dtnovels Chapter 67 What if you win the lawsuit?
Chapter 67 What if you win the lawsuit?
Inside a highly private members-only club in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, sunlight streams through huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting dappled shadows on the dark walnut floors. The air is filled with the rich aroma of premium coffee and the subtle scent of cigars.
Clark arrived a few minutes earlier than agreed and chose a quiet corner by the window to sit down. He was dressed in a casual polo shirt and khaki pants, trying to appear relaxed, but the lingering seriousness between his brows and the occasional glances toward the entrance betrayed his inner turmoil.
A few minutes later, Ling Yun appeared on time, guided by a waiter. He was still dressed simply in a shirt and trousers, walking with composure and a humble smile on his face, but the calmness and determination in his eyes stirred something in Clark, a seasoned entrepreneur who had seen it all.
"Mr. Clark, thank you very much for your invitation." Ling Yun extended his hand, his tone neither humble nor arrogant.
"Mr. Ling, please have a seat." Clark shook hands with him and gestured for the waiter to bring coffee. "Your message... is quite special." He got straight to the point, scrutinizing Ling Yun with a sharp gaze.
"It's just stating an obvious fact that most people selectively ignore." Ling Yun smiled slightly, picked up the coffee the waiter brought, and stirred it gently.
"Obviously?" Clark raised an eyebrow. "Netscape currently holds over 90% of the market share, and our technology is at least a generation ahead of Microsoft's. In most people's eyes, Netscape has a bright future."
"Yes, the data is impressive." Ling Yun nodded, then changed the subject, "But what determines the outcome of a war is not just the number of soldiers and the sophistication of weapons, but also the rules of war and the choice of battlefield. In the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft, from the very beginning, the rules were set by Microsoft, and the battlefield was set in Microsoft's backyard—the Windows desktop."
He put down his coffee cup and looked calmly at Clark: "Mr. Clark, let's put aside those morale-boosting platitudes and get straight to the point. Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is currently inferior to Netscape in quality, functionality, and even user experience. However, it has one decisive advantage that Netscape can never have—it is silently and forcibly installed on the desktops of hundreds of millions of users with every Windows 95/NT system sold, and it's free."
Ling Yun spoke at a steady pace, but every word struck Clark's heart like a hammer blow.
"Netscape's business model is based on users actively choosing and downloading the software. Microsoft, on the other hand, uses its monopoly on its operating system to deprive users of that choice. They're not competing with you on whose product is better; they're redefining the rules of market entry through the most brutal and effective method: system bundling."
"This means," Ling Yun leaned forward slightly, his voice lower but more penetrating, "that IE can fail countless times. Version 1.0 was garbage, version 2.0 was a half-finished product, and version 3.0 was still full of bugs... It doesn't matter, Microsoft can afford it. They can continue to invest huge sums of money, iterating and improving until IE becomes 'good enough.' And in this process, every sale of a Windows system, every system update push, brings massive, almost zero-cost installations to IE."
Seeing Clark's increasingly grim expression, he uttered the cruelest conclusion: "But Netscape, the empire you and Mr. Anderson built, cannot afford to lose any crucial battle. Once IE, with its bundling advantage, surpasses a certain market share threshold (say, 30%, or even 20%), the attitudes of channels, developers, and content providers will undergo a subtle but fatal shift. Investor confidence will crumble like an avalanche, and the stock price collapse will drain the company of the lifeblood for continued R&D and market competition. At that point, even if Netscape's technology remains superior, it will be too late to turn the tide."
Clark listened in silence, his fingers gripping the handle of his coffee cup tightly, his knuckles turning white. Ling Yun's analysis, like a cold scalpel, precisely dissected the festering wound beneath Netscape's glamorous exterior. It coincided with, and even more clearly and systematically, his deepest fears.
A surge of anger and helplessness at being completely seen through welled up inside him. He abruptly raised his head, his tone hardening, even carrying a gambler's stubbornness:
"So what? According to your analysis, we can only sit and wait to be defeated? No!" he almost roared. "We won't give up! We will fight Microsoft to the end! We're already gathering evidence; we're going to sue Microsoft for abusing its market dominance! We will win this case! The Department of Justice won't stand idly by!"
This is the "lifeline" that he, and many other senior executives within Netscape, are grasping at under immense pressure—placing their hopes on the antitrust law.
Ling Yun looked at Clark, who was somewhat agitated, but his face remained expressionless. Instead, he gently shook his head, almost with a hint of pity.
"Mr. Clark," his voice remained calm, yet stood out clearly in the lavish club, "please forgive my bluntness. But have you considered, even if you win this case, what will it amount to?"
"What?" Clark was taken aback.
"Suppose—and I mean suppose," Ling Yun said slowly—"Netscape ultimately wins this antitrust case. The court rules that Microsoft must separate Internet Explorer from Windows, or provide Netscape with some form of compensation. How long will this process take? A year? Two years? Or, like some antitrust cases, drag on for three to five years?"
He didn't need Clark's answer, continuing his own questioning: "Three years from now, five years from now, you'll finally win this protracted legal battle. But what will the browser market look like then? With Microsoft's system bundling and free strategy in full swing, how much market share will Netscape have left? 10%? 5%? Or even less? After the long litigation, the huge resource consumption, and the continuous loss of market share, whether your company will even exist is an unknown."
Ling Yun's tone suddenly rose, carrying an almost cold rationality: "Using a company that may already be lost to exchange for a judgment that no one will applaud even if you win? Just to morally prove you're right and Microsoft is wrong? Just to... vent your anger?"
"The business world is like a battlefield, Mr. Clark. On the battlefield, survival is the only objective. The dead have no right to discuss justice or victory."
"..."
Clark opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but found that his throat felt like it was blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a single word. Ling Yun's words were like a bucket of cold water mixed with ice, poured over his head, instantly chilling him to the bone and completely waking him from his self-comforting belief that "a lawsuit can solve the problem."
Yes, if you win the lawsuit but lose the market, or even the company, what's the point of victory? Is it just to leave a tragic "victim" reputation in history books?
Looking at the excessively young Asian man before him, he truly felt for the first time the terrifying level of the other's thinking. This man saw not temporary gains or losses, not the morality of law, but the most essential and cruel underlying logic of business competition—survival and development.
The melodious background music in the club remained the same, but Clark seemed to hear the heart-wrenching grinding sound of the gears of his company's fate being crushed by cruel reality.
Ling Yun remained silent, quietly sipping his coffee, giving this internet pioneer time to process this potent medicine. He knew that only by completely shattering the other party's unrealistic fantasies could he guide him to consider truly valuable solutions.