Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

Bob Mullia's first reaction upon receiving the report was to try it out himself to see what the jasmine experience was like.

Then I opened GitHub, found Jasmine Tools No. 1, and saw the version 2.0 update, which clearly stated in the description that it supports Python.

Mulia was startled; the iteration was happening so fast. Looking at other related information, she saw that countless people had already begun developing plugins based on Jasmine One.

Mullia pulled out his MacBook. Knowing your enemy is essential, and it's perfectly reasonable for a Microsoft vice president to have a MacBook.

After testing for half an hour, Mulia hurriedly went to the president's office with his laptop.

Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates' close friend, had a friendship that began when they watched movies together in their dorm room.

So after Bill Gates' startup began to show promise, he brought in Steve Ballmer to help him, and Ballmer became Microsoft's 24th employee.

Steve Ballmer is a complex person, and without a doubt, he is mediocre among Microsoft's top executives.

But he did lead Microsoft through many crises, though don't ask how those crises came about.

He is a complex figure among employees. Many employees like him, thinking that he is outgoing, enthusiastic, and charismatic, and that he is a good person.

However, when it comes to whether or not to support him, half of the people choose not to support him, feeling that he is not capable enough.

A few years later, when Ballmer announced his retirement, Microsoft stock surged by nearly 10% that day, demonstrating his immense influence.

But Ballmer can by no means be considered mediocre. More than a decade later, he even became Microsoft's largest shareholder, with a net worth exceeding that of his old friend Bill Gates.

He finally went from being a relative to becoming one of the world's top ten richest people.

At this moment, Ballmer stood, listening to Mullia's report while looking at the briefing in his hand.

C# auto-completion on a Mac is already a headache enough. Now, with the addition of Python, this isn't just targeting Visual Studio, but the entire developer ecosystem.

Ballmer interrupted Mullia halfway through, pointing to the briefing in his hand and saying, "Eliminating patent risks through commercial means? Is that English? He might as well say he wants the company to keep paying him a salary and he'll just be a mouthpiece."

Mulia didn't respond. He knew better than anyone how rubbish Soma's briefing was.

Ballmer thought for a moment and said, "You just need to tell me one thing: are you sure this thing makes C# auto-completion work on Mac, and isn't based on Mono? Are you sure it's a completely new compiler that directly supports .NET?"

"Yes, Python was added yesterday."

"What about the patents?"

"The submission from Fenwick & West covers code completion methods based on semantic analysis. The legal team's assessment is that if approved, IntelliSense will have a hard time circumventing it."

Ballmer thought for a moment and then said directly, "C# is ours. .NET is ours. We cannot accept something running on our Macs without our permission."

Mullia sighed inwardly; he knew what Ballmer was thinking. In 2001, Ballmer called Linux "cancer" at a conference of a thousand people in Chicago, a label that had followed him for almost a decade and still hadn't been removed. In Ballmer's worldview, Windows was central; everything had to revolve around it. Any attempt to deviate from Windows was seen as a threat to Microsoft's core interests.

"So, we're going to buy him?"

Ballmer nodded and said, "C# is ours. .NET is ours. Now we have something that allows C# to run on Macs and Linux, and the patents aren't even in our hands. This isn't about acquiring a small editor; it's about the Windows ecosystem."

"I'll go back and make the arrangements. The Corporate Development Department will conduct due diligence, the Legal Department will follow up on the patent details, and the Soma team will cooperate with the technical assessment."

Ballmer tapped the briefing in his hand again: "Let Soma's team come up with a solution directly. What's the point of hiding? Tell them to hurry up. Go talk to the Corporate Development Department. I don't want anyone to take this lightly. I'll make sure they take it seriously."

Mulia stood up and said, "Understood, I'll make the arrangements right away."

"Don't delay, hurry up. I don't want to be discussing how much it will cost six months from now. Every extra day this thing runs on a Mac, it's another blow to Windows."

As Mulia walked out of the office, he was already strategizing in his mind.

Ballmer's words can be translated into three action instructions: Buy, buy quickly, buy carefully.

Back in his office, Mulia called Soma.

"Soma, I've read your presentation."

"Bob—"

"Stop explaining. You know exactly what you wrote. Eliminating patent risks through commercial means? Do you even believe that yourself?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Bob, I just feel—"

"I don't care what you think. What I care about is how much this editor affects us, and whether you understand that."

"I understand. Lisa's team did a very detailed technical assessment—"

"Then why didn't you write it clearly in the briefing? Three pages of nonsense, I have to go look at HN myself. I'll email you in a bit, so get ready. I need a real solution, your ideas. Whether it's an acquisition, licensing, or some other solution, give me something actionable."

Soma's voice finally changed, from defensive to helpless: "Bob, this size of acquisition is beyond our department's capabilities; it requires someone from the Corporate Development Department."

"If you don't make any requests, how can the Corporate Development Department get involved? You need to produce something first: a technology assessment, a patent risk analysis, and a justification for the acquisition. That's your job, so get to it quickly. I'll give you one day."

"Understood."

Mulia hung up the phone and dialed another number.

"Mark? This is Bob Mullia. There's something I need your Corporate Development department to follow up on."

On the other end of the phone was Mark Hansen, Senior Director of Corporate Development. He had worked in acquisitions at Microsoft for twelve years, handling deals ranging from millions to billions of dollars.

"Bob, what case?"

"It's a small editor called Jasmine. It's probably a small team or even an individual in Silicon Valley who got Fenwick & West to file a patent application. We'll be submitting an assistance application soon, so once you receive it, act quickly."

A laugh came from the other end of the phone. "An editor made by one person? Okay, I understand. We'll follow up on that."

Mullia, this is normal. Microsoft's Corporate Development department is a special entity. They are Microsoft's dedicated acquisitions team, responsible for due diligence, valuation, and negotiation strategies.

They are purely executors, but they also have some advisory authority when acquisition valuations are unreasonable. Of course, they rarely use this authority; they are used to buying, buying, buying, and are keen on large-scale acquisitions.

It's not a matter of how much money they have, but rather that only large acquisitions can demonstrate the value of their department. Small acquisitions, including patent acquisitions, don't really offer much opportunity to show off their skills.

"Mark, you need to take this seriously. Steve personally oversaw this. His exact words were that this matter has a significant impact on the Windows platform strategy, and he doesn't want us still arguing about how much it will cost to acquire it six months from now."

Mark's voice turned serious: "Understood. I'll arrange for someone to contact them today. However, Fenwick & West is one of the best tech law firms in Silicon Valley; they're not easy to fool. We probably won't get a good price."

"It's alright, just do your best to negotiate."

As a super-large enterprise, Microsoft's bloated administrative structure usually prevents its competitors from reacting quickly.

However, if the CEO gives direct instructions, that's a different story.

After finishing her call with Mulia, Soma looked helplessly at Jasmine No. 1 on her computer.

His worst fears came true. Mulia gave him no way out, basically telling him to quickly submit an acquisition application, and that if anything went wrong, he would have to take responsibility.

But Soma had no choice; a higher rank can have an absolute advantage.

He had a premonition that he might not be able to avoid this, and now he can only hope that the acquisition will go smoothly.

He opened his email and wrote a formal collaboration request to the Corporate Development Department.

Please note that the Jasmine editor's in-house compiler directly supports .NET and implements C# semantic-level completion on Mac. The recent 2.0 version added Python support. This product has a significant impact on the Windows platform strategy; please evaluate the feasibility of acquisition or other business arrangements.

Then, I signed and attached the technical assessment report provided by Lisa and the detailed analysis of patent infringement by the legal department to the remarks, thinking it would be good to bring in more people to spread the firepower.

Back in the Corporate Development Department, after hanging up with Mullia, Mark Hansen immediately summoned his most reliable manager, Emily Rosen.

"This is a new case, the highest priority. The CEO is personally overseeing it."

"What exactly is it?"

"Specific details will have to wait for the request from below. There's no need to do any specific investigation. Steve Ballmer said this has a significant impact on the Windows platform strategy. You just need to know this one thing."

Emily understood. There wasn't much room for maneuver this time; she just needed to negotiate the price.

"The opposing law firm is Fenwick & West. Ted Wang is not easy to deal with, so you should try to negotiate. The original statement was that they didn't want to be arguing about how much money to spend six months from now, so we can be straightforward."

Emily was speechless: "Then what are we for? Just to be blackmailed? Sigh, I'll send an inquiry first, just in case the price isn't too high."

"Send it today. Be formal but not impatient. Just say that we are very interested in your client's product technology and would like to arrange a meeting. Try the old approach first, and if that doesn't work, we'll spend money to get it done quickly."