American History 1988
Chapter 401 - 390: Prank

Chapter 401: Chapter 390: Prank

The outside world’s hustle and bustle did not affect the fierce competition between Netscape and Microsoft.

To win the favor of new users, both had been adding new features to their browsers in a game of catch-up.

At the beginning of August, Microsoft had deployed thousands of personnel, and the much-anticipated Navigator 3.0 version was finally released.

It was regarded by Microsoft as its flagship product, and in terms of performance, the 3.0 version was already quite excellent.

Although it was still slightly inferior to Explorer 4.0, the gap was not significant, and Microsoft was about to catch up with Netscape’s pace.

After all, Seattle had nearly 30,000 employees and close to a billion US dollars in funds to splurge, so it was understandable that their iteration speed was a bit faster.

Even to make up for the insufficiency of plugins in their own app store, Microsoft’s engineers personally filled these gaps.

They imitated Netscape’s browser app store, developed a large number of official plugins, and most of them were free.

It must be said that to attract users, Microsoft was almost investing without regard to cost.

While Netscape was also considered a big company in Silicon Valley, employing over four thousand employees,

It was clear that they couldn’t possibly focus all their energy on browser development. With the scale of both parties’ investments, it was only a matter of time before Microsoft caught up.

Gates was very clear about this, plus, with computer manufacturers kicking Netscape out of the game, victory for Microsoft was almost within sight.

What was left was just a matter of time, so on the night Navigator 3.0 was released, Gates invited thousands of employees from Redmond to throw a huge party.

They were celebrating victory; although Netscape was still leading Microsoft in the market, the situation would soon change.

In their competition with Northern California, the engineers from Redmond had been nearly beaten up by their Netscape counterparts for a whole year.

They desperately needed a victory and desperately needed to vent.

Apparently, the alcohol and revelry at the party were not enough to satisfy the needs of the Microsoft employees.

So, these somewhat tipsy engineers huddled together after the party, whispered a few words, and decided to pull off a big stunt.

They drove a pickup truck to the grass outside the browser department, where they fiddled around for a while and then set off overnight for Silicon Valley, hundreds of miles away.

Finally, around one in the morning, they arrived at the quiet Mountain View.

Glancing at the silent Netscape building amidst the dim night, it seemed there was not a soul in sight.

The spirited engineers exchanged glances, feeling an indescribable excitement surging from their chests.

They looked around guiltily like thieves, ensuring there were no security personnel in sight before rushing towards the back of the pickup truck.

With grunts and groans, a few people struggled to carry a heavy object onto Netscape’s lawn in the dark of night.

"Guys, get it standing up."

They gritted their teeth and laboriously moved something bit by bit.

Just when they felt their lungs were about to burst, with a thud, the big fellow finally stood up.

"Ha ha, they’re going to be shocked tomorrow morning!"

"Let’s get out of here, this isn’t our turf."

"Wait a second, let me leave them a message."

A shadow folded back and fished out a paper from their person.

Using the faint light from a streetlamp, they scribbled for a bit and affixed it to the giant object in front of them.

"Go! Let’s head back and keep the party going!"

With a burst of boisterous laughter, the group re-boarded the pickup, started the engine, and left with a flourish.

They were looking forward to the scene the next morning when people would discover it, just in time for the start of the workday.

And among the passersby, if there happened to be media reporters, that would be even better.

However, they didn’t need to wait until the next morning. At dawn, there were still people working overtime at Netscape.

The intense competition with Microsoft had led some developers to often work late into the night.

Naturally, as they left the company, someone discovered it.

So, as dawn was just breaking, Clark hurried to the entrance of the Netscape building.

"Shit! Why is it here?" Clark’s entire face crumpled into a frown.

In front of him on the lawn stood a gigantic metal ship’s helm logo.

It was the symbol of Microsoft’s Navigator browser, and it had been moved from Seattle to here.

"It’s obviously a prank from Microsoft." Hugh Hempel, the Vice President of Marketing, came over and handed Clark a note.

Casually opening it, Clark scanned the words: Best wishes from the Navigator team.

"Are all Seattle people this childish?" Clark sighed.

"Maybe it’s a tradition carried on from Bill Gates, that overgrown baby," Hugh Hempel shrugged.

"Get this sorted out; these guys are too full of themselves." Clark said impatiently, waving his hand.

"I have a better idea." Hugh Hempel revealed a mischievous smile; he leaned in close to Clark and whispered a few words.

"Good," Clark’s eyes lit up; he looked at his wristwatch and said, "You have two hours to handle it."

"One hour will be enough," Hugh Hempel clapped his hands and started gathering the Netscape employees who were around.

To exact their revenge, Netscape’s engineers quickly toppled the massive ship’s helm logo to the ground, facing it upwards.

That wasn’t all. Someone grabbed spray paint and "shsh," "shsh" wrote a line of words on the symbol.

""Netscape Now!" Netscape—right here, right now!

At the same time, a 12-foot-tall mascot statue of "Mozilla" was brought over and placed atop that logo.

This was the mascot of Netscape, a green cartoon Godzilla-like figure.

It squinted its eyes with a smile on its face and gave a thumbs up to passers-by.

Alright, just one last thing, Hugh Hempel hung up the pre-prepared billboard.

"Netscape 75, Microsoft 18"—these were the current market shares of the two browser companies.

Under Microsoft’s series of aggressive strategies, Navigator’s market share had edged up a little.

As for why it didn’t add up to a hundred percent, that was because there were other browsers on the market.

For instance, IBM and Apple had both developed browsers for their platforms, though they were almost negligible, they had a small presence.

Having accomplished this, the Netscape crew left with cheers.

As expected, the scene on the Netscape lawn was reported by Silicon Valley TV stations and media.

However, to Seattle’s surprise, their prank didn’t succeed. Instead, the photo that appeared in the newspapers showed Netscape’s mascot in a conqueror’s pose, standing triumphantly on Navigator.

"Microsoft tried to draw attention with fraternal antics, which is incredibly childish.

The fact is that we’re winning this battle—that’s what Netscape should be showcasing,

not indulging in the immature actions like those of the world’s largest software company."

That’s how Netscape’s spokeswoman sarcastically criticized Microsoft’s behavior when she faced the reporters.

"It was just a pure joke. Netscape is too tense because they’ve been losing ground in their competition with Microsoft recently."

The spokesperson for Microsoft delivered a sharp counter-statement. Navigator 3.0 had just been released—they needed the public’s attention.

The entire day, the two sides spent arguing back-and-forth in this manner.

The next day, when Dean drove to Netscape, the green Godzilla mascot was still stomping on Navigator.

This was the masterpiece of Netscape engineers, a smile playing on Dean’s lips.

However, when he stepped into the office, the atmosphere was anything but relaxed.

"Dean, I hate to admit it, but Microsoft is indeed causing us tremendous trouble by leveraging its operating system advantage."

Recently, Clark had heard rumors that many computer manufacturers, while angry at Microsoft’s coercion, seemed ready to give in.

Gates had given these suppliers just 60 days—if Netscape couldn’t come up with effective measures within two months, the eventual outcome was predictable.

"How are our market shares doing?" Dean asked, settling calmly onto the sofa.

"The fluctuation isn’t much, but the overall trend is downward," Clark’s expression soured further.

Netscape’s browser had once commanded 95% of the market share at its peak, but such glory was bound to be unreachable again.

Even though their product was still the best on the market, Microsoft and other companies entering the arena meant a slice of the market was destined to be taken away.

Especially Microsoft, whether through enticement or threats, it forcefully snatched a piece of flesh from Netscape’s mouth.

"The Federal Trade Commission has accepted our complaint. Perhaps Microsoft will back down a bit afterward," sighed CEO Barksdale.

At this point, Netscape seemed to only hope for the federal government to intervene. Once a monopoly was established, other companies posed no threat to Microsoft.

"Are we left with no choice but to take on Microsoft in court?" Clark asked helplessly.

This method might be effective, but it was too late.

A lawsuit, especially an antitrust one, wouldn’t yield results for at least a year or two.

A year or two from now? God, by that time every company related to the Internet would be succumbing to Microsoft’s intimidation.

It would be optimistic to think that Netscape could continue to exist, let alone maintain a leading position in the market.

"Alright, it looks like we also have to resort to some tricky tactics that I was hoping to avoid."

Dean stood up, stretching languidly. Gates always wanted to play dirty with him; what else could he do?

Of course, it was time for a magic duel. Dean the Good Guy wasn’t just anybody after all.

"What?" Seeing Dean’s demeanor, Clark and the others looked over, completely confused.

Netscape had already utilized every strategy they had, including lawsuits and an application to the Federal Trade Commission for an antitrust investigation against Microsoft.

But these tactics wouldn’t solve the immediate dilemma; they needed a powerful short-term strategy.

Did Dean have a secret weapon they were unaware of? Clark and the others showed a glint of anticipation in their eyes.

"Let me make a phone call first." Dean pulled out his phone and started to dial.

"It’s me, Dean... Is it almost ready? OK, I understand."

A few minutes later, when Dean hung up the phone, he realized everyone in the room was still intently focused on him.

"Alright, have you all forgotten my other identity?" Dean asked with a light chuckle.

There were many accolades associated with his name, including but not limited to the world’s second-richest person, Bit founder, Netscape founder, Nasdaq bell ringer, pioneer of the Internet wave, genius, and more...

Some of these titles had been widely reported by the media, while others were much less conspicuous, even puzzling.

But often, it was these unassuming titles and roles that could turn into an unexpected trump card.

They were just as intractable and, at times, even more ruthless than Gates’s tactics.

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