The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

"Sir, if IBM said it wanted to buy Microsoft back then, would you agree?"

Zhou Xin looked directly at each other, and Bill Gates smiled: "Well, it seems that you don't know much about Microsoft's history.

I wanted to sell DOS to IBM in 1980, which is the earliest version of the current office series.

The price I quoted was about $70,000.

Later, in 1986, when Microsoft had launched the first window system, I proposed to sell 10% of Microsoft's shares to IBM at that time.

I have never refused to cooperate with IBM, and even hoped to be deeply tied with IBM in the early stages of development. "

Zhou Xin is indeed not very clear about this period of history. He only knows that Microsoft and IBM have fallen out.

But he quickly found a point of rebuttal: "Sir, even if you want to cooperate with IBM.

It is also on the premise that he has the initiative, instead of completely joining IBM and becoming an IBM executive.

Even if you sold DOS to IBM back then, it would not affect the development of better personal software later on.

Similarly, I also hope to freely develop my own ideas, instead of working in Microsoft's system and following Microsoft's strategy.

The most important spirit in Silicon Valley is innovation. I think joining Microsoft will make me lose the spirit of innovation and innovative ideas. "

There are many ethnic Chinese working at Microsoft, and there are also many Chinese working at Microsoft.

As early as 1992, Microsoft established an office in Yanjing. So far, they have hundreds of employees in China.

Bill Gates even plans to upgrade Yanjing's office to Huaguo R\u0026D Center, which will become the Asian R\u0026D Center in the future.

But he feels that Zhou Xin is a very special Huaguo person, who has a kind of self-confidence that is difficult for Huaguo people in this era, which refers to the self-confidence that comes from the heart in the true sense.

Bill Gates does not believe that the other party does not know the status and treatment of the person in charge of Microsoft's game sector, because the other party has been an intern at Microsoft.

"Well, you can go for it, but it may be difficult to have similar opportunities in front of you in the future.

If you change your mind in the short term and are willing to work at Microsoft, feel free to email my secretary.

She will arrange it. "

"Thank you. Although this possibility is very small, if this possibility happens, I will definitely send her an email as soon as possible."

“The other thing is that Microsoft wants to buy your payment system.

This whole set of complete code. "

"price?"

"$500,000, Microsoft is willing to pay $500,000 for this payment system.

If it is a complete set of patents including solutions, Microsoft is willing to pay 10 million US dollars. "

The patent registration of the SMS verification code is already in the process of applying for American patents and international patents.

For the text message verification codes that can be seen everywhere in later generations, 10 million US dollars is already a lot.

Zhou Xin shook his head and said, "I am willing to sell the payment system to Microsoft.

But patents are not.

The value of this set of patents cannot be measured by 10 million US dollars. "

Bill Gates looked at each other in confusion: "Why?"

Zhou Xin admired Bill Gates' acting skills very much. He knew why and asked him back, but Zhou Xin didn't mind explaining again:

"The idea of ​​SMS verification code is very simple, but the idea behind it is not so simple.

It symbolizes the confirmation of online rights, and locks your ownership of a virtual commodity on the Internet through a SMS verification code.

This is obviously not something that can be measured by a mere $10 million. "

Bill Gates thought that the other party was so young and lacked a clear understanding of the value of the SMS verification code. As a result, the other party highly summarized the value of the SMS verification code in just a few words.

He knew that the other party's knowledge in this field was far beyond his imagination.

"You're smarter than I was.

When I made DOS, I thought the software was only worth $70,000, and I wanted to sell it to IBM for $70,000.

Now it's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And I offered you a price tag of 10 million US dollars, and you were not tempted by it.

Very good, young man, if you want to start a business in the future, come to me anytime.

I invest in you.

Next we will not talk about work. "

Zhou Xin interrupted the other party: "Sir, I still need your help.

But it's not just about my family. "

"you say."

"Now there are links to pirated copies of Angry Birds appearing on the Internet.

Most of them are done by game publishers, in order not to be proved by us that this path is feasible.

They promote piracy in various ways.

We hope that Microsoft will provide us with legal help, and at the same time assist some media resources to condemn this behavior from public opinion. "

"Why should I help you?

Microsoft is also a game publisher. "

"Because I am willing to sell this game payment system to Microsoft, Microsoft will obviously adopt an online sales method to make game hardware and release games in the future.

In the future, once you need to make game hardware similar to NS, selling games directly through the Internet can save a lot of cost.

So piracy is our common enemy. "

"Piracy cannot be eradicated.

Microsoft will avoid this problem through technical means.

But I'd still like to help you with this.

I will tell the secretary and ask him to coordinate the media coverage of this matter.

But for legal matters, you have to find a lawyer yourself.

Microsoft is not a law firm. "

"That's enough, thank you very much."

"Angry Birds is fun, my wife loves it, she thinks it's fun."

"We will release Christmas DLC at Christmas time.

That is the Christmas special, it will have more rich content through some Christmas-themed decorations and some Christmas-themed levels.

Of course this requires an additional fee. "

"A game that pays multiple times, a great model, a bit like subscribing to a magazine."

"No, it cannot be released as a separate game, we make it an expansion pack of the previous game.

Only when there is enough content, 2.

Instead, you can understand it as a system upgrade.

For example, there will be 1.1, 1.2, etc. between 1 and 2. "

So far, Zhou Xin has accumulated his first pot of gold, but he hasn't bought a car yet, so Bill Gates specially arranged a car to take him back after the dinner.

The next day Hu Zhengming called him to the Berkeley laboratory to ask what he and Bill Gates had talked about.

"That's about it."

"Your decision was right.

If it were me, I would make a similar choice.

For several years, TSMC wanted me to be the chief technical expert there.

As a mature chip manufacturer, TSMC paid me more money than I did starting a business.

For the field of integrated circuits, the early stage of entrepreneurship is a pure investment activity.

You could invest millions of dollars and not see anything in return.

But I still didn't promise TSMC.

Even a middle-aged man like me is like this, let alone you are only twenty years old. "