American History 1988
Chapter 404 - 393: Striking Seattle Hard

Chapter 404: Chapter 393: Striking Seattle Hard

In order to ascertain where the problem reported by the users of Microsoft’s Navigator browser was originating from,

Silverge had no choice but to consider sending after-sales technical personnel to the users’ homes for on-site inspections.

At the same time, he ordered Microsoft’s branches in other states to assist Redmond in troubleshooting the issue.

If the technical department here couldn’t find the reason, then they should increase the number of samples being investigated and their geographic distribution.

Navigator 3.0 was Microsoft’s leading product in its internet strategy, and no accidents could be allowed to happen.

So, even if it cost a great deal of manpower and resources, the problem had to be located.

Otherwise, forget competing with Netscape; even those lesser-known browsers could easily topple Navigator.

After briefly considering the current situation, Silverge made a decisive move to implement his plan.

According to the customer service center’s feedback, the users who encountered the BUG did not show any geographical pattern, and even the timing of the webpage crashes was completely random.

But the fact that Redmond couldn’t replicate the issue made Silverge start to doubt whether he was looking in the right direction.

Under his direction, a large number of technical after-sales staff began to deploy to every corner of America.

It was a huge undertaking, and it also meant that Microsoft had to invest more resources to compete in the browser market.

Most importantly, Navigator 3.0 had just been released, and its reputation hadn’t even begun to ferment before it became precarious.

While Seattle was thrown into disarray, Silicon Valley’s Mountain View was popping champagne.

"Haha, Dean, you’re a genius!"

Clark’s face turned an unusual shade of red, whether from drinking too much or from sheer excitement.

"Gates never expected that he would one day taste the iron fist."

What iron fist? Of course, the iron fist of capitalism!

"Honestly Dean, your tactics have taken me by surprise," said Durell, holding a wine glass, also looking quite pleased with himself.

For Durell, there was nothing more enjoyable than seeing Gates in misfortune. He hadn’t forgotten those investment projects that had been ruined by Microsoft.

Of course, Dean’s timely intervention had indeed dazzled him.

Durell knew that Dean had investments in ISP operators and that KeyPoint Ventures had even had a hand in AOL’s IPO.

But he never expected that the internet business alliance could be used in such a way.

"So Dean, how exactly did you do it? Why is the Navigator browser experiencing such issues?"

Barksdale, having joined Netscape later, wasn’t privy to the details yet.

He only knew that Dean, through his connections, had caused the browser in Seattle to be paralyzed.

"It’s not that clever of a trick," Dean said with a smirk, raising his eyebrows, "I just grabbed them by the throat."

"Haha~" Dean’s humorous response elicited laughter from everyone in the office.

Yes, as Gates cut off the growth of new users for the Netscape browser, Dean also seized Navigator’s throat.

How did he do it? Simple, he just updated a tiny program in the data center of the CIX Alliance.

The code itself was not problematic; it wouldn’t affect the operation of the entire America data exchange network.

But when the interactive center’s servers received data requests from the Navigator browser, they would deliberately ignore these requests.

When users navigated the internet using the browser, every mouse click or new webpage opened required sending access requests to the terminal server.

In this process, the browser only acted as a tool; the real execution of commands was the responsibility of the servers on the webpage side.

That is, the internet companies or organizations establishing the websites, their servers would respond to users’ requests.

However, information transmission needed intermediaries, such as ISP operators responsible for delivering users’ commands through the lines spread across North America to the internet companies.

And because the volume of data transmitted through a single line was immense, to deliver every command accurately to its destination,

These requests sent from the user side each bore an identification number, such as IP addresses, current software identification strings, target directions, and so on.

Put simply, these identifiers were like ID cards, which ISPs could use to forward the data to the corresponding receiver.

In the same way, data returned from website servers worked on the same principle.

Among these identifiers, a set of data represented the specific software the user was currently utilizing.

Do you see the problem now? The interactive centers could precisely identify the application software from which each piece of information originated.

According to federal regulations, software products are assigned such identification numbers when they go to market.

This is also a requirement of the telecommunications commission, mainly to consider data transmission efficiency.

These software identification numbers are like book publication numbers, unique and independent.

So now the issue was simple; the CIX Alliance data center just had to ignore all instructions coming from the Navigator browser.

The user’s commands could be sent, but they would not get delivered. Consequently, when the browser failed to receive feedback over a prolonged period, it would display a crash prompt page.

This was Dean’s countermeasure. Since you choked off my source, I’ll erase your traces from the terminal.

One blocked the opponent’s growth of new users, and the other directly rendered the opponent’s software ineffective.

Tsk, this is like a magic duel.

As for whose methods are meaner, that’s a matter of perspective.

Of course, Dean couldn’t completely paralyze the Navigator browser. That would be too obvious and would cause trouble for him.

So, the update code for the exchange center is only activated occasionally, and the location is not fixed.

Right now, users in Virginia are experiencing problems. In half an hour, it might switch to New York.

The strategy is to be unpredictable. Even if Microsoft wanted to investigate, it would take some time.

After all, we have to leave some buffer time for users to download the Netscape browser. A complete cut-off would only backfire.

It’s only with something to compare that the damage becomes apparent. The intermittent issues with Navigator only make the Netscape browser more popular.

After all, Microsoft can only persuade computer manufacturers not to pre-install the Netscape browser.

No matter how overbearing Microsoft is, it can’t force users to use the Navigator browser.

And Dean, he’s damaging the reputation of Navigator, then steering users towards the embrace of Netscape.

After all, if users want to download and use a certain browser, nobody can stop them.

"Oh, God!" After hearing everyone’s explanation, Barksdale couldn’t help but open his mouth wide in shock.

He knew that Dean also held a position as a ’chef’ at the CIX Alliance, but it usually seemed more like an honorific title.

He never expected... that it... it could actually be a position of real power?

Dean didn’t care about Barksdale’s surprise. The key wasn’t the ’chef’ title at the CIX Alliance but the fact that he owned stakes in many of the ISP companies within the alliance.

As mentioned before, 90% of ISPs in America had joined the CIX Alliance, and Dean had supported nearly every one of them.

After five or six years of development, the members’ network businesses within the alliance now cover the entire nation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the CIX Alliance’s control over the Internet today is even stronger than that of the original NSFNet.

Of course, not all carriers have joined the CIX Alliance. For instance, AT&T and MSN are operating their networks independently.

Especially AT&T, with its extensive telephone lines across North America. Even without the CIX Alliance, it could deliver information to every corner.

Of course, the fact that they haven’t joined the CIX Alliance doesn’t mean they refuse to cooperate with its members.

In order to ensure data interoperability, AT&T has also signed data sharing agreements with several peers, just as the ambitious MSN has done.

This is the reason why Seattle has been struggling to reproduce the browser crash issue without finding a solution.

The Microsoft employees in Redmond use their own MSN dedicated network services.

In this situation, the employees’ access requests go directly to the MSN server centers, which of course would not have any issues.

They didn’t go through the CIX Alliance’s data exchange centers at all, so naturally, there’s no talk of signal blocking.

"Of course, these kinds of tactics can’t be used without limits. Don’t forget, we’re also mounting an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft."

Dean’s comment once again made everyone burst into laughter. They had nearly forgotten that the Federal Trade Commission had already accepted their complaint.

Tsk, Microsoft’s Navigator browser hasn’t even won the market yet, and it’s already being sued for antitrust violations.

What’s more bizarre is that now, Dean is tormenting them with monopoly tactics.

On one hand, wielding the antitrust club to beat the enemy, while on the other hand, enjoying the privileges of monopoly.

Oh, this damned capitalism; Dean realized he had fallen.

"So what should we do next?" Barksdale asked, looking at Dean, now finally feeling relaxed enough to enjoy the routine of a CEO.

Microsoft’s series of maneuvers these past few months had given him a hard time.

Now that they had countermeasures, he could finally enjoy the day-to-day life of a CEO.

"CIX Alliance will occasionally harass the Navigator browser, but we can’t be too aggressive and completely obliterate them.

We need to keep a target for the upcoming antitrust investigations."

In theory, when Dean played this card, the browser war could be declared over in advance.

Microsoft’s Navigator would no longer pose a threat to Netscape, and Netscape could focus on developing this new platform.

But this doesn’t mean Dean would let Microsoft off the hook. Gates’s arrogance had thoroughly angered him.

If Microsoft isn’t dismembered, who knows if there will be an instant messenger war in the future, or a battle against Yahoo’s portal site?

So since they’ve already started, there’s no need for courtesy.

Not crippling Microsoft would be a disservice to the considerable resources they’ve mobilized this time.

While Dean and his team were discussing their strategy against Microsoft, the lawyer team in Silicon Valley was also busy.

To convince the Trade Commission that Microsoft had used tactics violating the antitrust law during the competition,

Lübeck and his partner Clayton had jointly drafted a comprehensive white paper to push the matter forward.

Dean had just received word from Washington that the investigation was about to begin.

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