Chapter 702: Chapter 696: Inte Tycoons Have Gone Crazy


    However, for others to crack it now would be quite difficult, as you first have to prate the opponent’s encryption routine. Any program attempting to decode it only finds itself met with nonsense, rendering the task almost impossible. How is anything supposed to get done then? Isn’t there any way around it?


    Inparison to the challenges faced by the tech department, the board meeting at XTreme was overwhelmingly gloomy, so much so that even Gates, who has seldom been present at XTreme, was invited back.


    “I’d like us all to discuss this: if we don’t ovee this obstacle, it will likely be the biggest crisis in XTreme’s history,” said John Thompson, the chairman of the board and CEO of XTreme. He was once a middle-aged man in the boardroom of Symantec, the world’srgest securitypany.


    Upon hearing John’s question, most of the eyes in the 11-member board meeting at XTreme instinctively focused on Bill Gates, the founder of XTreme. Gates paused for a moment before giving a bitter smile, “I know everyone might be hoping that I coulde up with a solution. But, to be blunt, our operating system simply cannotpare to theirs. But that’s not even the worst part.”


    With Gates’ words, everyone was stunned. All eyes reflexively turned to him, and some faces became extremely serious. If this wasn’t the worst part, what could be worse?


    After scanning the entire board, Gates hesitantly said, “You all know about the project we at XTreme once aimed to achieve, right?”N?v(el)B\\jnn


    “Mr. Gates, are you referring to the WSD family system?” As John Thompson is responsible for the day-to-day work of XTreme, he was immediately aware. All others also understood after Thompson’s remark. The so-called WSD family system refers to the integration of the WSD system once attempted by XTreme.


    This includes the WSD operating system for personal PCputers, followed by the mobile operating system WP that XTreme had prepared for Nokia. Also, the automotive operating system XTreme had worked on coboration with numerous car manufacturers, such as Alpha Martin. With XTreme’s ambition, its system would prate every aspect of people’s lives.


    This is what Bill Gates had nned to do, but what did he mean by his statement? “Bill, what are you suggesting?” Another director could not help but ask.


    “Yes, you’re right, and exactly what I mean. The Eve system from Virtual World Corporation has achieved what we can’t. They can be installed on any existing hardware system. Most notably, their operating system utilizes highly intelligent and efficient usage of the existing hardware, making their system impervious to any obstruction, including barriers from our system,” said Gates with a sigh.<div>


    “But haven’t we applied for many patents on WSD? Aren’t there many patents that can’t be bypassed?” Another director chimed in. Patents are XTreme’s most potent weapon. Companies like ‘A’ and ‘G’ couldn’t have been constrained so profusely, and even our longtime rival Oracle couldn’t have been so circumscribed, if not for patents.


    Thesepanies had all tried to challenge XTreme’s position, but none seeded, all due to patents.


    “You’re correct. But you’re overlooking one thing,” Gates gently shook his head and responded.


    “What thing?” The director asked with some curiosity.


    “It’s simple. So far, they haven’t charged for anything. What if they just make it avable for download online for free?” Gates responded calmly. Patents are indeed powerful, but you can stop thosemercially operatingpanies because they aim for profit. If they vite the patentw, you can sue them for their earnings.


    But what if they don’t profit at all, especially when they haven’t established anypany in the North Federation or the Southern Federation. How could you possibly sue them? In the me Nation? Don’t be ridiculous. Even if they were based in the North Federation, any rted litigation could easily drag on for two or three years. But do you think XTreme could withstand such impacts for three years?


    After hearing Gates’ argument, everyone was stunned. Someone instinctively replied: “That can’t be possible, right? The increasing number of installed users would cause their server load to rise, which means they could lose a lot of money, no?”


    After he finished speaking, many people in the meeting room looked at him strangely, causing him to quickly realize his oversight and feel awkward. who owns Virtual World? Finn Lewis. How much money does Finn Lewis have?


    No one can clearly state how much money Finn Lewis has, but defiantly, it’s a tremendously terrifying number. Someone once estimated that Finn could directly challenge the North Federation’s official financial market with his wealth. Therefore, funds couldn’t possibly limit them.


    “It seems we need to mobilize our allies now,” Thompson surveyed the meeting room and said reluctantly.


    Gates didn’t speak, but he shook his head slightly. XTreme had many allies, but these allies couldn’t help at present. The reason was simple. In the past, these allies relied on XTreme’s substantial installed user base to survive, like those hardware manufacturers. They chose to serve the XTreme user base, which upied more than 90% of the market share. If they were to support the hardware of a niche system, their ownpany would go bust.


    Therefore, they could be XTreme’s allies, but now what? The Eve system could not care less about what hardware you have – it is indiscriminatelypatible with any hardware you produce without limiting your specifications. Gates understood better than anyone what this meant to hardware manufacturers.


    Because these hardware manufacturers used to serve XTreme, they were also constrained by the WSD system, as it only supported a limited number of hardware models. So these hardware manufacturers were forced topete in that limited space. However, the Eve system is different as its powerfulpatibility signifies that hardware manufacturers have free rein.


    This grants them great convenience to improve their hardware performance. A simplest example is AMD and WT, both CPU manufacturers thatpete with each other. Although their manufacturing processes are different, they both design CPU architectures within the scope of what the WSD can support.