Eric and Steve Case talked back and forth for a day, but they didn't reach much agreement until after get off work, so they could only continue the talk the next day.
Because Chris invited himself to dinner at home, after get off work, Eric sent away his entourage and got into Chris' car.
"Unexpectedly, the number of Internet users in North America has exceeded 1.5 million. I thought it would take a while," Eric said with emotion after Chris started the car. He planned to start the plan after Clinton came to power. Some of the projects in the project, after seeing some data about America Online today, I still feel that the project in my heart should be done sooner rather than later.
Although the number of 1.5 million is completely incomparable with the hundreds of millions of Internet users in later generations, it is already a very impressive number in this era when personal computers have not yet been popularized. Moreover, when the number of users is relatively small, the layout is carried out in advance, and when the Internet users explode, it can even reach the level of creating industry standards.
Eric vaguely remembers a sentence, which seems to be that first-rate companies set standards, second-rate companies rely on brands, third-rate companies sell technology, and fourth-rate companies make products. These four sentences are like an industry pyramid. The higher you are at the top of the pyramid, the higher the benefits you will get. Take the smart phone in the original time and space as an example, with a full set of technical standards, the standard mobile phone manufacturers Apple and Samsung are blowing the wind. 90% of the profits of smartphones, while those domestic mobile phone manufacturers who are always clamoring to beat Apple on the configuration can only get 1% of the profits, because the chips they use are from the United States, the screens are from Japan, The camera is from South Korea, and occasionally a gimmick of 'austenitic 304 stainless steel' is made that makes people not aware of it. It turns out that it is just a common tableware material around people.
Chris didn't know Eric's mental activity. Hear Eric's words. Asked: "Wait for what?"
"I have some ideas in my mind. I originally planned to wait for the network to develop for a period of time before implementing it. Now it seems that there is no need to wait. The sooner the better."
Chris hummed and leaned towards the side of the road, letting a red BMW convertible pass by, obviously absent-minded.
"You moved?" Eric looked at the road signs outside. He remembered that Chris and Emily lived in Midtown Manhattan last time, but now they are almost in Central Park.
“We bought an apartment on the Upper East Side a while back. It’s right up Third Avenue at 72nd Street.”
"It just so happens that I also have a villa near there. I bought it with Drew last year, and I haven't lived in it yet," Eric said, suddenly remembering something, and asked, "Aren't you going to get married?"
Chris shook his head: "Emily wants to wait another two years, she doesn't plan to get married until she's thirty."
Eric's mind is still relatively sensitive. Chris, who was originally quite talkative along the way, suddenly lost a lot of words, and he quickly guessed. Maybe it has something to do with this dinner.
Chris parked the car in the parking lot of a high-rise apartment building, and the two got on the elevator together. Soon arrived at the floor where Chris's new home was located.
Emily, who was dressed at home, opened the door and warmly hugged Eric: "Eric, nice to see you again."
"Me too," Eric let go of Emily and said with a smile, "but I didn't bring red wine."
"It's okay, please come in," Emily let Eric into the apartment, not only thoughtfully helped Eric hang up the windbreaker, but also took a pair of slippers for Eric to change into.
Eric thought that the young couple seemed a little abnormal. Although Emily had always been very cheerful and enthusiastic, she seemed to be a bit too much today.
"Eric, sit down first, dinner will be ready soon," Emily said after pouring coffee for Eric, and then winked at Chris: "Chris, can you come and help me? "
Chris approached the kitchen with some helplessness.
Eric just glanced in the direction of the kitchen, and didn't express any more curiosity. Instead, he randomly picked up the remote control on the coffee table and turned on the TV. Anyway, if the couple had anything to do, they would definitely say it later.
In the kitchen, Emily put on oven mitts, opened the oven to have a look, closed the lid again, and asked in a low voice, "Did you tell him?"
Chris spread his hands: "This is too embarrassing, what do you want me to say?"
"How could it be embarrassing, this is a very normal thing," Emily glared at her boyfriend angrily: "You...you just don't want to help me."
"If I didn't want to help you, I wouldn't have invited Eric over, and you can tell the rest," Chris said, picking up a kitchen knife, trying to help Emily cut onions.
Emily snatched the kitchen knife angrily: "Okay, I'll say it myself, I don't need your help."
…
"It really freaked me out that night, especially when the farm tractor hit the TV screen at the end, I really thought the TV was broken, Eric, how the hell did that happen? "During dinner, Emily recalled the trailer of "Tornado" released some time ago, and asked a little excitedly.
"It's just a simple visual effect." Eric said the principle simply, without much complacency in his tone. After all, the current 3D movie effect has reached this level, and the visual effect will be even more shocking , but the current 3D movie technology is not mature enough, and the current 3D glasses will cause serious visual fatigue if worn for a long time, so now most of the 3D technology can only be used in short films.
Emily asked expectantly: "I remember that the release date of "Tornado" is June 5th, so it will be a long time. Will Firefly order screenings in advance?"
"Of course, when the time comes, I will have someone send you two tickets," Eric replied with a smile.
Emily thanked her, and then, the atmosphere in the restaurant fell into a brief pause. After a while, Emily finally mustered up her courage and said, "Eric, now, that... Firefly Investment Company still has a large A sum of money?"
Eric glanced at Chris who bowed his head and pretended to drink soup, and said with a smile, "This Chris should know better than me, right?"
Hearing this sentence, Chris was choked for a moment, and quickly pulled out a few tissues and turned around.
Eric almost understood. Simply put down the knife and fork in your hand. Seriously said: "Emily, if you have something to say, just say it directly, we don't need these polite things between us, it will make us seem unfamiliar."
This sentence made Emily a little embarrassed: "Actually, it's our clothing company..."
"Oh, I remembered," Eric immediately showed a dazed look, and he quickly remembered the scene when he first met Chris and Emily at Jeffrey's house on Thanksgiving two years ago. Chris also works at Morgan Stanley. Just happened to be responsible for the listing of the clothing company of Emily's family, because Emily's father falsely reported the information of the clothing company, which caused the listing to fail: "I remember I told you last year that if you make money in the futures market, I will invest in your clothing company, I'm sorry, I almost forgot about it, how much money do you need now?"
Emily glanced at her boyfriend before cautiously stretching out a finger: "One... one hundred million?"
Chris immediately turned his head and stared over, and Emily immediately changed her words: "Actually, 60 million is also possible."
Eric knew that Chris's character was too serious to put it lightly, and to say it was serious. It's just old-fashioned. Although he has a lot of money from Firefly in his hands, he feels that it would be unprofessional to solicit investment for his girlfriend's family business, so he flashed that embarrassing look.
After the acquisition of Disney, Eric still has about 1.5 billion left over from the 8 billion US dollars he took from the Gulf War last year. After the acquisition of Disney, Firefly Pictures itself can also achieve self-sufficiency in funds. Therefore, he I plan to use the money for other investments.
"Well," Eric thought for a while, and said with a smile: "I will stay in New York for the past few days, you take the time to prepare a document for me, after I read it, I will decide whether to invest 60 million or 100 million ,OK?"
"Of course no problem," Emily said with a trace of excitement on her face, she almost wanted to get up immediately to take out the materials she had prepared, but she soon realized that the current occasion was not suitable for doing so.
After dinner, Eric rejected Chris and Emily's suggestion to stay overnight. Chris sent Eric downstairs, and the two walked side by side on the bustling streets of Mangaton.
"I always feel that I am very lucky. If I hadn't met Jeffrey by chance and met you again, I might not have the current results at all. I have no relatives in this world. I have always regarded Jeffrey as an elder Look at it," Eric looked at the neon signs by the roadside, and sighed with emotion, he still remembered that a few years ago, he put all his bets on a whim to make "Home Alone", if he didn't just meet Jeffrey With his shooting team, he is a rookie who has just entered Hollywood, even if he can pull up a grassroots team, he may not be able to perfectly produce the movie in his memory.
Chris knew why Eric suddenly said this. Chris didn't feel that his father and son were Eric's benefactors. He had always been very self-aware. Can they cheer up again? Even, the cold war between their father and son doesn't know how long it will last. What's more, now, he is managing more than two billion dollars in assets, and if he has not chosen to resign, but has been working at Morgan Stanley, to be able to independently operate an investment project of the same size, at least in Ten years of struggle: "Actually, we are all very lucky."
Eric smiled: "Yeah."
Chris put his hands in the pockets of the windbreaker and said: "By the way, you can rest assured about this investment. Well, Emily's father has retired, and now Emily is in charge of the clothing company. It has developed well in the past two years. , if it wasn’t for the incident two years ago, it would be a breeze for the company to go public again.”
"The specific investment amount is up to you to discuss with Emily, such as going back later, on the bed," Eric joked.
"You should pay attention, I will try not to interfere," Chris smiled: "By the way, when you came back today, you said that you already had some ideas about computer networks in your mind?"
"I didn't expect you to remember this."
"Okay, stop teasing me. Tell me what you think?"
Eric looked around, pointed to a coffee shop on the side of the road and said, "If you're not in a hurry to go back, let's go in and talk for a while, the villa I bought is right in front, but it's a bit deserted inside, just Before coming here today, I informed the housekeeping company to clean it up."
Chris nodded, and the two walked into the roadside coffee shop side by side, ordered two cups of coffee, and settled down by the window.
Eric sorted out his thoughts and said, "It's a pity that there is no laptop here, or it would be more convenient to say, you should have studied computer information during this time, right?"
"Well, just say it directly, I should be able to understand it," Chris said.
"Actually, all of my ideas are based on the widespread use of computer network technology. However, as I said before, I personally think this is a development trend of the times, and the possibility is very high. Moreover, even if the bet is really lost Well, I won't lose too much."
Chris echoed: "Actually, I also feel that your judgment is very reasonable. A few days ago, I discovered that Emily was using an Apple laptop to look at clothing design drawings, and those design drawings were designed with software. Yes, this was even unimaginable a few years ago. Moreover, the price of personal computers is not too expensive now. An ordinary person can buy one with one or two months' salary. If the computer hardware can maintain the high speed If it grows, it will be a matter of time before the popularity of personal computers."
"Well, let's go back to the computer network. I currently have three ideas," Eric paused, and added: "This is what I figured out in the process of using the computer every day. And, I plan to separate It became three companies running these three ideas, first of all, an idea about a graphical interface browser."
"Graphical interface browser?" Chris repeated Eric's vocabulary.
"It's a kind... a graphical version of browsing the Internet tools," Eric thought for a while, and explained: "You can see by comparing it this way. The Internet tools we use now are similar to the dos operating system a few years ago. Complicated commands can only be run, which is very inconvenient, and the graphical interface browser I imagined is to present the current Internet tools in a simple graphical interface, just like Microsoft's windows operating system, you know, in the window system Before the emergence of personal computers, professional technicians were often the ones who used personal computers. After the emergence of the window system, even ordinary people can use personal computers. The graphical interface browser I imagined is a kind of browser that allows ordinary people to A 'windows tool' that can easily browse the computer network." (To be continued..)