Rebirth of the Wild Age

The APEC series of conferences in 2001 was the largest and highest-level international conference hosted by my country since the founding of New China.

APEC has a rotating presidency every year, and this year happens to be China's turn. In addition to holding a ministerial z-level meeting in Shenghai, a series of senior official meetings will be held in Beijing, Shencheng and other places. These senior official meetings have been held one after another since the Spring Festival.

In total, APEC will hold 18 meetings and activities in China this year.

In February, there was an apec e-commerce and paperless trade seminar, and people like Wang Juntao and Ma Xiaoyun participated on the spot. The small and medium-sized enterprise summit proposed by Song Weiyang last year was discussed and approved at the z-level meeting held in Shenghai at the end of August this year, and the APEC small and medium-sized enterprise summit will be officially held next year.

In September, the APEC Technology Expo was held in Sioux City, and Shenzhou Technology also brought products to participate. Among them, the "usb wireless network card" is the most eye-catching. Due to the relatively low price, many manufacturers in China and Southeast Asia have shown their intention to order.

From mid-October to the end of October, meetings were held for nearly half a month.

The CEO summit that Song Weiyang attended will last from the 18th to the 20th. The previous one-on-one "peak dialogue" was also changed to "eight-person forum". In addition to Song Weiyang and Bill Gates, there were also Mr. Yang from Lenovo, Mr. Wang from Great Wall, Mr. Li from tcl, and Tsinghua Tongfang. Mr. Lu, Mr. Zheng Tianhong from Sony China, Mr. Chen, Intel's global vice president and general manager of the Asia Pacific region.

The reason for such a change is mainly because the other bosses are not happy. Song Weiyang can't let Song Weiyang finish the limelight alone, right?

Not being in the limelight is a minor issue, but being suppressed by Song Weiyang is a major issue.

In fact, none of this has anything to do with Song Weiyang. The one-on-one dialogue was proposed by Bill Gates. He still remembered the conversation between the two on the Tsinghua campus a few years ago, and he was very interested in Song Weiyang, who had become the richest man in just a few years, and asked the event party to arrange a face-to-face communication.

During the two consecutive days of the CEO Summit, Song Weiyang could only speak in group discussions. As for those keynote speeches, they were either delivered by executives, CEOs of state-owned enterprises or collective enterprises, or CEOs of multinational companies or rich overseas Chinese. Private entrepreneurs like Song Weiyang had no chance to show their faces.

On the third day of the meeting, the "eight-person forum" was set as a group topic, and many industry peers and media reporters were present.

Eight single sofas are placed in a semicircle on the temporary platform. There is a tea table in front of each sofa, with nameplates, tea, and fruits. Among them, Bill Gates and Song Weiyang are seated in the middle, followed by Yang Yuanqing Lenovo and Lu Zhicheng Tsinghua Tongfang, and Chen Junsheng, vice president of Intel and Zheng Tian. Hong Sony China once again, the seats of Wang Zhi Great Wall and Li Dongsheng TCL are at the outermost.

Mr. Liu from Lenovo didn't come, but he was the introducer of Bill Gates' keynote speech this morning. His introduction was: "Today, here, as an ordinary person, I would like to talk about two things that I respect about Mr. Bill. Place. One is that he uses technology to promote the magic of today's society...Second, I respect him because he is a philanthropist. He and his wife donated a fund of 21.1 billion US dollars and made great contributions to human health!"

There were about 300 people sitting in the audience, most of them were practitioners in computer, Internet and related industries, and there were also a few leaders and scholars.

The eight people came from other venues in a hurry and did not meet alone beforehand.

Bill Gates didn't talk to anyone, he only waved to the audience, and then sat down with a smile.

After all eight people sat down, the others finally noticed the difference.

Although Bill Gates was wearing trousers and leather shoes, he only had a shirt on his upper body, and the pink tie was taken off at some point. Song Weiyang wears sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt, and a suit is not formal without a suit. After the two sat down, they raised Erlang's legs and leaned sideways at the same time. This was mainly due to the problem of the most central seat. When sitting frontally, they would face the audience, and only when sitting sideways could they face each other.

But in the eyes of the participants in the audience, it was Song Weiyang and Bill Gates who were the most casual. The remaining six people were all sitting upright, fully armed in suits and leather shoes, and even tied their ties meticulously.

"Thanks to the eight entrepreneurs from home and abroad, as well as the hundreds of leaders, experts and colleagues at the scene, and welcome everyone to participate in today's apec eight-person forum," said an official cadre as the moderator, "The theme of this group activity is computer , The current predicament and future prospects of the Internet. Mr. Song, Mr. Yang, Mr. Lu... You seven can each ask Mr. Bill Gates a question, and then Mr. Bill Gates will ask the question."

Yang Yuanqing didn't care about the arrangement of the seats, and said directly: "Let me ask first. Mr. Bill Gates, although the Chinese market has a bright future, the world's personal computer industry is at a turning point. In order to cope with fierce competition, many Chinese IT companies are From product orientation to application service orientation. May I ask you to give us another advice?"

Bill Gates responded with a smile: "It is normal to respond to industry changes and adjustments at any time. The key lies in whether the company can produce products with better functions at the same or lower prices, or create new products through the integration of different functions. Business opportunities. I think that as long as the product is ultimately beneficial to users and the product is exciting, users will definitely buy it. For this, companies need to continue to innovate.”

"Okay, thank you." Yang Yuanqing put down the microphone.

Song Weiyang picked up the microphone and said to Lu Zhicheng of Tsinghua Tongfang, "Mr. Lu, come and ask questions."

As soon as this remark came out, many active old fritters in the audience collectively showed knowing smiles on their faces. Since the host did not announce the rules, the questions should be asked according to the seating order. Yang Yuanqing's rush to ask questions clearly made it difficult for Song Weiyang. If Song Weiyang continued to ask questions, he would lose face in public. If he didn't ask questions or showed displeasure, he would lose his demeanor on this occasion. As a result, Song Weiyang's face was flat and he didn't show any abnormalities, and he asked Lu Zhicheng to ask questions. In this way, Song Weiyang and Bill Gates became the core, and he took the initiative to give up the opportunity to ask questions to others, and put his own questions at the end.

"Crack clap clap!"

Those who have good things suddenly applauded, and quickly brought a round of applause.

As for Song Weiyang and Yang Yuanqing, who were fighting secretly, one of them was calm and the other was expressionless.

The grudge between the two is not a personal grievance, but a commercial competition.

Since the spring of this year, China Computer's monthly sales have jumped to the second place. Although it is far behind Lenovo, it has enough threat. Apart from Song Weiyang's personal fame and advertising, the most important reason for the explosive growth of China Computer's sales is the focus on mid-range computers.

Now the major manufacturers have fully reacted and are moving closer to the mid-range machine market. But the ship is too big to turn around, and the ship is small and easy to capsize. The computers of major brands did not start to focus on mid-range models until this summer vacation.

The current situation of domestic computer brands is that Lenovo ranks first in sales of low-end and mid-range computers; China Computer ranks second in mid-range computers, and third in low-end computers; Great Wall Computer ranks second in low-end computers. , the mid-range machine ranked third.

The fundamental reason why Lenovo, which is the number one in sales of all models, feels threatened is that its computer component factories have been moving to China in the past two years, and it does not need to import everything when producing domestic accessories. As a result, Shenzhou Technology, which can produce its own motherboards, relies on its cost advantage to engage in price reduction promotions every now and then, and the sales growth rate of mid-range and low-end phones is very scary.

Not long ago, Shenzhou Technology even released the news of self-produced hard drives, all of which made Lenovo feel like a formidable enemy.

The questions asked by these bosses are quite satisfactory, only Wang Zhi, the boss of Great Wall, is the funniest. This gentleman is also the oldest. He asked: "Compared with Microsoft's products, Microsoft's price seems less attractive, which is also one of the reasons for the rampant piracy. Can using Microsoft's software be like making a phone call? Pay while you use it?"

The audience burst into laughter, followed by applause.

Bill Gates answered calmly: "In any market, charging by usage is much more expensive than one-time payment. For computer users, software should be the cheapest, followed by hardware, and the most expensive is communication fees. Even If you want to reduce the price, you should also reduce the communication fee. In addition, the pricing of Microsoft products is different, and education, charity and other institutions have special discounts when purchasing software."

Song Weiyang was the last one to ask questions. He picked up the microphone and spoke slowly and clearly: "Mr. Bill, what do you think of monopoly?"

Bill Gates finally changed his face, but returned to normal in less than two seconds. He said righteously: "Monopoly is naturally not allowed. Microsoft's position is not a monopoly, but a leader and pioneer."

"Very good, thank you." Song Weiyang smiled and put down the microphone.

Bill Gates breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Song Weiyang would continue to ask questions, and if he continued to ask, he would not be able to step down today.

Just last year, Microsoft was accused of "abuse of market dominance" and was split into two companies by a court order. To put it bluntly, it is anti-monopoly, which is very common in the United States. Take the film industry as an example. In the past, film companies could operate theaters. After the anti-monopoly, they are no longer allowed to operate theaters. All major Hollywood companies have been split up.

Bill Gates spent money lobbying everywhere, and finally got another court to overturn the ruling, allowing Microsoft to continue to operate as a whole company. But it’s not over yet. The European Union also began to accuse Microsoft of monopoly, ordering Microsoft’s system to provide users with multiple browser choices, and fined Microsoft hundreds of millions of dollars.

This series of antitrust cases caused a large number of Microsoft executives to resign, and its stock price plummeted. Moreover, it directly led to Bill Gates resigning from the position of CEO of Microsoft, hiding in secret as the emperor to avoid the limelight.

At this moment, Bill Gates is no longer the CEO of Microsoft. Although he regards the current CEO as a puppet, he dare not jump like before.

And Bill Gates has donated a total of 20 billion US dollars to charitable funds for two consecutive times, which happens to be at a critical moment in the Microsoft antitrust case. When someone accused him of monopoly, he ran out to do charity. This public relations is really slick, and it can always perfectly divert the public's attention.

Song Weiyang actually asked Microsoft's most sensitive question in public, and stepped on the brakes at a critical moment, which made Bill Gates angry and angry, but he couldn't help but be grateful to Song Weiyang for leaving someone behind. The man said in a complicated mood: "It's my turn to ask a question. This question is specifically for Mr. Song. You are the most successful businessman in China. What is the most important thing when you sell software products in China?"

"Price." Song Weiyang said.

Bill Gates asked: "Do you also think that Microsoft's product prices are too high?"

Song Weiyang said with a smile: "Even if the Microsoft system only sells for 1 US dollar, the vast majority of Chinese users still think it is too high, and they don't think it is expensive if the computer sells for 10,000 yuan. Because the hardware can be seen, the software cannot be touched. I can only Having said so much, it is a commercial secret to go deeper.”

Bill Gates was thoughtful, and suddenly smiled: "Thank you, I understand, this is the biggest gain of my trip."

Except for a small number of people at the scene, the rest of the audience felt baffled. Song Weiyang didn't say anything about advanced theories, how did Bill Gates understand it? And it is the biggest gain of this trip.

Bill Gates asked again: "How do Chinese consumers accept handwriting computers?"

Li Dongsheng of tcl replied: "According to Chinese habits, handwriting is of course easier to accept than keyboard input."

Lu Zhicheng of Tsinghua Tongfang said: "But the current handwriting computer is still not as comfortable as writing on paper. If it can be improved, handwriting computers should have a good market prospect."

Lenovo's Yang Yuanqing also said: "At present, most of the main consumers in China are middle-aged people. They are not used to typing on the keyboard. I am very optimistic about the prospect of handwriting computers."

Bill Gates asked Song Weiyang again: "What does Mr. Song think?"

Song Weiyang said: "Handwriting computers may have a market in China for a few years, but they are destined to be eliminated. China Technology will not invest in this."

"Why was it eliminated?" Bill Gates asked.

Song Weiyang said: "I have a calculator, so I don't use an abacus anymore, even if it is an abacus that can display calculation results on the battery. Handwriting computers are used by middle-aged and elderly consumers. The fundamental reason is that it is inconvenient to input Chinese characters. Instead of painstakingly launching a handwriting computer, it is better to make Chinese character input more convenient and fast. Thank you Mr. Bill for your reminder, I will let Sogou immediately start the input method project, and strive to double the speed of Chinese character input within two or three years.”

Wang Zhi from Great Wall said with a smile: "In Boss Song's eyes, there are business opportunities everywhere."

The "eight-person forum" was conducted with questions and answers like this. Netizens who watched the live broadcast of the website expressed their disappointment, because there was no such thing as the expected rhetoric.

Song Weiyang can't help it, there are too many people, so he can only use the question and answer method, otherwise there will definitely be a quarrel on the spot.

However, there are still discerning netizens who can see through the details. This person first popularized the Microsoft anti-monopoly case, and then joked: "Song Dapao's words are very aggressive. The first question is about monopoly. Unfortunately, there is no video screen, only text live broadcast, otherwise You can definitely see Bill Gates's face is very exciting. It's a pity that Song Dapao stopped the topic and didn't let Bill Gates get off the stage in public."

"It should be an official reason. We have to be merciful on this occasion."

"Lenovo's Mr. Yang is very jumpy. He took the initiative to grab Song Weiyang's question. Lao Song's response was a stroke of genius. This guy actually played a guest role as the host, which made Yang Yuanqing lose his temper."

"Is there? Why didn't I see it?"

"Before the text live broadcast, there was a description of the seats on the spot. Song Weiyang and Bill Gates belonged to the main seat. When asking questions, Yang Yuanqing, who was in the second seat, rushed to speak, and it was obvious that Song Weiyang was in the army. Song Weiyang defaulted to lose face, and objected to it Losing his grace, this is digging a hole for him to jump in. Yang Yuanqing is at most too excited, and he can't wait to speak when he sees Bill Gates. Song Weiyang's way of coping is tantamount to going around the hole and taking Yang Yuanqing who was digging the hole with him. If you kick your feet into the pit, those who understand will naturally understand."

"Awesome, awesome, I wouldn't even think of it if you didn't tell me."

"These bosses are also stingy, and they do some childish tricks."

"Children's tricks? If you go up and try it, you will definitely fall into the pit without knowing it. Anyway, Song Weiyang admires me a lot. He can adapt to the situation in such a situation. It can only be said that his EQ and IQ are at the full level."

"It seems that Song Weiyang's becoming the richest man is not due to luck, he is born to eat this bowl of rice."

"Bill Gates said he understood, what did he understand? What is Song Weiyang expressing?"

"What Song Weiyang means is, don't talk about genuine products with Chinese consumers. It's useless to talk about it. As for what Bill Gates thinks, I guess only he knows. Such a few simple words should affect Microsoft's business in China. Market development strategy, that's why Bill Gates said this is the biggest gain of his trip."

"Is Song Weiyang acting as a teacher for Gates?"

"Haha, Dr. Ma has students all over the world, and Bill Gates still owes Dr. Ma 500 yuan for tuition."