American History 1988
Chapter 328 - 318: The Disapproving Majority

Chapter 328: Chapter 318: The Disapproving Majority

Dean had only stayed in Virginia for a few days before heading back to California, despite the ongoing debates at AOL over the monthly subscription model.

However, the opposition’s voice was lessening, and Dean expected them to compromise as Microsoft’s launch of its online service neared.

This is how it goes with the board of directors of a public company; if the business is doing well, they are very resistant to change.

Byte Company was the same; when it was time to establish the Consumer Division, the major shareholders were all hesitant.

But such is the game; a board’s existence, although sometimes limiting the power of leaders,

can also help a company through tough times at certain moments.

Of course, whether it is Dean or Steve,

their opinions are to some extent the opinions of the board.

Another thing that surprised Dean was that AOL’s board had agreed to distribute the next version of the Explorer browser.

Because they believed it would increase the users’ online time, before opting for the monthly subscription.

The longer the users stayed online, the more revenue AOL would make.

But here was the catch: Steve was somewhat okay with the subscription model but had some aversions to the browser.

And the opinions of the other board members were precisely the opposite of his.

It wasn’t until Dean promised to also give AOL a portion of the professional version of the Explorer browser to distribute that the matter was finally settled.

As a paid version of the browser, AOL could take a certain percentage from it.

After all, its service target was not only home users; as the scale expanded, the proportion of corporate users had also climbed.

This was a mutually beneficial cooperation where both parties got what they wanted.

Dean’s goal was achieved, but as one of AOL’s shareholders,

he still recommended subscription billing, although the board was still inclined towards a larger scale carpet-bombing marketing approach.

Next, it was up to Steve Case to decide; his opinion would represent AOL’s final choice.

And here in Virginia, a new reform was brewing.

Meanwhile, all the way on the West Coast, in Seattle, there was also a stir.

...

"How are the market analysis results?" Gates, seated at the head of the conference room, started the meeting with his usual directness.

As the largest software company of the 20th century, in the personal computer field,

Microsoft had always maintained a keen sense of the commercial value of innovative technologies.

Of course, to some extent, this was also a continuation of Gates’s personal insight.

The entire Microsoft management, under his influence, firmly believed one thing:

Part of Microsoft’s success was due to its ability to conduct systematic research on the actions of many other companies before devising its strategic plans.

Any profitable venture in the IT industry would attract the attention of this giant beast.

Bit, Intuit, and even the more historical Micrpro, Lotus, Sun, and Novell, without exception.

Now their attention was on the ISP field, especially AOL.

Because the latter’s market value had almost tripled within a single year.

Not just Wall Street, any company within the industry wouldn’t ignore AOL.

With Microsoft already planning to enter this market and with AOL’s success as a precursor, Gates begun to take a personal interest in the project.

But with so many projects underway within Microsoft, he could only try to save time; hence he always went straight to the point in every meeting.

Otherwise, just the dense schedule of meetings would inundate all of his free time.

Currently, Ross Higerman was in charge of this project, and his study subject was AOL.

"According to statistics from research institutions and our market predictions,

ISP services have the potential to be no less popular than personal computing; it’s being popularized.

The ever-increasing demand for internet connections proves this, but it is a gradual process."

Ross Higerman judged that proprietary networks aimed at home users would become the mainstream market in the future.

But this would take time since the majority of internet-connected computers were still in businesses.

"How is the development of our MSN proceeding?" Gates was more concerned with Microsoft’s own pace.

"It’s anticipated to launch alongside the next version of Windows; we’ve designed a wealth of information content for it."

Yes, as stated above, Microsoft was studying AOL.

They believed that AOL’s success was mainly due to its rich online content.

Otherwise, why would AOL become the leader among the dozens of ISPs in the market?

Even CompuServe served as a good negative example; it used to be a pioneer in the industry.

But because CompuServe was complacent and did not update its online content in time, AOL managed to snatch the lead.

Based on such considerations, Microsoft was now preparing to build a more abundant and scientifically structured content client.

This thinking made sense at the time, but they all overlooked the rapid changes happening on the internet.

New things were constantly emerging, and what used to be a panacea might not suit future ailments.

Of course, no one saw this at the time, and Gates didn’t think Ross Higerman was wrong either.

However, upon hearing that the full version of MSN would have to wait for the next release of Windows, he felt slightly dissatisfied.

"AOL is conquering territories, and the demand for the internet is growing by the day. What about our dial-up software?"

"It’s expected to be ready for a trial run next month," Ross Higerman replied promptly.

Microsoft’s online service strategy was divided into two steps: one was to design a content client superior to AOL’s.

Another step was to bring a pure dial-up software to the market before the complete version of MSN was launched.

This dial-up software was also called MSN, but it had an additional suffix—"Dial-up," meaning "dial-up".

Similar to operators like UUNET, it only provided dial-up service and no content service.

Microsoft was in such a hurry, of course, to compete with AOL for market share.

After all, who wouldn’t be envious of the nearly 20 million internet users?

But Microsoft’s ambitions were bigger; they wanted not only the revenue from dial-up services but also to control the channels through which people access online content.

They were used to monopolizing and used to taking every business to the extreme.

"Promote it as soon as possible, our competitors are getting stronger and stronger." Gates always felt that AOL’s sudden rise was not that simple.

For some reason, he thought of Dean again.

He still remembered that meeting in Virginia, where Dean had started laying out plans for the ISP sector two years ahead of him.

That timing was too advanced, even to the point of making Gates uneasy.

Because today’s ISP market size proved Dean’s foresight.

If AOL’s rise also had something to do with him, then this person might be too frightening.

Vision, strategic layout, he lacked none.

Although Gates was a very proud man, if there was someone he would take very seriously, it would definitely be Dean.

He hoped this was just speculation, still holding onto that last bit of luck in his heart.

"To promote MSN Dial-up service as quickly as possible, we are also prepared to adopt the same strategy as AOL."

Ross Higerman passed over the documents in his hand with a smile; this was not shameful, after all, Microsoft was good at studying its competitors.

"Saturated advertising marketing has been very effective; most of AOL’s customers were acquired in this way.

So we have also contacted a large number of magazines and postal services, ready to stuff MSN’s floppy disks into every household’s mailbox."

"Magazines? Floppy disks?" Suddenly Gates’s heart skipped a beat.

"Yes, it turns out we were the ones who pioneered this method of promotion.

The success of Windows 3.0 in a very short time was inseparable from the promotion of physical disks."

Damn it! Gates’s face suddenly turned sour.

If he remembered correctly, this kind of physical disk advertising was not initiated by Microsoft.

They had taken someone else’s idea and had taken a step ahead.

As for who was robbed at that time? Gates’s gaze turned southward to Silicon Valley.

Now AOL has further glorified it, even to a more extreme extent.

Is all this just a coincidence? What was he just thinking about? That’s right, Dean is an AOL shareholder...

"Ross," Gates’s expression was no longer relaxed, "We need to launch the MSN Dial-up plan ahead of schedule, within two weeks!"

"What?" Ross Higerman was stunned; he was completely unprepared.

"If we’re any slower, it’ll be too late; our rivals are not just AOL!"

Gates had learned a lesson from his past dealings with Dean; the incident with Intuit had taught him a profound lesson.

After that, Gates understood not to proceed at the previous pace when competing directly with Dean.

Because of the opponent’s series of swift tactics, they wouldn’t give you time to react.

Microsoft’s move into the ISP sector had recently become no secret since they had to promote it in advance.

If he was not wrong, both Dean and AOL should already be aware of this news.

Then...

The more Gates thought about it, the more he felt that MSN would not go as smoothly as expected.

"Ross, from now on, keep a close watch on AOL’s movements. I have a premonition they’re going to make a big move soon."

"I’ll personally keep an eye on it," Ross Higerman took Gates’s seriousness to heart and put away his previous nonchalance.

"Alright gentlemen, let’s also talk about the next generation of Windows, which is Windows 95 development,

And the Windows NT Workstation, which is currently the strategic core of Microsoft.

Oh yes, and now we need to add MSN to that list; they are the future of the IT industry."

Gates had decided to raise the priority of MSN to the same level as Windows 95 and NT Workstation.

The latter two had been in Microsoft’s plans for a long time, especially Windows 95, which started its development plan in 1992.

It was originally planned to be released this year, which is 1994, but the progress kept getting delayed.

Now, with Gates in command, Windows 95 must be released next year; it’s Microsoft’s top priority.

Then comes Windows NT Workstation, with no choice, as Sun Microsystems’ workstations and servers were selling too well.

Last year alone, these markets contributed 2.2 billion US Dollars in sales to Sun Microsystems.

Who wouldn’t be envious? Even IBM is now showing signs of a resurgence relying on the server market.

So Microsoft’s server competitors are no nobodies; they weigh heavily on Gates’s mind.

As for browsers that are just beginning to emerge, honestly, no company is paying attention to them right now.

Whether it’s Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Oracle, they consider browsers to be just some kind of application software,

Just like other software on the system, and moreover, it’s free.

The majority who dismiss it are always a step behind, but they think their substantial foundations can ignore this lag.

Gates shared this sentiment, but AOL, with Dean’s involvement, was an exception.

It remains to be seen if they can now close the barn door before it’s too late.