MSN with it. And don't forget, this year will see a surge in global computer users. During this period, a large number of users will become MSN users because of Microsoft's bundling. Once they get used to it, even if we lose the lawsuit, it will be very difficult for us to regain the market."

At the beginning of the year, hardware manufacturers such as Intel carried out a collective inventory price reduction, which was quite significant, resulting in a substantial drop in the prices of many branded computers.

Lower computer prices will definitely boost sales, so major organizations have significantly raised their forecasts for global PC shipments this year.

Bill Gates launched the bundling program precisely because he saw this opportunity; he wanted to take advantage of the surge in PC shipments to quickly seize the user market.

Bill Gates had a very shrewd plan, and Ernst was unlikely to let Bill Gates have his way.

"If he can use a fallacy to change the subject, why can't we? He wants to seize the market by bundling, so we'll find a way to break his bundling model, and even turn the tables and seize more user access points."

He had barely finished speaking when there was a knock on the office door. His secretary walked in, followed by Google Search CEO Sergey Brin and Google Video CTO Ruhr Powell.

"Sit down." Ernst gestured for them to sit down, then had Hamilton's secretary make them a cup of coffee.

After Sergei Brin and Ruhr Powell took their seats, they both looked at Ernst and Hamilton with some confusion.

They didn't know why Ernst had suddenly summoned them.

Ernst exchanged a few pleasantries and inquired about the development progress of Google Video.

When Ernst learned that everything was going smoothly and that the video could be launched this year, he encouraged them, saying, "Google Video is key to our strategy in the video field. We must do it well and strive to attract a large number of users as soon as it is launched, and occupy the technological barrier in a short period of time. Even if imitators follow suit, we will have enough time to completely dominate the entire market."

"Don't worry, I have enough confidence in our technology. It would be impossible to achieve our level in less than a year."

Rul Powell was well aware that video, unlike Google's other businesses, could not possibly form a market monopoly.

Video content is more important than technology; Hollywood film companies are unlikely to grant licenses to just one company.

Especially given that Ernst has already cheated all the record companies in the area of ​​online song copyrights, film and television production companies won't make the same mistake again.

Moreover, it's not just about purchasing copyrights; there's also the issue of creating original content, so it's simply impossible for any single entity to form a monopoly.

All Powell can do is try to ensure that Google Video captures the largest market share.

Ernst was relieved to see that he understood the situation, and then changed the subject seriously, saying, "I won't go into details about Microsoft, as you both probably already know. I called you two here today to discuss how to break this deadlock."

Both men frowned. Microsoft's bundling strategy mainly targeted instant messaging and email services. How could they possibly help?

Ernst smiled and offered an idea: "I plan to develop software, an app download store."

Seeing their continued confusion, he continued to explain in detail, "Think about it. Whatever software a user wants to download, whether it's an instant messaging tool, an email client, or office software, they just need to search for it in our app store, click download, and the installation is complete. They don't need to go to various app stores to buy it, nor do they need to search for download links online, and they don't have to worry about downloading malicious software. What would happen then?"

Why is Microsoft's bundling so effective? It's because installing software is so troublesome these days that most people don't even know how to install it.

Software stores are the most common choice for most people.

Purchase the CD and then follow the instructions step by step.

As for free software like Google Chrome, many people search for download links on websites. Not to mention the various complicated installation options that are hard to understand, there are also the risk of transmission interruptions, and even the download of viruses.

If these tedious processes are omitted, who cares about bundling? I can just download the product I want to use.

Hamilton's eyes lit up instantly; he grasped the key point immediately. "You mean to package all of Google's products, including instant messaging, email, browsers, music software, etc., into this app store, and then partner with computer manufacturers through this app store to achieve bundling?"

"In this way, even though users will see MSN when they buy a new computer, they can also easily download Google products through our app store, making the download process much more convenient. This can be seen as indirectly breaking Microsoft's bundling model."

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant." Ernst nodded, satisfied with Hamilton's reaction.

Hamilton suddenly frowned. "But what's the difference between us and Microsoft's partnership? Microsoft is partnering with MSN, we're partnering with the app store. We'll be sued for antitrust violations too."

Ernst leaned back in his chair. "So what I was saying was that users can download whatever software they want, not that they can only download Google's software."

"Our app store will not only include Google's products, but also software from other companies, such as AOL and IBM's office software, and even some niche but useful software."

"In this way, our app store becomes an open platform, rather than a Google-exclusive channel, so even if someone wants to sue us, they won't find a reason to do so."

Hamilton listened and thought the idea was indeed feasible, but he quickly raised a question: "But there's a problem here, why would other vendors put their software with you for users to download?"

"If fewer apps join the platform and only Google's products have high download numbers, we will still be sued by our competitors for misleading us."

"You know those people in the Department of Justice best. They'd love for big companies to be sued every day so they can make money. Even if we haven't done anything wrong, they can still find all sorts of reasons to make things difficult for us."

After listening, Ernst showed no concern; instead, he smiled confidently. "Then we'll make users have to download our app, and they'll be scrambling to use it. As long as we have enough users, no business will pass up such an exposure opportunity."

Nowadays, downloads don't include BT seeds, magnet links, or Emule; they're all traditional HTTP links and FTP connections.

This download method has a problem: all users downloading resources share the same bandwidth.

In other words, the more people downloading, the less bandwidth each person gets, and the slower the download speed.

For example, a 100MB software might only take 10 minutes to download if only 10 people are downloading it.

However, if 1000 people are downloading at the same time, it may take up to 3 hours to finish downloading, and it may even be interrupted and have to start downloading again.

"Could we assume a scenario where the downloaded software is split into data segments, say, into 5 or 10 segments? In this way, although the total bandwidth of the server remains fixed, the proportion of bandwidth that each user can occupy on the server increases by 5 to 10 times, and the download time is correspondingly shortened by 5 to 10 times."

"It takes others 3 hours to download a piece of software, but with our app store, it only takes less than 30 minutes. How will users choose? They will definitely rush to use our app store."

"Great idea!" Hamilton clapped his hands excitedly after hearing this. "This way, users will definitely use our app store, and other software vendors will also take the initiative to cooperate with us and put their software in the app store."

Just as Hamilton was getting excited, Sergei Brin poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "The idea is good, but have you considered this: if everyone uses our app store to download software and consumes 10 times the resources, won't everyone's download speed be back to the same starting line? Then our advantage will be gone!"

Hamilton paused for a moment, thought about it carefully, and realized that Sergey Brin made sense, but he quickly shook his head. "Who cares about him? Our primary goal right now is to break Microsoft's bundling model and seize the user market. As long as we can get through this lawsuit and users get used to using our app store, even if the download speed is slow in the future, they won't easily switch to other methods."

Ernst shook his head and said, "That's not what I think. I intend to make this app store a long-term user portal and develop it properly, rather than just using it as a temporary measure to deal with Microsoft."

Just then, Ruhr Powell, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, saying only three letters: "P2P".

"That's right," Ernst nodded. "P2P can be applied not only to video downloads, but also to software downloads."

"What are the technical characteristics of P2P? It's that the more people downloading, the faster the download speed."

"By using a simple technology like segmented downloading, we can quickly seize the market. Once the user base arrives, P2P technology should be almost fully developed. Then, by updating the technology, we can completely dominate the software download gateway."

At this point, Ernst revealed a sly smile. He looked at the three people in front of him, his tone tinged with smugness, "Just think about it, when users want to download a browser and search for it in our app store, won't we be able to dictate the order in which the browsers appear?"

"Even if I make users scroll to the very bottom of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser and have to scroll through several pages to find it, what difference will it make?"

Hamilton, Sergei Brin, and Ruhr Powell all looked enlightened after hearing Ernst's plan.

They originally thought Ernst just wanted to develop a regular app store to counter Microsoft's bundling practices, but they didn't expect Ernst to have such great ambitions. He actually wanted to use this app store to completely control the entry point for software downloads and pave the way for Google's future development.