When Bill Gates said that there was a new ecosystem to be released, Li Mu immediately thought of MSN.
Just before this, through his own speculation and combined with Lin Ching-ah's secret investigation in the US, he had long determined that Microsoft was going to reboot MSN. Li Mu had long guessed that Microsoft was interested in returning to the social media field, but he was not worried about it, because with the current popularity of YY and the attention of users, no company could surpass him. The only one who could surpass him was himself.
This was just like when QQ gained a foothold in the past, no one could defeat it. The only one that could cause a major impact on it was his own WeChat.
So, Li Mu looked indifferently at the proud Bill Gates and asked with a smile, "Mr. Gates, is Microsoft still not giving up on MSN?"
Li Mu's words made Bill Gates' expression become extremely unnatural.
The MSN ecosystem plan was rebuilt by Bill Gates inspired by Makino Technology's YY ecosystem, and the internal confidentiality level was very high. He only told Li Mu that there was a new ecosystem to be released today. How did Li Mu immediately determine that he was going to release MSN? Was it an internal leak?
The change in Bill Gates' expression was seen by Li Mu. He smiled slightly and patted Bill Gates' right arm gently. He said with a smile, "Mr. Gates, you don't have to be so surprised. In fact, I can see that Microsoft has never given up on the social media field. In my opinion, Microsoft does have enough strength to do a good job in the social media industry. It was a pity that they gave up before."
At this moment, Bill Gates's mood had suffered a great blow. He originally wanted to give Li Mu a "surprise", but he did not expect that Li Mu gave him the feeling of "I knew what you would do". This made Bill Gates feel as if there was a breath stuck in his heart, and he could not get it out no matter what.
Although Bill Gates had never seen Li Mu before, deep in his heart, he had long regarded Li Mu as his biggest competitor in life.
In fact, people with science and engineering background like Bill Gates were the most competitive in terms of vision. In 1994, the great success of Microsoft pushed Bill Gates to the position of the world's richest man. Until now, he had only missed the top spot for two years.
From 1998 until now, he had been the world's richest man. Originally, the entire Wall Street thought that Bill Gates would continue to be the world's richest man until 2008 or even 2010. However, it was not until the young Li Mu appeared with Makino Technology that people realized that Bill Gates's position as the world's richest man could no longer be maintained.
Perhaps Bill Gates did not care about how much wealth he had, but he still cared a lot about his reputation. In any field, there was only one supreme halo, and only the supreme one had it. Today, the global IT industry was so huge, whether it was software, hardware, social networking, e-commerce, search, or other subcategories, Bill Gates was the well-deserved number one. But now, these halos had been snatched away by Li Mu.
Li Mu was like an uncrowned king. His company was not listed, and there was no exact reference for his company and personal assets. But everyone believed that Li Mu will surpass Bill Gates in the future, and Makino Technology will surpass Microsoft in the future.
The media in Silicon Valley and Wall Street had long begun to speak ill of Bill Gates. Even if Bill Gates did not care at first, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet were all saying that Li Mu was about to surpass him, leave him far behind, and create a new height in the IT field. After reading such news for a long time, Bill Gates' competitive spirit would be infinitely stimulated.
So, deep in his heart, he can't wait to show the world a few more moves. He wants them to know that he is still as powerful as ever, and he even has the ability to defend his throne.
Windows Live, which was going to be launched soon, was the old king's counterattack before he was about to be overthrown. If he succeeded, Microsoft's market value would skyrocket, and Muye's valuation would plummet. The gap between the two sides would quickly widen, and in that case, his throne would still be stable.
Before meeting Li Mu, and even before talking to Li Mu, Bill Gates was full of confidence in the new ecosystem that he was about to launch. But at this moment, he suddenly felt a little panicked.
The reason for his panic was that he did not understand why Li Mu saw through his intentions in advance.
What's more, he couldn't understand why Li Mu was still so calm and composed after seeing through his intention.
What he said seemed very polite and courteous, but in reality, it made her feel like he was looking down on her.
The feeling that Li Mu gave Bill Gates was that he did not see Bill Gates as an opponent at all.
At this time, Davidson said to Li Mu, "Mr. Li Mu, the banquet is about to start. Why don't we take a seat first? After the banquet, we will have a salon. If you and Mr. Gates have anything to talk about, feel free to speak."
Li Mu nodded gently and said to Bill Gates, "Mr. Gates, let's talk later?"
Bill Gates smiled unnaturally. After a while, he suddenly asked Li Mu, "Mr. Lee, why don't we sit closer to each other and talk while eating?"
Li Mu smiled indifferently and said, "I'm fine with anything, but it depends on how Mr. Gao Bai arranges the seats."
Davidson smiled and said, "Mr. Li, you and Mr. Gates are both honored guests of the Gao Bai family. Naturally, you should sit in the seats closest to the front. Since the two of you are interested in chatting, I might as well arrange for the two of you to sit opposite each other. What do you think?"
Bill Gates hurriedly nodded and said, "No problem. Thank you, Davidson."
Li Mu also nodded and said, "I'm fine with it too."
At this moment, Davidson made an inviting gesture to the two of them and led them all the way to the row of main seats. He arranged for them to sit at the very front of the row of guest seats, which was closest to the main seat.
After arranging the seats for Li Mu and Bill Gates, Davidson said to Li Mu, "Mr. Lee, you're a bit late. You probably don't know many of the guests yet. Do you want me to introduce you to them?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "There are so many people. I'm afraid it'll take a long time to introduce them all at once. Also, I might not be able to remember so many people. Why don't we wait for the salon after the banquet? Besides, there are still a few days left. We can take it slowly."
Davidson nodded lightly and said with a smile, "That's true. Then I'll slowly introduce you to Mr. Lee in the remaining time."
At this time, the others also began to gradually take their seats.
Davidson said goodbye to Li Mu and Bill Gates and communicated with other family members about the situation.
After Li Mu sat down, he carefully observed for a moment and discovered the pattern of the Goldberg family's seating arrangement.
As the host, the members of the Goldberg family naturally sat in the row of the main seats. However, there were only seven seats in total. As the leader of the family, Davidson sat in the middle, with his wife and eldest son on both sides. His eldest son's wife and his second son's husband and wife sat further away from him.
As for the other members of the Goldberg family, they were basically distributed in two rows of guest seats. Basically, there was a member of the Goldberg family every three people or so. Wendy Goldberg was arranged to sit in the area where Li Mu was, next to Li Mu.
There were two rows of guest seats in front of them. In addition to the members of the Goldberg family, Li Mu's row seemed to be filled with entrepreneurs and some aristocrats. The row opposite him seemed to be filled with members of the royal families of various countries. This was because Li Mu saw several familiar members of the British royal family, including Prince William, who later married a commoner's wife and grabbed the global headlines. However, he still looked very young, and his hair was still relatively thick.
The seats of the British royal family were the closest to the main row. Next to them were several Middle Eastern royal families in white robes and headscarves. The headscarves of the Middle Eastern royal families were very particular. The pure white headscarves with black rims were the royal families of several emirates in the United Arab Emirates, while the red-and-white checkered ones with black rims were the Saudi royal family.
The royal families of the Middle East were all rich and powerful super-rich. However, the situation of the royal families was very similar to that of the big families. The total amount of wealth was huge, but the distribution was relatively scattered. For example, the Saudi royal family had trillions of assets. In terms of the scale of assets, no one could compare. However, there were more than 5,000 princes in the royal family, and 40% of them were core members. From this, it could be seen that it was difficult for the Middle Eastern tycoons to reach the top of the world in terms of personal finances.
Everyone gradually took their seats, and the originally lively banquet hall soon quieted down. A large number of waiters and waiters in uniform stood behind the two rows of guest seats, ready to pour the soaked red wine in their hands.
Two minutes before the scheduled start time, Davidson made a gesture to the butler behind him. Then the butler immediately winked at the waiters waiting on both sides. The waiters on both sides received the order, stepped forward at the same time, and poured half a glass of red wine in front of each guest.
After pouring the wine, the waiters immediately retreated to their positions against the wall. Davidson stood up with the wine glass in his hand and gently tapped the side of the crystal wine glass with a silver fork in his hand, making a crisp tinkling sound.
Everyone turned their eyes to Davidson. Davidson said with a red face, "Ladies and gentlemen, before the official start of the meal, I have a few words to say to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the members of the Goldberg family, who were sitting in the main seats with him, stood up with their wine glasses in their hands. The guests also stood up at this moment.
Wendy was afraid that Li Mu did not understand the social etiquette of Europeans, so she whispered in Li Mu's ear in Chinese, "Mr. Li, before the European banquet begins, there will be a toast, which is a toast in Chinese. However, generally, there is only one toast before the meal. When you raise your glass together later, you can drink a little. You don't have to drink all of it."
Li Mu smiled and thanked her.
Davidson, who was sitting in the middle of the main seat, said with a smile, "Thank you very much for coming to the Goldberg manor and participating in the Goldberg family party. On behalf of all the members of the Goldberg family, I thank every guest for coming. Thank you all!"
After that, Davidson raised his glass and said, "Cheers."
So all the guests raised their glasses and took a sip of red wine together.
The British's drinking culture was more gentlemanly. There was no such thing as a toast for red wine. Generally, they poured one-third of the wine into the glass and drank half of it in one gulp. After they put down the glass, the waiter would come forward and refill the glass to one-third of the wine. The glass would never be empty. If they didn't want to drink, they could wet their lips every time.
After drinking the first glass of wine, everyone took their seats, and the chef and waiter began to serve the dishes.
Li Mu looked at the large pile of tableware in front of him and felt a headache.
Western food was very particular, especially in Europe. It was probably the most complicated dining style in the world. Just the tableware in front of him made it difficult for Li Mu to adapt. There were several kinds of cups, knives and forks, and there were countless plates of different sizes.
So Li Mu whispered to Wendy, who was next to him, "Miss Wendy, if I do anything presumptuous or not in line with Western etiquette later, please forgive me and let me know in time. I personally have no understanding of these Western customs."
Wendy smiled and said, "The British are more rigid, so they are more particular. Mr. Li, you don't have to pay too much attention to Western etiquette. Just do what is comfortable."
Li Mu raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "There is an old saying in Hua Xia, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' Since you are here, you should follow the rules here. Otherwise, it will seem offensive."
Wendy smiled and said, "Then I will teach you later."
Li Mu nodded and smiled. "Thank you."
Sitting across from Li Mu, Bill Gates saw that Li Mu had been whispering to Wendy in Mandarin and felt a little depressed.
From the first moment he saw Li Mu to the present, Li Mu had no interest in the "new ecosystem" he talked about, which made Bill Gates very hurt.
He had put himself in Li Mu's shoes to think about this problem. If Li Mu told him to his face that he was going to launch a new ecosystem soon, he would definitely be very concerned and eager to know more about it. He would never be like Li Mu, completely ignoring it.
Moreover, Li Mu had already guessed that he was going to resurrect MSN, re-enter the social network, and directly become a direct opponent of YY. But even so, Li Mu still didn't care, which really made him unable to understand.
After struggling for a long time, Bill Gates finally took advantage of the time when the dishes were served to ask Li Mu, "Mr. Li, I am very curious. What is your impression and opinion of Microsoft's former MSN?"
"Impression and opinion?" Li Mu smiled and said, "How do I put it? It feels a bit like a carbonated drink produced by NASA."
NASA was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the world's strongest presence in the aerospace field. But Li Mu said that MSN was like a carbonated drink produced by NASA. Bill Gates couldn't help but ask him, "Why do you say this, Mr. Li? Do you think MSN is not good enough? "
Li Mu smiled and said seriously, "To be honest, the root of the problem is not whether MSN is good or bad, but NASA should not try to do things that they are not good at. They should focus on their aerospace research and leave things like carbonated drinks to Coca-Cola."
No matter how calm Bill Gates was, he was a little angry at this time.
The meaning of Li Mu's words was already very clear. He felt that Microsoft was not made for social networking. It was best to give up the dream of social networking as soon as possible. However, he didn't know how much effort he had put into making Microsoft return to social networking.
So, Bill Gates said to Li Mu with a blank expression, "Mr. Li, whether NASA is good at making carbonated drinks or not is not up to you to decide. The most important thing is to see how the carbonated drinks produced by them are. I believe that as long as the product is good, consumers will naturally not let it be buried. As long as it is good enough, consumers will even give up Coca-Cola for it!"
Li Mu laughed and said straightforwardly, "Mr. Gates, if you think MSN can have an impact on YY, then go ahead and try. I personally welcome and support all competition."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
