"What? The total number of software applications in the Tianzhou Mall has surged by 18,000 this month?" Steve Ballmer asked incredulously, looking at the latest submitted data in his hand.
As the initiator of the anti-Five-System Alliance, Steve Ballmer had not relaxed his surveillance on this sudden emerging competitor. He had ordered comprehensive monitoring of all data for the Five-System and Tianzhou terminals.
However, as the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer was naturally overwhelmed with work and had no time to constantly scrutinize the competitor's data. Thus, the plan was to report the data once a month for the CEO to review.
Logically, this policy was not wrong. After all, a company's data wouldn't change drastically within a month. For a CEO dealing with various internal company affairs and solving troubles, reviewing specific data once a month was indeed acceptable.
Then, in mid-November, he reviewed the summary report of the Tianzhou terminal's various data and discovered the bizarre figures for the Tianzhou Store: the number of applications uploaded had surged by 18,000 in one month.
It was important to note that the total number of applications in the entire store at that time was only 21,000.
This meant that previously there were only a total of 3,000 applications in the store, and this number had increased sixfold in a single month, reaching an unbelievably high level.
Upon further inspection of the sources of these applications, it was found that they were uploaded by thousands of different program development companies or individuals. This data made Steve Ballmer even more fearful.
Thousands of companies were already developing applications for Tianzhou, which meant what? It meant that Jiangnan Group had broken through the obstruction of the anti-Five-System Alliance and had a large number of third-party developers. This was a result that Steve Ballmer absolutely could not accept.
And where did these over a thousand companies come from?
They couldn't all be newly established. This definitely meant that some enterprises within the alliance had betrayed the alliance.
"These companies must be severely punished, otherwise the entire alliance will be finished!" Steve Ballmer roared in his heart. He then began to meticulously review the origins of these thousands of companies, and suddenly he froze.
It turned out that all these companies were indeed newly established. One of them was even a member of the alliance, making it impossible for Steve Ballmer to use the alliance's rules to sanction them.
But the problem was, Steve Ballmer wasn't a fool. How could 1,000 new software companies suddenly emerge to develop applications for Tianzhou?
Previously, all applications were developed by Jiangnan Group itself, and they used Jiangnan Group's own company name. There was no reason for over a thousand new companies to suddenly appear as a facade for them. Moreover, these companies were spread all over the world—the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and even Africa. This couldn't have been orchestrated by Jiangnan Group alone.
Therefore, Steve Ballmer had reason to believe that these companies were actually shell companies created by alliance members solely to evade alliance sanctions.
With this thought, Steve Ballmer became extremely angry. He swore to the heavens that he would find out the identities of the companies behind this and severely punish them. Even if they were hiding behind the scenes without concrete evidence, Steve Ballmer was determined to act.
Because if this situation was not curbed strongly now, it would be even more impossible to stop later. He had to make an example of them.
So, Steve Ballmer immediately ordered his assistant to find a way to investigate the companies behind the scenes before considering the methods.
Steve Ballmer had expected it would take at least ten to fifteen days to find out the identities of the masterminds. However, he was surprised when, after just 30 minutes, his assistant returned with a pile of documents, all filled with densely packed company names.
Then, the assistant informed Steve Ballmer that these were the companies behind the over 1,000 newly emerging software development companies.
"How did you determine this?" Steve Ballmer casually flipped through these company names and then gasped.
These companies were not small. The vast majority were industry giants. This list contained over 360 companies, of which 300 were among the top 500 software development companies globally.
If he were to impose sanctions according to this list, it would essentially be sanctioning the entire software development industry. Once this sanction order was issued, it would…
Approximately one-third of the programs in the Windows system would be cleared out. Steve Ballmer was utterly speechless.
"It was deduced from the share pre-subscription list released by oo Network!" The assistant then began to explain. He first found the pre-subscription list publicly released by oo Network, then identified the financial institutions that made investments through this list, and then added the list of software development companies controlled by these financial institutions. Thus, this list of masterminds was compiled.
"How can you be so arbitrary? Without any evidence?" Steve Ballmer questioned angrily upon hearing this. Simply because a financial institution invested in a company, and just because those software development companies belonged to these financial institutions, they were directly blacklisted. This was beyond arbitrary; it was practically baseless accusation.
"Mr. President, I know you have always paid little attention to the financial circles, so you might not be aware of the recent seismic event in the securities industry!" The assistant sighed and then briefly recounted the entire process of oo Network's listing and the various bizarre events that occurred in the process. He concluded, "Sir, the entire financial industry is now going crazy trying to get subscription opportunities and listing codes. They have ordered all controllable software development companies under their control to divert personnel to develop applications for Tianzhou. This is already an open secret in the industry!"
"Because too many companies are participating, it's impossible to conceal. So, the programmers within these companies are no longer hiding. Various programmer websites and forums are filled with complaints about developing for Tianzhou and having to work under someone who hasn't even graduated from college."
"You don't need to investigate these things. Just take a look at the forums, or call a few good friends to confirm, and you'll get the full picture. Although my list has no evidence, I can guarantee that 90% of the companies on the list are problematic."
"Moreover, there are even more companies that are not on the list joining in. Because these financial institutions have gone mad, they are not only demanding that the software development companies they control develop applications, but they are also directly acquiring listing codes from the outside. The price has already soared to $40,000 each. This has led a large number of program development companies to secretly establish new companies to develop applications and then sell the listing codes to financial institutions." The assistant poured out all the information he knew, leaving Steve Ballmer completely dumbfounded.
"How can he do this? What other methods does he have?" Steve Ballmer had spent his entire life in the industry and eventually rose to the position of Microsoft CEO, succeeding Bill Gates. Logically, he should have been experienced, but he had never seen such a method of promoting one's own platform.
Therefore, Steve Ballmer was utterly speechless.
"Sir, should we continue to find evidence of these companies and sanction them?" the assistant asked cautiously.
"How can I sanction this kind of thing? If I dare to issue such an order, all the software development companies in the world will explode!" Steve Ballmer sighed.
"However, we can't do absolutely nothing. You find a way to collect evidence. Sue whichever companies you can get evidence for. At least it will serve as a deterrent, otherwise, our alliance will be completely ruined!" Steve Ballmer said helplessly. He could only make an example of them.
"Sir, actually, I don't think we need to worry too much about this matter. These 18,000 applications were actually bought by Jiangnan Group with benefits. All the developers are also developing applications for Tianzhou for the sake of profit."
"But these benefits will eventually be exhausted. Once the benefit exchange stops, I believe these companies will immediately return to the right track and will no longer be interested in the Five-System."
"Moreover, the methods they used this time are very malicious. They forced many programmers to develop Five-System programs, and even further forced them to learn Chinese. All the internet forums are filled with curses. These programmers have accumulated anger towards Tianzhou in their hearts."
"Many programmers have sworn on the forums that after this matter is over, they will never develop any applications for Tianzhou in their lives. Through this action, Tianzhou has completely offended the vast programmer community, and they have instead lost their potential for future development!" the assistant said with a smile.
"Alas, do you think I don't know these situations?" The assistant had expected Steve Ballmer to smile broadly and praise him heartily after hearing his words, but Steve Ballmer's expression became even more somber.
"Even if the Five-System offended all programmers, even if many programmers swore never to program for the Five-System again, during this process, these programmers still mastered the programming technology of the Five-System. They even learned Chinese because of it. They all have the foundation to become Five-System programmers. This is what Jiangnan Group truly wants."
"That's right. After the benefit exchange ends, these programmers may indeed distance themselves from the Five-System, but what if the benefit exchange doesn't end?"
"But there are only so many shares, and once they are sold, they are gone!" the assistant said with a frown.
"But Tianzhou is still there, and so are Tianzhou's users!" Steve Ballmer said, throwing the document in his hand onto the table. "Now Tianzhou's global users have exceeded 6 million. These are 6 million users with demand for Tianzhou applications. This is tangible benefit, and it's a benefit that will never be sold out!"
"In Chinese, this is called sustainable development!"