America 1982-Chapter 106 - 22: Spare Neither Man Nor Beast
While Tommy and his brothers were in a meeting, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Lotus Corporation headquarters, several founders and executives of Lotus Corporation were also sitting in the conference room, looking at the SSD-2 software running on a computer.
This software only overlapped with their Lotus 1-2-3 in the spreadsheet function, while another feature was electronic documentation, which the Lotus software did not possess.
"The most outrageous thing about this software is that it has made itself compatible with our file format without our permission," said Jim Manzi, the vice president and CBO of Lotus Corporation, to the company’s founder, who is also the president and CEO, Mitch Kapor, "Which means, if a person creates and saves a Lotus spreadsheet file with a .WKS extension using Lotus, and then copies it to another computer that doesn’t have Lotus software installed but has this piece of shit installed, that piece of dog shit can open our file."
"For this kind of behavior, like I did before, to send a weak lawyer’s letter, to boost their morale and promote them to quickly market the software instead of testing it, I have already had someone watch that company. The moment they start to sell, we will immediately use our legal and PR power to force them to stop development, hand over the data, pay up, and go bankrupt. We’ll then take it over and declare it ours, magnanimously incorporating those convenient features you guys have raved about in our software’s next update," he continued.
Dressed in casual attire, Mitch Kapor clenched his hand into a fist and held it to his mouth, eyes fixed on the computer screen on the conference table. After a dozen seconds or so, he finally spoke, not responding directly to Jim Manzi, but looking towards the company’s co-founder, also his fellow alumnus from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was now the CTO of the company, Jonathan Sachs:
"Have the data from your team’s testing come out yet?"
"More accurate data will take a few more days, but based on the preliminary figures, if two people do the same work using these two pieces of software, the one using that software can improve efficiency by at least 15%, just the auto-fill calculation alone can save a lot of time," Jonathan Sachs replied, looking at Mitch:
"That software doesn’t seem to emphasize professionalism, it only stresses efficiency and ease of learning. It doesn’t have those complex functions present in professional software, it’s just simple document and spreadsheet entry, and it has taken efficiency and ease of use to the extreme based on the existing foundation. Some of its features are even ones we’ve just received customer feedback on and were preparing to start developing. Without large-scale testing, a few or a dozen programmers wouldn’t possibly be able to design such user-centric features. I’ve been wondering, how did Actor Software Company manage to do this?"
"15%... 15%, do you know what that means? If software could increase each employee’s hourly work efficiency by 7%, the boss will choose it without hesitation," Jim Manzi continued, "Pressure them, no more consideration, use PR power, find a lawyer, and take them down directly, swallowing them is the best solution."
Different from Mitch and Jonathan, this chief business officer had been invited by Mitch to join after the company began making money, because they needed this professional, who graduated from an international and public relations college, to be in charge of the company’s transaction decisions and management. He didn’t understand or care about how software was developed, but he sensed Mitch’s shock and the efficiency improvement from that software. Not knowing how to program, he understood capitalists—the rich don’t waste any time, so he gave what he believed to be the most efficient solution.
To him, the other party was just an unknown small company. In his view, they could simply use money to make them shut down easily. Lotus at that time wasn’t the same as it had been a year and a half ago—it was now the third largest software company in America, with ample cash flow, only behind Microsoft and Micro Innovation. The reason for lagging behind was that Lotus currently only had one software product for sale, while the top two companies had been operating for many years. Jim believed that, given time, with the genius ideas from Mitch and his team, surpassing Microsoft and Micro Innovation was only a matter of time.
"But the product hasn’t hit the market, and I’ve already done as you suggested, didn’t I? We sent the lawyer’s letter; now we are just thinking if we could acquire it, not be so aggressive, resolve it amicably. I’m curious about what kind of student could develop such software," Mitch said to the somewhat agitated Jim, with a smile, "Maybe we could invite him to join Lotus. He could contribute many more brilliant ideas to Lotus."
Jonathan also nodded in agreement, "I think so too. If we can collaborate and bring that small company into Lotus, maybe in a few years, we’ll have a new Chief Technology Officer who can bring innovation to the company, and I could take it easy."
"What have you decided?" Jim exclaimed, his demeanor suggesting he was the president of the company.
"I was just about to send Jonathan to California to talk with them," said Mitch to Jim, "They are also software developers, and they’re cut from the same cloth as us; we’ll have a mutual understanding because we both know the magic of zeros and ones."
"No!" Jim Manzi emphasized, "Don’t make any private contact; this is a matter at the company level. Put aside your programmers’ camaraderie, Mitch. You’ve let me manage this promising company, and I’m deeply grateful. Out of respect for your trust in me, I must say that we need to deal with it immediately. Your private contact will immediately let them know they’ve created something with potential. Then they will quickly find an investor in Silicon Valley, where there are more investors than stray dogs. Do you know what having an investor means? It means they’ll have money to burn, able to withstand our offensive by assembling a team of lawyers to fight us, while simultaneously releasing their product on the market, which will put us on the defensive! You’re no longer the programmers who huddled in a garage coding a year and a half ago. You’re now billionaires, and this isn’t some computer association play competition. Actor is our potential competitor; either we swallow them up, or we destroy them! That’s what a company owner should do."
Seeing the two founders once again ready to show their inclination towards camaraderie upon encountering a genius developer, not immediately planning to crush the competitor but instead offering money to help them grow, Jim Manzi finally couldn’t suppress his discontent and burst out.
"Jim, in the past six months Lotus has become, just like Microsoft, a scumbag in many people’s eyes. Do you know why?" Mitch sighed without blaming Jim for his earlier outburst, and then said,
"Because in just half a year, we’ve shut down dozens of personal software studios with the aggressive tactics you’ve mentioned, so people call us scumbags."
"That would be an honor for me. For the sake of Lotus, I’m willing to take down even more fools who always want to copy and borrow from us!" Jim took out a cigar, lighting it, and said,
"The insults from those people only make me and Lotus stronger. I’ll make even more money, goading those who can only curse in impotence. That’s why you hired me."
"Jim..."
"If you insist, I’ll resign and go back to work at McKinsey, Mitch. You have to trust my business judgment just like I trust that you’re a computer genius. Don’t give the opponent any chance." Jim put the cigar in his mouth and looked firmly at Mitch, who was about to speak,
"Just as Jehovah in the Bible said to all creatures: Touch not; smite with stone or shoot with arrows; neither man nor beast shall be spared. That’s how God teaches all creatures to deal with their opponents. Don’t go against God’s will."
