American History 1988
Chapter 196 - 190 Regret

Chapter 196: Chapter 190 Regret

"Boss, our booth is over here."

Under the leadership of Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Trebik, Dean and his team quickly arrived at the Byte Company’s booth.

As the title sponsor of the computer festival, Byte Company’s booth was located at the most conspicuous spot right at the entrance.

The area was unobstructed on both sides and spacious. Entering from the aisle, one’s first sight would be drawn to the technologically inspired exhibit.

The large letters "B" and "T" were already proclaiming its identity, while the white spotlights made the entire booth unusually bright.

The background wall featured Teams promotional slogans and advertising images, which, in pursuit of quality, were modularly embedded in the wall.

In addition to these, several computers were set up at the booth for visitors to experience the Teams software.

By the time Dean and his group arrived, the area was already crowded with people.

After all, right at the entrance, the audience, just entering and full of energy, would usually stop here to watch.

The biggest difference between Teams 3.0 and 2.0 was the qualitative improvement in the human-computer interaction interface.

The previous versions, due to system limitations, were dominated by text in the software interface and lacked clarity.

Of course, this was the style of most software, as no one could escape the shackles of technology.

The Windows 3.0 system, however, was based on a windowed design and supported 16-color icon displays.

For Teams, this was almost like redesigning the underlying code, which is why it took the technical team almost half a year to complete.

But Dean was very satisfied with the final result; now, using Teams was much simpler than before.

With the mouse supporting more commands, what used to require a keyboard could now be done with just a few clicks of the fingers.

Clicking, double-clicking, dragging—it had already developed the rudiments of a "what you see is what you get" experience.

Moreover, in addition to more streamlined operations, the latest version of Teams was now compatible with office software.

Previous Teams could send documents or spreadsheets but couldn’t open them compatibly, as Byte Company had not obtained authorization from Microsoft.

But with the latest version, both parties completed mutual authorization; now, when users received electronic documents, there was no need to copy them out separately to open them.

Users simply had to lightly touch the file in the chat box, and it would automatically open compatibly, undoubtedly making office operations more convenient.

These updated features might not seem obvious, but the enhancements they brought to the experience were very apparent.

The colorful interactive interfaces and more streamlined operations amazed the onlooking crowd.

"Dean, I think I’ve already learned how to use them," Jennifer Connelly said, eager to try as she clung to Dean’s arm.

She had just seen that by selecting a contact and then clicking on that phone button, she could make a call.

Look, just two steps, and it was even simpler than making a phone call.

"If you like, feel free to give it a try." Dean had also brought her along for a few rounds at today’s computer festival.

After all, Jennifer Connelly had no film engagements recently, so it was nice to come out and relax a bit.

But before she could touch the keyboard, some eagle-eyed reporters at the base of the booth had noticed her.

"Hey~, is that you, Miss Jennifer Connelly?!" The young man in a baseball cap didn’t hesitate to take a photo with his camera.

"Hello," Jennifer Connelly returned to Dean’s side and greeted him with a smile.

Click, click, "Wow~," the baseball cap young man exclaimed in his heart, capturing a great piece of news while continuously taking photos.

Flashes from the camera attracted the crowd’s attention, and that’s when everyone realized that there was a girl-next-door Hollywood star standing at the booth.

"Miss Connolly, I’m Kevin, a reporter from ’Electronic Masses’. Are you interested in computers as well?" Another reporter crowded in.

"Actually, I don’t understand much about computers, but Dean does," Jennifer smiled as she faced the cameras, long accustomed to dealing with reporters at any time.

"What’s your relationship with Mr. Price? Everyone’s saying that you two are dating," the reporters in attendance were less interested in the exhibition and more in gossip about their relationship.

"Just as you see, Dean and I are good friends, and today I’m acting as his companion," Jennifer replied, unconcerned about the cameras as she gracefully looped her arm through Dean’s.

If it weren’t for her agent’s advice and considerations for her mother Irin, Jennifer might have announced her relationship with Dean directly to the reporters.

In Hollywood, dating was a matter of personal freedom, but Jennifer was still too young, and her mother Irin would surely oppose her decision.

Of course, Dean also wasn’t in a hurry to consider these matters, so to outsiders, their relationship had an ambiguous feel.

However, to the tech geeks gathered here, it was as good as an open declaration.

"Dean, do you like Jennifer Connelly?" asked a reporter who enjoyed stirring up excitement.

"Oh~!" Before Dean could respond, a cheer erupted from the crowd.

Jennifer Connelly smiled and looked him over as the tech geeks below cheered and chanted.

Amidst the shine of flashlights, Dean shrugged with a smile, "Of course, no one can resist Jennifer Connelly."

"Yeah!" The crowd cheered and applauded.

Jennifer Connelly happily gave him a hug.

"Kiss!" "Kiss!" "Kiss!"...

The clamor didn’t stop there as her action made the crowd even more raucous.

"Come on, don’t you guys care about Byte Company’s Teams software at all?"

The response Dean received was still the same rowdy chorus.

Phew~ A fragrant breeze wafted by. Before Dean could react, Jennifer Connelly had already wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Oh~!" Seeing the two kiss, a tremendous cheer erupted from the exhibition hall.

The crowd at the Byte Company booth grew larger and even began to block the entrance.

To prevent the flow of people at the convention from coming to a standstill, Dean said a few words on the stage before stepping down with Jennifer Connelly.

"Dean, I didn’t expect there would be so many people here," Jennifer Connelly was still immersed in the excitement of the moment.

"Aside from Hollywood movies, people actually have a wide range of interests," Dean was ready to take her for a casual stroll.

Apart from the big clients, other dealers would be received by Jimmy and Joe.

However, before Dean could walk away, an unexpected guest came over.

"Dean, your speech just now was excellent, and so is Teams."

Bill Gates, with his harmless smile, approached Dean and then turned to Jennifer Connelly with another smile.

"Miss Connolly, thank you for attending the West Coast Computer Festival. You are the biggest surprise of the event today."

"Thank you," Jennifer Connelly smiled and greeted him, then looking at the two of them said, "Then I won’t disturb you any further."

"I’ll catch up with you later."

"Feel free~"

Watching her departing figure, Bill Gates shrugged, "I must admit, I’m a bit jealous of you."

"Come on, if you said you were jealous of my charm, I might believe it. But this..."

Dean glanced at Jennifer Connelly’s retreating figure, "is definitely not the reason for your jealousy."

With Bill Gates’ net worth, there aren’t many Hollywood ladies who would reject him. And Dean was certain that he wasn’t even interested in that.

"Dean, you and I are alike," Gates said with a smile as he extended his hand.

"I’ll take that as a compliment," Dean also smiled and extended his hand.

Smack, Bill Gates and Dean Price completed their first meeting.

"Congratulations, your Teams software has been a success!" Gates said in a relaxed tone as he looked at the Byte Company’s booth.

"And congratulations to you as well, Windows 3.0 has sold 3 million copies."

Dean knew that starting today, Microsoft was about to dominate the operating system market for decades.

Before the 3.0 system, Microsoft hadn’t had software that achieved such widespread market recognition.

But today they had, so it was clear that Gates was in a particularly good mood.

With Microsoft’s most important strategic layout completed, Gates wasn’t even bothered anymore by Byte Company snatching away a sponsorship slot from him.

"The success of the 3.0 system is also thanks to software companies like Byte supporting its application software development."

"Of course, we also received great support from the Microsoft technical team for the 3.0 version of Teams," Dean added.

The praises they exchanged were not mere pleasantries but facts, as both sides indeed had close development cooperation.

To promote its own Windows 3.0, Microsoft had formed a technical team specifically, Windows NT.

The task of this team was to assist other software developers in creating corresponding application software for the 3.0 system.

Such as licensing agreements between application and technical layers, compatibility issues in software development.

When Byte Company was developing the latest version of Teams, it called Microsoft more than once to inquire about underlying code issues.

The latter not only provided detailed answers but even sent specialized technical staff to Byte Company to assist in the development of the new version of Teams.

The reason for doing this was that Microsoft needed to foster its own system ecosystem, and Byte Company wanted to sell more software based on their system.

To foster the system ecosystem, Microsoft would even provide funding from the Windows NT department to smaller software developers.

It could be in the form of technical support or cash subsidies.

In the early stages of system promotion, Microsoft also invested its own money.

And as a well-known software company, Byte Company was an important software developer that Microsoft needed to maintain.

Thus, it sent technical staff to offer on-site service, and the two companies went through a period of honeymoon.

Now when Bill Gates spoke of their close cooperation, he wasn’t wrong.

"I heard that Byte Company is preparing for an IPO?" The whispers from Silicon Valley had traveled to Gates in Seattle.

"Expected next year, we’re doing our very best," Silicon Valley had no secrets, so Dean didn’t deny anything.

"If you need help, Microsoft is more than willing," Gates offered, taking out a business card.

"I’ll consider it," Dean also took out his business card in exchange.

"You’re welcome to visit the Microsoft booth later."

"I was planning on it."

The two shook hands amiably and parted the same way they had met.

In the moment he turned away, Gates felt a twinge of regret; he should have been firmer that time.

The offer of one hundred million dollars wasn’t taken seriously enough, and now he regretted it.

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