Steve Ballmer's idea was indeed correct, even remarkably ahead of its time. He possessed a keen insight and accurately predicted future development trends. However, it was utterly useless because Steve Ballmer was powerless to stop the progression of events. When Steve Ballmer attempted to make an example of a software company that had already been caught with evidence, he was directly summoned by the board of directors.
"I heard you wanted the alliance to impose sanctions on SW Software Development Company, freezing all software development tools and their access to databases?" a representative of the board of directors questioned Steve Ballmer directly upon his arrival.
"That's correct. We have already sent a notice to this company, and the relevant sanctions will begin tomorrow," Steve Ballmer admitted, a faint premonition of ill omen creeping into his mind.
As expected, the director continued, "Steve, SW Software Development Company is an investment of Vanguard Fund. They are also one of Microsoft's investors, and a third-largest shareholder. You should understand what this means, shouldn't you?"
"I know that my actions will harm the interests of a third-largest shareholder, but I am also safeguarding this shareholder's interests. We absolutely cannot allow the Jiangnan Group and their damnable five-进制 computer system to develop. Otherwise, the mighty Microsoft will lose its foundation and instantly disintegrate."
"SW as a whole company isn't worth even 300 million US dollars. Yet, Microsoft is currently a 300-billion-dollar enterprise. Would shareholders abandon ten watermelons for a single sunflower seed?" Steve Ballmer retorted indignantly.
"Dear Steve, please refrain from such alarmist rhetoric. It's merely helping out a company owned by our own shareholder; surely that won't cause Microsoft to collapse?" the director said, also growing somewhat annoyed. "I'm not unaware of your concerns, but this is not something that can be influenced by such a minor sanction."
"Even if you sanction SW, so what? Aren't there still so many companies developing for Tian Zhou? Do you have the ability to find all those companies and sanction them?"
"Let's take a step back. Even if you manage to achieve that, and you sanction all those companies, and those companies cannot use binary computer system tools to program, what do you think these enterprises will do to survive? Of course, they will turn to the only five-进制 computer system that can help them. Your widespread sanctioning methods will only benefit our opponents and allow them to gain greater profits and advantages. Instead, it will cause us to lose countless allies. Your actions are blatant support for the enemy!" the director rebuked.
"I know you foresaw these consequences, but I never said I intended widespread sanctions. I only wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, to make SW the chicken and warn the other monkeys! Otherwise, people's hearts will completely scatter!" Steve Ballmer exclaimed loudly.
"Fine, if you insist on killing the chicken to warn the monkeys, I won't object, but it cannot be SW, the chicken. Do you believe me if I say you should pick another chicken!" the director's attitude softened.
"Alright..." Steve Ballmer was not an obstinate person and did not wish to continue the conflict. Thus, he named another company. He had some evidence against this company, but the evidence was not as comprehensive as for SW, leaving room for them to argue. Therefore, it was not Steve Ballmer's optimal choice.
Unexpectedly, the director refused again because this software development company had a greater background; it was controlled by the company's second-largest shareholder.
Since the company controlled by the third-largest shareholder had already been rejected, it was even less likely for the company controlled by the second-largest shareholder to succeed. Helpless, Steve Ballmer switched to several other companies, but they were all rejected one by one. Some of them were companies owned by shareholders, and others belonged to certain important figures. Taking action against them would cause significant embarrassment for everyone.
It wasn't until Steve Ballmer named the ninth company that the director carefully considered it and nodded with satisfaction, "This company. You go and sanction them!"
"But we only have a little bit of evidence against this company. Let alone a complete chain of evidence, we can't even form a single link on the chain. Such sanctions might be difficult to get approved!" Steve Ballmer stated.
"What approval are you talking about? Do sanctions require approval? When we the United States sanctioned Iran and Iraq, did we have to present extremely detailed evidence at the United Nations and get a unanimous vote of approval from all UN member states for our sanctions?"
"Come on, you yourself said the purpose of sanctions is to scare the monkeys. So, you just need to scare the monkey, do you care if the chicken agrees or not?"
"Moreover, forceful execution can actually demonstrate the alliance's resolve, allowing others to feel the alliance's killing intent, which will better intimidate the other party!"
"I think you don't need to think too much about it. Since we have a little evidence, just present it and take action, then ban this company. Your objective will be achieved, and the shareholders' interests will be protected. Everyone will be happy!"
"..." Steve Ballmer remained silent, clearly not considering this a good idea.
"President Steve, I think you had better consider things carefully!" This director clearly understood Steve Ballmer's personality and character very well.
"The board of directors has recognized you highly over the years and granted you considerable authority, rarely interfering with your management of the company."
"But what kind of results has Microsoft delivered over these years, you probably know better than I do."
"Whether it's portal websites, search engines, instant messaging software, video websites, or the Xbox game console you've been dreaming of, you've entered all these trends in the internet industry at the first opportunity, only to be defeated at the first opportunity, losing an unknown amount of funds in the process."
"Not to mention anything else, do you know how many people online want you to get lost and leave Microsoft?"
"Do you think the board doesn't see these things? No, they are just giving you face and don't want to plunge Microsoft into turmoil. I advise you not to offend too many directors, otherwise, you know the consequences."
After saying this, the director left without any courtesy. Steve Ballmer stood there in silent contemplation for a long time, and finally sighed, complying with the director's order.
The next day, Microsoft announced sanctions against the program development company. Together with Intel, they prohibited the company from using almost all software development tool licenses. Even their already released software became unauthorized.
The next time the Windows system performed an automatic update, all these software programs would be completely banned. Even for many users who had paid for the programs, they were all gone.
This company was naturally terrified and desperately appealed to Microsoft and Intel executives, arguing that it was unfounded to conclude their company had violated alliance rules based on such limited evidence.
However, the attitude of both companies remained firm, and the program development company seemed to have no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
At this very moment, Jiangnan Group timely extended its warm embrace. Huang Zheng, representing Jiangnan Group, went to the company's headquarters. After a cordial and enthusiastic conversation with the management, he stated that Jiangnan Group was willing to invest 20 million US dollars to take a stake in this software development company, and this company would completely transform its business to exclusively develop various programs and applications for the five-进制 computer system.
This marked the first company among the global top 50 software development enterprises to transition from binary software development to five-进制 software development.
This company was indeed thoroughly sanctioned and had indeed scared off some companies, causing them to immediately abandon their five-进制 application development businesses.
However, more program development companies showed no fear. Instead, they eagerly took over orders from the exiting companies and continued their development with greater enthusiasm.
This sanction also revealed another fact: Microsoft lacked the confidence to sanction companies with backgrounds and could only target pitiful companies that lacked any financial backing.
Therefore, these companies with backgrounds were certainly more emboldened, and even their last shred of concern completely vanished.
Finally, after the last roadshow of OO Network concluded, with only three days left until its official listing, approximately 600 million shares of OO Network had been subscribed globally. This meant that over 60,000 new applications had been launched on the Tian Zhou Store.
It can be said that these software applications were undoubtedly junk software. However, it cannot be denied that over 100,000 programmers worldwide were mobilized. These programmers, either voluntarily or involuntarily, received education in five-进制 computer programming.
Although most of them deeply disliked the five-进制 system, even to the point of instinctive aversion, there were still some who fell in love with the five-进制 system, even eagerly learning Chinese, and ultimately becoming capable of mastering the entire programming technology independently.
While the number of such individuals was not large, there were certainly thousands. This was the five-进制 computer system, seeds scattered across the globe.
Each could take root and sprout, with the opportunity to grow into a towering tree dedicated to developing for the five-进制 computer system.
And such opportunities did not require a long wait. In fact, the opportunity for growth came to these seeds almost without pause.
And this opportunity began with a phone call, a call from Dr. Cooper to our Boss Huang.