"Despicable, shameless, bastards, how could these guys use such methods!" This was the roar from Microsoft's new president. After the previous Indian-born president took the blame and resigned, this individual very fortunately succeeded to the position of Microsoft President.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for him to become Microsoft President. After all, that Indian was still very young and could have served for another ten to twenty years. By that time, this new president would have long passed his prime. The board of directors would definitely not have appointed him.
It was only at this particular juncture that he fortunately became Microsoft's president.
However, he was also very aware that he hadn't risen to his position purely through merit, and his position was not stable. If he wanted to secure this position, the only way was to help Microsoft achieve a great accomplishment.
But if he wanted to achieve this through technological innovation, the time would be too long. Moreover, Microsoft had long forgotten what technological innovation was. The only way was to help Microsoft resolve some major crises.
In fact, most of Microsoft's crises had already been resolved. If there was any crisis left unresolved, it would be the issue with the Chinese market.
Therefore, the new president seized the opportunity of the acquisition of Fantasia Computer, utilized all his connections, and had various countries' governments restrict the acquisition. Afterward, he intended to use the means of interest exchange to have Jiangnan Group resolve these issues.
Who would have thought that Jiangnan Group would be so unyielding and directly resell all these companies without giving them a chance to negotiate?
If it were only this, it would have been acceptable. Although no great accomplishment was made, at least they had thoroughly annoyed Jiangnan Group and caused them a loss of several billion dollars, shattering Huang He's undefeated reputation. To a certain extent, this could be considered an achievement.
However, the announcement made by Fantasia Computer last year completely disrupted Microsoft's plans and even caused a slight hint of crisis for Microsoft in the global market.
Actually, although Microsoft had paid attention to this announcement immediately, they hadn't taken it seriously, even though they understood Jiangnan Group's intention behind this move.
This intention was very simple: to use the opportunity of a recall to revitalize the entire European and American markets, and to forcefully expand Lingyun System's market share in the global personal computer field through a strategy of burning money.
It should be known that although Lingyun System had gained significant momentum in China, it had been perfectly blocked overseas.
Firstly, through direct relations with various governments, every effort was made to create import difficulties for all accessories related to five-进制 personal computers, making it impossible to obtain these accessories in the market.
Secondly, their distributors were warned that if they were found to produce or sell any products related to five-进制 computers in non-Chinese markets, their authorization to sell Microsoft products would be directly terminated.
Through these two methods, it became very difficult to purchase Lingyun-related products in the market.
But to be fair, if there was market demand, no barrier could stop it.
The real problem was that there was no market demand. Although the ransomware incident had deeply affected many Westerners and made them hate the Windows system, and countless people were clamoring online to switch systems.
However, when it came to actually switching systems, they were reluctant.
Firstly, regarding software, although Lingyun System already possessed a large number of software, even more than the Windows system, in fact, many professional software such as mechanical engineering software, rendering software, and CAD software, which are core to electronic productivity, were still not available on Lingyun System.
Additionally, there were many PC games and software that Lingyun System did not have. This meant that unless a computer user had no dependency on Windows programs, it was impossible to expect them to switch to Lingyun System.
Because once they switched, their daily work could not continue.
As for those who could switch, they quickly discovered that if they wanted to change the system, they would have to replace almost all the computer hardware. This was not a small expense.
Combining these two points, the difficulty of promoting Lingyun System in Western countries was even more difficult than hell.
But no one expected that Jiangnan Group would come up with the idea of using a recall to break through.
Firstly, not many companies are willing to conduct recalls. Instead, it is the government that has established specific regulations and systems to force companies to do so in order to protect consumer interests.
And to make companies willing to conduct recalls as much as possible, the cost of executing recalls would be significantly reduced.
For example, when a company discovers a problem with its product, if it voluntarily recalls it, the replacement parts used to fix the product are not considered sales products, and thus tax is not payable.
Furthermore, when these parts enter the country, as they are not products directly sold in the market, they can be exempted from inspection and directly use the fast track for customs clearance.
Therefore, when Fantasia Computer announced that it would recall all previously sold computers and replace the systems and related hardware, all of Microsoft's previous hurdles in terms of regulations ceased to exist.
Because these parts were necessary for repairing sold equipment, they would face almost no restrictions and could directly use the fast track for customs clearance, even being exempt from inspection and import taxes.
Of course, they had to ensure that this batch of products was used for free repair for users and could not be sold in the market. However, it was unlikely that Fantasia Computer would do something like that for a small amount of money.
Thus, within a short month, all the components required for over 4 million Lingyun System computers successfully entered the country without any obstacles.
However, even if the parts problem was solved, would users be willing to accept this recall and replace their Windows system with Lingyun System?
The answer was simple: they were not willing.
In the first one or two months, Microsoft judged that not many people would be willing to have their computers recalled.
Not only would it be inconvenient to use the computer after changing the system, but if it was sent via express delivery, it would take at least ten days to half a month, and possibly one or two months.
Who in this day and age could bear to have their computer disappear from their side for ten days or half a month? Therefore, Microsoft was very confident that even if Fantasia Computer offered free recalls, very few users would actually be willing to send their computers in.
But as Fantasia Computer announced its own data, a slap in the face occurred. Because in the first month alone, over 3.2 million Fantasia Computers in Europe were successfully recalled and returned to their users.
This data alone shocked Microsoft. After all, Fantasia Computer had sold about 30 million computers in Europe. If 3.2 million computers were recalled, it would mean that one-tenth of the users had chosen to switch to Lingyun System.
So, Microsoft immediately launched an investigation to understand why so many users had chosen to switch to Lingyun System.
Then, after another half a month of investigation, the detailed report was finally released, and Microsoft's expression upon seeing this report was very interesting, full of complexity.
Firstly, the core reason users chose to recall was that it was free. After all, who wouldn't want something for free? Anyone who missed out would be a complete fool.
Secondly, all the computers sent for recall were old computers that had been used for more than three years.
As everyone knows, the hardware update frequency of a computer is very fast.
After about three years, a computer that was originally configured quite well would become a low-spec computer, and the user experience would be greatly diminished, giving users the urge to buy a new computer.
After about five years, if the computer could still run without lag, it would be the greatest fortune.
After about ten years, if the computer could still boot up, it would be the greatest fortune. You would consider it a nuisance even if you stored it in a storage room, as it would have no practical use.
The computers sent for recall this time were generally Fantasia Computers that were over three years old. The owners of these computers already felt that the computers could no longer meet their daily needs.
Many people had already thought about replacing their computers, and even a large majority had already replaced them with new ones. This Fantasia Computer was already gathering dust in the storage room.
So, when they suddenly learned that Fantasia Computer was recalling its products at this time, and that any computer with the Fantasia Computer brand, regardless of model or production year, could be recalled, and Fantasia Computer would replace them with the latest five-进制 chips and corresponding accessories, these users were overjoyed and immediately brought out their computer hosts stored in the storage rooms and sent them to the recall points set up by Fantasia Computer in major cities worldwide.
To cooperate with this recall activity, Fantasia Computer specifically set up recall service points in major European cities. Generally, they would rent a large building in the outskirts of the city and hire some employees to directly replace the computers for users.
That's right, considering that hiring employees to boot up and replace computers would incur higher costs, Fantasia Computer directly brought pre-assembled host computers from China to replace the recalled products.