American History 1988
Chapter 317 - 307: The Opportunity to Upend

Chapter 317: Chapter 307: The Opportunity to Upend

"Eliminate Mosaic?" Clark looked at Dean, surprised, his mind having trouble catching up.

"Sorry, let me sort this out. Mosaic and Explorer are both free browsers right now.

To get rid of the free Mosaic in advance for our future commercial licensing, I absolutely agree with that.

But given that neither side is charging, how do we achieve it?"

Mosaic and Explorer are actually quite similar in terms of functionality, and they are both free software now.

That is to say, the technical gap between the two is not significant, and there is even less to discuss in terms of differences in sales price.

This causes the competition between the two to have very few tactics available.

Without a technological gap, even a price war is out of the question."

Furthermore, we need to push Mosaic out of the market before releasing the next version."

To be honest, Clark couldn’t think of any effective solutions at the moment.

"Jim, there are many ways to compete, and sometimes we have to consider some unconventional measures."

Dean’s eyes held profound meaning; business competition has always been multifaceted.

To say they would not shy away from any means necessary wasn’t an overstatement; the important thing was who would be the ultimate winner.

Seeing that look in Dean’s eyes, Clark roughly knew that these so-called unconventional means weren’t very honorable.

"So what should we do?" Clark asked briskly.

He had no moral burdens; he was a businessman.

Dean’s reply was just as crisp, pointing at the computer screen on his desk, "We poach them."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "The Mosaic development team?"

"Of course, the timing is perfect.

Just look at this post, and you’ll see that they’re having internal disagreements, even conflicts.

Now, if Netscape extends an olive branch, the effect will be unexpected.

The most important factor is the University of Illinois; if they lose this development team,

then the future development of Mosaic is very likely to come to a halt."

Dean and his team were not ignorant of the Mosaic team behind NCSA; they had already been conducting investigations.

From the intelligence they had gathered, it appeared that Mosaic was currently managed by a team of interns.

NCSA was not personally involved in this project, in other words, the development of Mosaic was in the hands of a bunch of interns.

If Netscape takes action to poach the entire intern team, that would be akin to pulling the rug out from under Mosaic.

Whether Mosaic can be completely paralyzed is uncertain, but at the very least, it would bring significant troubles its way.

As long as Netscape can delay Mosaic’s development progress, elimination is what awaits it in the end.

Because while it stagnates, Explorer will release new versions and continue to update.

Look, the technological gap has appeared, and Netscape’s licensing model will have a foundation to operate on.

Mosaic, with its slow updates and outdated versions, will be mercilessly abandoned by users.

The competition in technology is just that ruthless; only the best can survive

Clark’s gaze flickered uncertainly; he had made up his mind.

"One last question, will the Mosaic development team accept our offer?

Because, as we just saw, their dissatisfaction originated from opposition to NCSA’s plans to charge for Mosaic.

If they find upon arriving in California that Netscape also plans to do the same thing, would they possibly leave in indignation?"

"They’ll agree." Dean was full of confidence. "Because they are just a group of interns without formal contracts.

Mosaic is so popular, they receive thousands of thank-you emails from users every day.

Yet, they’re only paid an hourly wage of less than 7 US Dollars. Even if NCSA is generous enough to offer them a contract,

how much would that be? 50,000 US Dollars? 80,000 US Dollars?"

NCSA is not a commercial entity, and the University of Illinois has a limited budget.

They are doomed not to provide a generous return to the Mosaic team, maybe considering an official job offer as the maximum reward.

To a group of ambitious interns about to enter society, their thoughts on this are obvious.

"Then think about what Netscape can offer them? A substantial guaranteed annual salary and future stock options that can be monetized.

These are things many people dream of and are the trump cards of Silicon Valley when it comes to poaching talent."

Look, the talent option pool that Netscape initially established is now coming into play.

These interns may be naive, but they’re not foolish.

Eventually, they need to step into society and require an attractive employment contract.

Under such circumstances, why not choose the one with better conditions?

Besides, Netscape isn’t planning to charge the regular users, so it doesn’t go against their spirit of internet sharing.

Clark nodded, agreeing with Dean’s analysis, and he was ready to go about this matter right away.

"In the end, it doesn’t really matter if they stay at Netscape," Dean suddenly added.

"Our goal is to get them to leave NCSA and the Mosaic project. Even if they don’t stay with Netscape,

they can’t go back. This still achieves our purpose.

Of course, if the cooperation turns out to be pleasant, that would be ideal."

Netscape doesn’t rely on these few interns; offering them options is more like a defensive acquisition in the game of business competition.

Bringing potential competitors under one’s wing can prevent a lot of trouble later on.

However, when promoting this externally, Netscape obviously should adopt the attitude of sparing no expense in acquiring a prized stallion.

Clark took a deep look at Dean, seeing the once gentle Stanford student becoming increasingly sharp and edgy.

"I’ll handle this myself," he had already decided on a target.

With his status, it was appropriate for him to do so, after all, he still held the title of founder of SGI.

Dean was too big a target, with many watching his every move.

Seeing that Clark seemed ready to act immediately, Dean had to interrupt him first.

"Before we start, let’s talk about another deal first."

"Hmm?" Clark’s movements paused, "Another deal?"

"Yes, I want you to help me find some talent proficient in system architecture."

Byte’s employees, including Dean himself, were more skilled in software design.

But when it came to underlying system architecture, that wasn’t his strength, and he didn’t have connections in that area.

Although Silicon Valley had many IT talents, those truly proficient in system development were few and far between.

It required a long-term accumulation of experience, something that couldn’t be achieved in just a year or two.

If you recruit like usual, offering high salaries or stock options, you might end up with nothing.

You need to know where to find such people, then meet with them personally, and finally you might be able to persuade them.

Those top technicians, almost all of them from the earliest batch of geeks, were quirky, and might just turn their noses up at someone like Dean, a super-rich tycoon.

So, for various reasons, Dean needed to seek external help.

Obviously, Jim Clark was suitable, he knew where to find such people.

Moreover, as a technologist himself, Clark actually had quite a reputation in Silicon Valley.

When attracting real talent, his presence was much more effective than Dean’s.

Just like with Netscape now, most of the technical staff had been personally interviewed by Clark.

After hearing Dean’s request, Clark looked bemused.

"Talents in system architecture? Dean, you wouldn’t be thinking about taking on Microsoft, would you?"

"Of course not," Dean shrugged, "I’m looking for senior technical personnel proficient in Unix and other open-source systems."

"Unix systems?"

"Yes, more specifically, those oriented towards network services and well-acquainted with the hypertext markup language."

"What exactly are you trying to do, Dean?" Clark was confused.

Proficient in the open-source system Unix, and also familiar with hypertext markup libraries, was this some new software initiative?

"Alright, simply put, I want to make a Web server," Dean explained straightforwardly with his hands spread out.

"Wait, Web server?" Clark was puzzled, he had never heard of such a thing.

"Just like its name, this kind of server is specifically meant to serve web pages created with hypertext markup language."

After this, Dean explained to Clark what he had encountered on Price’s List.

"Imagine how big the future internet market could be? Just the number of web pages this year alone has increased by more than a hundredfold.

It will only increase further, and our browser has fully demonstrated this point.

I’m almost certain that in the future every company will need to create and maintain their own website.

Most importantly, there will be many companies whose core business is centered around their website, like Price’s List.

They will definitely need such Web servers, and not just a few."

"Oh~God!" Cluster was struck by this idea; he now fully understood Dean’s intent.

"So Netscape is well-suited for this business, we can not only provide corporations with browser plugins.

But also include Web servers that support the operation of web pages; our technicians know how to adapt them.

It’s like Microsoft developing applications on their own system, the Web server is a new system, and the browser is its application software!

Shit! An internet domain system platform! It’s like the relationship between Microsoft and current computers!"

"Exactly!" Dean was glad that his idea was understood.

Clark stood up abruptly, then paced around the office.

He was filtering through a list of names in his mind, who was the best candidate to develop this Web server?

And how should he persuade them? These people were currently in the top companies in the industry.

Like Sun Microsystems, MITS, Novell, IBM, and so on...

"That’s right, just having server software is not enough, we also need the cooperation of hardware companies."

"That’s precisely why I came to you," Dean shrugged.

Microsoft’s Windows needed pre-installation by computer manufacturers, and the Web server would be no different.

"I think I know who to look for," Clark suddenly stopped, then quickly grabbed his coat, ready to leave.

"Hey~" Dean called out to him, "Don’t forget about Mosaic; that’s Netscape’s most urgent priority right now."

"Alright, I’ll take care of it now."

Clark turned back, put down his coat, and sat in front of the computer, clattering away at the keyboard.

Every cell in his body was trembling, all screaming for this new idea.

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