America 1982-Chapter 114 - 29: Seeing is Believing
In the garage, Jason was biting on a straw, eyes glued to the computer screen, making some software adjustments following Tommy’s guidance.
Meanwhile, Tommy was wolfing down a plate of spaghetti, sending it into his mouth in large gulps and, between swallows, said to Jason vaguely, "Professor Simmons said there’ll be a test next week. You’d better hurry up, Jason, we still have a pile of homework to review when we get back."
Jason spat out the straw, constantly hitting keys on the keyboard, and cursed bitterly, "What a sweet roommate reminder, your caring tone almost made me forget who made me turn into this freakish look, buddy. I almost got scammed into shooting a small movie by an idiot, to help you. Do you know, I’m talking about a day’s worth of film, even cruder and more intense than those adult pay-per-view channels, the kind of artistic job that even low-grade prostitutes wouldn’t join, only vermin and smugglers are willing to appear on camera. Yes, an ’artistic job’."
A day’s film is a type of adult short film. The ones shown on TV, pay-per-view adult films, only show the upper body, and ensure that the male lead is well-built and handsome, while the female lead has a fine figure and delicate face, complete with a full plot and beautiful cinematography.
But the kind of day’s film that Mark lured Jason to shoot is a pure AV product that goes straight to videotape, no scene change with a change of actor or no actor change with a change of scene. In any case, many films can be shot in a day, and the requirements for the actors’ looks are much lower than those for the TV films.
It was for this reason that Jason White, upon learning that Mark was planning to coax him into shooting such a film, couldn’t hold back anymore and punched him. He had coincidentally worked as a gigolo once; yes, he took the woman’s money, but didn’t plan to continue, and this had already become a laughing stock within the Fraternity. And now this bastard called Mark even complained that his fame wasn’t high enough, thinking of bringing his image into thousands of households?
"Look on the bright side, Jason, at least we know that in addition to being a gigolo, you also have the potential to become an actor," Tommy said, swallowing the food in his mouth.
At that moment, Holly came in from outside, travel-worn, dropped her handbag, came over, and picked up a piece of black pepper beef from Tommy’s plate with her fingers, then looked at Tommy after putting it into her mouth:
"I’ve completed the registration, so when are you thinking of posting the ads in ’Metropolitan California Edition’ and ’Children and Parents’ magazines? You can’t just be recruiting a bunch of cheap prostitutes for training, right? What about other unemployed women?"
"Why suddenly ask about this?" Tommy looked at Holly.
Holly poured herself a glass of water, holding it in hand, "Why? Tommy, you had me set up a human resources company and prepare to absorb a large number of prostitutes. It’s normal for me to have these worries and doubts. I’m ready to dive into the computer software industry, not to open a cheap brothel in Silicon Valley."
"I’ve told you not to rush, take it slow. The reason to choose to advertise in ’Seeking Pleasure’ magazine first is because cheap prostitutes have a higher tolerance than ordinary housewives. They have even more wretched experiences, have dealt with all kinds of men, have seen all kinds of harsh environments, they adapt to new environments stronger than ordinary women," Tommy said after finishing the bite in his mouth, looking at Holly:
"If you look at this as a software development process, you will realize that actually, cheap prostitutes are our first version of software. By putting them into Silicon Valley, it’s like installing the software onto the MS-DOS system. Their main job is to ensure one thing, compatibility. Silicon Valley being able to accommodate these cheap prostitutes is the most important, to get the early data, then consider other functional issues, that is, according to the feedback from the early data, adjust and guide other women."
Jason and Holly both stopped what they were doing and looked toward Tommy Hawk.
Seeing their expressions, Tommy uncertainly counter-asked, "What? Your faces look very strange."
"Stanford University’s Women’s Equality Advocacy chose a real fucking visionary partner, they picked someone who generalizes the female group with ’them’." Jason blew out a breath, "You really respect those poor women, Tommy."
Tommy calmly said, "I only respect those who deserve respect, like Mark and Susan, I respect them a lot."
"What do we do next?" Holly asked Tommy.
Tommy put the last bite into his mouth, "Keep refining the software, continue training, bring the product into Silicon Valley, until Lotus Corporation truly recognizes our existence."
...
Jim Manzi finished flipping through several computer magazines published this week, found that the advertising spots were still dominated by his own and a few old rivals, without any new software coming out, and no new faces in special interviews. He licked his lips and asked the secretary working next to him, "Who’s our distributor in California again?"
"Gold Neil Chain Software Store," the secretary answered with certainty after a moment’s thought.
Jim nodded. "That’s right, Gold Neil. I had asked you to contact them before, to have them help us understand a software company in California called Actor. Did they make a phone call?"
"Not only did they make a phone call, but they even faxed over the relevant information they found," the secretary said efficiently while searching through the files, handing over the materials she found to Jim, "But the information shows that the company is no threat, so I was planning to let you look it over before I leave work, given that you’re busy dealing with the Moses software issue."
The information Gold Neil helped to gather revealed that Actor Corporation was established by three students currently enrolled at Stanford University who had received entrepreneurial funding from Stanford. The company was located in a garage on Stanford’s Freedom Avenue, and they did not have any plans to release software in the near future.
The reason for their confidence was that Gold Neil had inquired with various computer-related magazines and media outlets near Silicon Valley, and it seemed that Actor had not contacted any professional media.
Following the normal thought process of a startup software company, if they planned to bring their software to market, no matter how tight their funds were, the startup would make an effort to appear in these professional magazines to attract attention from peers and investors. At the very least, they would pay some money for computer magazine journalists to help write a review or evaluation.
In the secretary’s view, a small startup with no sales plans for the current quarter wasn’t worth Jim wasting any time on, especially since Lotus’s biggest competitor at the moment was MicroInnovation, which had recently acquired a small company named Moses. Moses had developed a spreadsheet software called DeskCalc and, because it was compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 files without authorization, Lotus had successfully blocked it legally as soon as it hit the market.
Just as the court was about to pronounce Moses guilty of infringement and hand over the software code and all data, MicroInnovation acquired Moses and supported them in countersuing Lotus Corporation for monopolizing the Computer Application Programming Interface (API) layer, attempting to create an isolated software ecosystem.
Moses Corporation originally didn’t have the funds to fight a legal battle, but with MicroInnovation behind them, their fighting capacity naturally skyrocketed. MicroInnovation’s legal team had already assembled, ready to help Moses Corporation defeat the lawyers from Lotus.
"Now that Moses software has been acquired by MicroInnovation, what should’ve been a certain victory has turned into a time-consuming squabble. It won’t reach a clear outcome for two or three years, so there’s no point in paying any attention to it short term. Let the legal team focus on researching computer-related legal provisions," Jim said, pinching the thin fax paper, "But this Actor Corporation intrigues me. If they don’t have a marketing plan for this quarter, how did Lotus get their software? Mitch and the others said it’s a complete version. A fully developed software with no immediate sales plans, yet Lotus got a hold of it first? It’s not normal. Mitch said before that it was sent by a Lotus user, now I think it’s very likely Actor sent it themselves."
"Maybe they canceled their sales plans after receiving the lawyer’s letter we sent?" the secretary cautiously reminded from the side.
Jim Manzi raised a finger to signal her not to interrupt his train of thought, stood up from his seat, and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the view. "What if we switch our thinking? What if they aren’t engineers like Mitch, but businessmen, and they leaked it to us deliberately, just hoping we’d give them some free publicity?"
"But they don’t have a sales plan," the secretary stated, puzzled.
"That’s because Jonathan didn’t go ahead with it after my persuasion. They had woven a net, hoping Mitch or Jonathan would fall into it, and then they’d conveniently launch their software, but in the end, no one went, and their plan failed," Jim Manzi turned to look at the secretary, his eyes lighting up, "If my guess is right, it means our opponents are not nerdy programmers like Mitch and Jonathan. They know how to use means beyond software—a tactic Mitch and Jonathan would never think of."
The secretary shook her head in confusion, "But the company has determined they have no plans to release this quarter..."
"Stop reminding me about the damn sales plan! Who told you that software can only be sold with the help of software dealers? If you wanted to be a call girl, besides advertising in a magazine or signing up with an entertainment company, how else would you do it?" Jim looked at the secretary and asked, "Right, even after you have received a lawyer’s letter."
"I don’t want to and have no idea how to be a call girl, sir," said the secretary, first in shock, then speaking nervously.
Jim turned to look out the window and continued, "You could also damn well dress yourself up to look pitiful, stand on the street with the lawyer’s letter, and under the guise of seeking help, swindle those foolish men into paying money to queue up for you." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
The secretary couldn’t bear Jim’s crude language, which cropped up time and again. She prepared to quietly leave, but Jim once again spoke, "Look into any upcoming Silicon Valley trade shows I can attend, then book two plane tickets in the company’s name. Mitch is asking me to come here, precisely to eliminate any potential threats to Lotus, so I want to see with my own eyes that they’re not picking up clients on the street before I can rest easy."
