eurekapd Chapter 303 A Different Way of Competing
Chapter 303 A Different Way of Competing
Gates' voice came through the phone, slightly distorted by the current, but his tone remained as steady as ever: "I'm in Seattle. Just finished a meeting. Did you see the data from Xingyu?"
"I saw it."
"Four million new cases. Within a week."
"I saw it."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of papers turning over.
"Is Meyer with you?"
Ballmer looked at Meyer. Meyer nodded.
"Yes," Ballmer said.
"Let him share his thoughts."
Ballmer turned up the speakerphone volume a bit. Meyer cleared his throat and took half a step forward, getting closer to the microphone.
"Mr. Gates," he said, "I just reported an idea to Mr. Ballmer: we're not going to fight a functional war with Star Language anymore."
"Tell me the specific arrangements."
"Starry Sky takes a comprehensive approach." Meyer picked up the folder. Although Gates couldn't see it, he still habitually flipped to the first page. "Space, group chat, levels, skins, farm, membership, acceleration cards—they've crammed in every social feature they can think of. Users aren't just chatting there; they're managing a digital identity."
"and then?"
"We'll take a different approach." Meyer flipped to the hand-drawn sketch. "Minimalist. Just instant messaging. Open and use, close when you're done. Faster than StarTalk, more stable than StarTalk, more power-efficient than StarTalk. We won't chase features, we'll only chase the user experience."
There was no sound on the other end of the phone.
Meyer continued, "This way we don't have to follow Xingyu's lead. We don't copy what they release. We just do our own thing well. If users want something fancy, they go to Xingyu. If users want something simple, they come to ICQ. Two markets, no conflict."
There was another five seconds of silence.
Then Gates spoke, his voice a little lower than before: "Meyer, I have a question for you."
"Please speak."
Do you know why Microsoft acquired ICQ?
Meyer opened his mouth. Of course he knew. To avoid being held hostage by Star Language. To have a backup plan. To ensure the security of the Windows ecosystem.
"So that I won't be manipulated," he said.
"Yes," Gates said. "What's 'Star Language'?"
Meyer paused for a moment. "Instant messaging software."
"Think again," Gates said. "What's 'star language'?"
Meyer didn't answer. He looked at Ballmer. Ballmer stared at the telephone, his face expressionless.
"Star Language is a product of Star Technology," Gates answered himself. "What is Star Technology? It's the company that makes the Star Operating System. What is the Star Operating System? It's something that could potentially replace Windows."
The sound of rain was deafening.
Meyer suddenly understood.
"ICQ was never designed to beat Star Language," Gates' voice came through the phone, as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "ICQ was designed to prevent the Star System from completely dominating instant messaging. If Star Language runs like crazy on the Star System but lags terribly on Windows, which user would choose?"
Meyer did not speak.
"They'll switch systems for Star Language," Gates said. "Even if it's just one computer. Then another. And then slowly they'll switch them all. That's Star Technology's strategy—using applications to force a system change."
Meyer's fingers gripped the edge of the folder, the papers making a slight rustling sound.
"So ICQ can't lose," Gates said. "It's not about winning against Xingyu, it's about not letting Xingyu dominate. As long as ICQ has a large user base, Xingyu can't use the excuse that 'it only works well on the Xingchen system' to hold users hostage. They have to do well on Windows too, because users use it on both platforms."
"Well..." Meyer's voice was a little dry, "our minimalist approach..."
"You can go," Gates said.
Meyer was stunned.
"Can we go?" he repeated.
"We can go ahead," Gates said, "but only if ICQ's experience on Windows surpasses that of Xingyu. Not in terms of features, but in terms of the basic user experience. It needs to start up quickly, consume less power, and be highly stable. Even if users have farms, levels, and friends on Xingyu, they'll still open ICQ just because they 'want to chat.'"
He paused.
Does the "pure chat" market you just mentioned exist?
Meyer nodded vigorously, though the person on the other end of the phone couldn't hear him. "It exists. I interviewed twenty people, and they all said they wanted a simple chat tool."
"Then do it," Gates said. "But don't let the simplicity make you complacent. Doing something simple to the extreme is harder than doing something complex."
"I see."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"Ballmer".
"exist."
How many people are currently using ICQ?
"The core team has 43 people," Ballmer said. "Including outsourcing and testing, it's about 80 people."
"Give us another forty spots," Gates said. "Take the engineers from the Windows division who are best at low-level optimization. ICQ needs to crush Xingyu in startup speed and power consumption. I want users to see ICQ winning in every benchmark."
"it is good."
"And another thing," Gates said, "what are your plans for dealing with that new farm that Star Language has just launched?"
Ballmer looked at Meyer. Meyer took a deep breath.
"We shouldn't respond," he said.
There was no sound on the other end of the phone.
“We don’t copy,” Meyer said. “Users who want to play in the farm game go to StarTalk. Users who want to chat come to ICQ. The two don’t conflict. If users use both, that’s even better—they will find that ICQ is better for chatting.”
"Won't they eventually just use only one after a while?"
"Possibly," Meyer admitted, "but even if it's just one, it's still Star Language. We acknowledge that. We don't need to win, we just need to exist. As long as we exist, Star Language won't dare to slack off on Windows."
Silence again.
Then Gates chuckled. It was very soft, almost imperceptible.
"Meyer," he said, "you're smarter than I thought."
Meyer didn't know how to respond.
"Do it this way," Gates said. "Give me a detailed product roadmap next week. Key metrics: startup speed, message latency, power consumption, memory usage. I want to see how you plan to push these numbers to the limit."
"Yes."
The call ended. The red indicator light went out.
The meeting room fell silent again. Ballmer sat in his chair, staring at the phone, without moving.
Meyer stood there, still clutching the folder in his hand. The edges of the folder were slightly deformed from his grip.
"You heard me," Ballmer finally said.
"I heard you."
"Is there anything you'd like to say?"
Meyer was silent for three seconds.
"I've been thinking about one thing wrong all along," he said. "I thought ICQ's mission was to win. Now I know, the mission is to survive."
"Is surviving easier than winning?"
"Living is harder than winning," Meyer said. "Winning only requires relentlessly chasing after something. Living requires knowing who you are, what you can do, and what you can't do. That's much harder."
Ballmer stood up and walked to the window. Raindrops were still sliding down the glass, leaving winding streaks.
"Forty people will be here next week," he said. "We'll give you whatever you need. But a year from now, I want to see ICQ launch faster than Xingyu. Can you do that?"
Meyer watched Ballmer's retreating figure. His back was broad, his shoulders slightly hunched forward, as if he were carrying something.
"Yes," he said.
"Go."
Meyer picked up the folder and turned to walk towards the door. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, Ballmer's voice came from behind him:
"Meyer."
He stopped.
"Four million new users in a week." Ballmer didn't turn around. "This can't happen again."
Meyer was silent for two seconds.
"It won't happen again," he said.
The door opened and then closed again.
Meyer stood there, listening to his own breathing. He glanced down at the folder in his hand—thirty-odd pages, the result of three sleepless days of work.
Now, half of what's written on paper needs to be rewritten.
It's not just about being minimalist. It's about taking minimalism to the extreme. It's about sacrificing features, but not sacrificing competitiveness. It's about not copying Xingyu, but being far superior to Xingyu in terms of core user experience.
It's even harder now.
He recalled Gates' last words: "You're smarter than I thought."
He didn't know if he was truly intelligent. He only knew that he had thought a lot and figured things out over the past few days. Xingyu had won the battle at the farm, a decisive victory. But the war wasn't over; it had simply changed tactics.