American History 1988
Chapter 182 - 176 The Answer to the Riddle

Chapter 182: Chapter 176 The Answer to the Riddle

"Jenny, tell me how you maintain your skin? It’s smoother than milk."

"Hehe~" Jennifer laughed, hugging her shoulders as Duane’s lips tickled her, leaving no room to dodge.

"This is God’s masterpiece," Duane wished he could crush her into his arms. Just feel this texture—genuine collagen.

"Duane, don’t you have to go to the company?" A bare Jennifer Connolly found a comfortable position in his embrace, feeling languid.

"Actually, I don’t need to go every day," Duane said, rubbing his nose in her dark hair, "the people at the company will handle everything."

"So this is the CEO’s privilege, huh?" Jennifer Connolly’s ear caught the powerful thumping of his heartbeat, it had accompanied her through the night, and she was fascinated by it.

"You’re not wrong to think that," Duane lingered over her curvaceous figure, "the company is like a machine—it has its own momentum.

A helmsman only needs to adjust its direction now and then, and this ship can sail forever."

"So, you’re that helmsman?" Jennifer Connolly’s voice grew hurried as Duane returned to familiar territory.

"I’m the captain!" Dean rolled over, his "sword" at the ready!

"Duane, don’t you want to rest a bit?" Jennifer Connolly was only 20, at her most tender age.

It had been an entire night, and her stamina was limited.

"My dear," Duane drew closer slowly, "you are a gift from God to me, of that I am absolutely certain!"

Feeling his heat, Jennifer Connolly unconsciously twined her fingers in his hair.

"Duane, let’s be happy one more time."

"That’s exactly what I intend to do," Duane threw back the covers, beginning the long overdue exercise.

Well then, Jennifer Connolly’s first night in California, she didn’t choose another room on the second floor at all.

Duane’s master bedroom was her final destination, where the natural attraction between a young man and woman had taken its course.

What pleased Jennifer Connolly most was that there were no traces of any other woman having lived with Duane.

She became the first lady of the house, and in just one night filled the vanity in the bathroom with a variety of cosmetics.

The feeling was wonderful, and the same was true for Duane.

Of all the women he had been with, Jennifer Connolly had a figure that fascinated him the most.

Duane’s hands couldn’t grasp it all; there were always glimpses peeking through his fingers.

As he had said, this was God’s masterpiece.

A delicate face, a devilish figure; Duane was willing to stay home from work for a few days.

...

"Boss, if we include a floppy disk with each issue of ’PC World,’ it will be a huge expense."

Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Trebik almost gasped when he heard Duane’s plan.

Following the settlement with Bell, Byte Company was also planning a larger expansion.

Without external pressure and with sales surging for two consecutive months, Byte Company now had the confidence to invest more in advertising.

Duane’s plan was to include a floppy disk with each issue of ’PC World’ magazine, copying the 2.1 version of Teams software on it.

With voice encoding technology now unrestricted, the high-definition and standard-definition voice call modes were officially online.

After frame rate adjustments, the low-definition mode significantly reduced bandwidth usage, making the Teams software runnable on ordinary home computers without stress.

With the NSF network’s privatization quietly spreading, Duane felt it was time to probe the market outside corporate users.

However, the software version attached to the magazine was a trial. Anyone who purchased ’PC World’ would experience the deluxe version of Teams 2.1 for two weeks for free.

Of course, there was a condition, which was that your computer must be connected to the NSF network, as software activation required internet access.

Jimmy Trebik was surprised because ’PC World’ magazine maintained sales of roughly 700,000 to 800,000 copies per issue.

Not accounting for the advertising fees, just the cost price of $2 per floppy disk would make this expense rise to 1.5 million US Dollars.

"Although Teams software was initially developed for enterprise users, according to our survey, 20% of the sales are contributed by individual consumers.

They might just be tech enthusiasts or extremely small individual users, but this undoubtedly shows Teams software is attractive to the ordinary consumer as well."

It was early September, and according to the latest financial report compiled by Byte Company, approximately 600,000 copies of Teams software had been sold.

Twenty percent of this revenue far exceeded 1.5 million US Dollars, and even if this magazine advertisement brought no increase in sales, Byte Company could completely afford this loss.

Of course, such a scenario was very unlikely to occur, and to facilitate individual usage of Teams, Byte Company had also purchased two sets of servers.

They were specifically to support the needs of ordinary users running the Teams software, a small trial by Byte Company.

"Besides ’PC World,’ the California Computer Festival is our real target.

There will be a large number of computer-related businesses exhibiting there, and dealers from around the world coming specifically for it.

As long as a company or dealer registers information at Byte Company’s booth, we will provide the Teams software for free trial."

If "PC World" magazine was Byte Company’s tentative foray, then the West Coast Computer Festival was the Black Friday for Teams software.

At that time, Byte Company would not only offer the Teams software 3.0 beta version based on the Windows 3.0 system.

But also provide a one to three months of free trial service of the Teams deluxe version for all the companies that leave their contact information.

As long as your company is located in a state where Byte Company has a branch, we will also provide on-site installation services.

Office software like Teams can initiate an annual subscription model, and once users develop the habit of using it, there is a high probability that they will become potential customers.

Even if the final conversion rate is only 10% to 20%, the deal is still profitable.

So Duane saw this very clearly and did not hesitate to invest a lot of human and material resources into it.

Jimmy Trebik noted down Duane’s strategy one by one, "Boss, I promise that during the time you’re away, Byte Company’s expansion will definitely achieve the expected targets."

"Good, I trust you guys." Duane now, apart from major decisions, entrusted all other day-to-day affairs to the company’s executives.

These decision-makers, with the word "Chief" in front of their titles, all held shares from Byte Company’s stock option pool.

So there is no doubt about their capabilities. In terms of company management, they are much more professional than Duane - that’s the role of a professional manager.

"By the way, Boss, 3Com is asking when you’re available?

Their 3+Sound series sound cards have been developed and are expected to be released soon.

Mr. Metcalfe hopes you can attend the launch of this sound card. He said that the successful development of the 3+Sound sound cards could not ignore the significant contribution of Byte Company."

After hearing Jimmy’s report, Duane remembered that Byte Company had a collaboration with 3Com.

Initially, to promote the then obscure Byte Company, Duane warmly accepted the collaboration invitation from 3Com.

Whenever there was a media appearance opportunity, Duane would eagerly go to take part in photo-ops, all for rubbing off some of 3Com’s popularity.

Now, with the sound card release imminent, Duane’s status has changed, becoming the top new entrepreneurial star on the West Coast.

Thus, what goes around comes around - 3Com was preparing to leverage Duane’s fame.

However, Duane could not refuse this. It was part of the game rules and also part of doing business.

"Ask 3Com to send over a batch of sound cards, Byte Company will test them for a while.

Also, tell Mr. Metcalfe that I will attend their launch event."

Being a computer geek himself, Duane planned to first evaluate the product strength of 3Com’s sound cards to avoid any pitfalls.

"Ok, I’ll take care of it right away." Jimmy turned and left.

"By the way, Jimmy, have the CFO Ross come by later, I want to get next quarter’s financial budget approved ahead of time."

"Got it, Boss." Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Trebik bowed and left the office.

Byte Company was in the midst of rapid growth, with everyone too busy to touch the ground, and it was normal for these decision-makers like Jimmy to work overtime until late at night.

But no one complained, because the monthly sales volume of Teams stimulated everyone to keep moving forward.

As long as this trend continued, Byte Company’s listing was almost a certainty.

Well, the IPO was actually what really motivated everyone to work hard.

It was a grand celebration, a celebration that would make everyone wealthy.

No matter what position you held at Byte Company, you would have a rich reward.

Duane was also looking forward to this moment, but before that, he had other things to do.

Taking advantage of a brief respite, Duane went to the office’s Venetian blinds and spread his fingers to take a look at the street corner across the way.

There, Jennifer Connolly, dressed in a casual shirt, was sitting by the window having coffee.

It seemed that she noticed the gaze from this direction and flashed Duane a brilliant smile.

Duane smiled back and gestured to her to wait another ten minutes.

Since Jennifer Connolly’s arrival in California, they had been intimately spending time together for a week.

During this period, Duane’s phone rang almost every other day with calls from Duane of Southern Bell, but Duane just couldn’t bear to part with these wonderful moments.

It wasn’t until the first weekend of September that Duane planned to set off for Virginia.

This was about Byte Company’s second deal with Southern Bell, no, rather Duane’s deal with Southern Bell.

The reason their litigation could settle was certainly not thanks to the 500,000 US Dollars.

To sway Southern Bell, just as Duane had previously swayed MCI, there had to be a sufficiently enticing reason.

Byte Company, AT&T, Southern Bell, MCI... Alright, it’s time for this complex intrigue to reveal its mystery.

But before heading to Virginia, Duane planned to take the opportunity to drop off Jennifer Connolly at her home in New York.

Because she was due at the Toronto International Film Festival the following week; otherwise, Duane wouldn’t let her leave so early.

After ten minutes, having finished dealing with the affairs at Byte Company, Duane was ready to start his journey to the East Coast.

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