Chapter 464 3 Ideas

Eric and Steve Keyes talked for a day, and they didn't reach much agreement until the end of get off work, so they could only continue to talk the next day. ,

Because Chris invited him to dinner at home, after get off work, Eric sent the entourage away and got into Chris' car.

"I can't believe that there are more than 1.5 million Internet users in North America. I thought it would take a while," Eric said with some emotion after Chris started the car. He planned to wait for Clinton to take office and start the plan. Some of the projects in the book, after seeing some data about AOL today, I still feel that the project in my heart should be 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 considerable number in this age when personal computers have not yet become popular. Moreover, when the number of users is relatively small, the layout can be arranged in advance, and when the number of Internet users explodes, it can even reach the level of creating industry standards.

Eric vaguely remembers a sentence, it seems that first-class companies set standards, second-class companies rely on brands, third-class companies sell technology, and fourth-class companies make products. These four sentences are like an industry pyramid. The more you are at the top of the pyramid, the higher the benefits. Take smartphones in the original time and space as an example. Apple and Samsung, two mobile phone manufacturers with a full set of technical standards, are blowing smartphone profits. 90% of the total, and those domestic mobile phone manufacturers who always clamor to slap Apple on the configuration can only get 1% of the benefits, because the chips they use are American, the screen is Japanese, and the camera is South Korea. Yes, I occasionally come up with a gimmick of 'austenitic 304 stainless steel', which turns out to be just a common tableware around people.

Chris doesn't know about Eric's mental activity. Hear what Eric said. Asked, "Wait for what?"

"I have some ideas in my mind. I originally planned to wait for the network to develop for a while before implementing it. Now it seems that there is no need to wait. The sooner the better."

Chris hummed, leaned toward the road, and let a red BMW convertible gallop past, obviously absent-minded.

"You've moved?" Eric looked at the sign outside. He remembered that last time Chris and Emily lived in Midtown Manhattan, but now they are almost in Central Park.

“We bought a condo on the Upper East Side some time ago. Right at 72nd Street on Third Avenue.”

"It just happens that I also have a villa nearby. I bought it with Drew last year. I haven't lived in it yet," Eric said, suddenly remembering something and asking, "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 before she turns 30."

Eric's mind is still more sensitive.

Chris, who was quite talkative along the way, suddenly lost a lot of words, 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 we got to the floor where Chris' new home was.

Emily, dressed at home, opened the door and hugged Eric warmly: "Eric, it's nice to see you again."

"Me too," Eric let go of Emily and smiled, "But I didn't bring any 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 personally took a pair of slippers for Eric to put on.

Eric thought to himself that this young couple seemed a little abnormal. Although Emily has always been very cheerful and enthusiastic, it seems to be a bit too much today.

"Eric, sit down first, dinner will be ready soon," Emily said after helping Eric pour the coffee, and winked at Chris: "Chris, can you come and help me? "

Chris approached the kitchen helplessly.

Eric just glanced in the direction of the kitchen, and did not express any more curiosity, but picked up the remote control on the coffee table and turned on the TV at will. Anyway, if the two have anything to do, they will definitely say it later.

In the kitchen, Emily put on heat-insulating gloves, opened the oven to have a look, and closed the lid again before asking in a low voice, "Did you tell him?"

Chris spread his hands: "This is so embarrassing, what do you want me to say?"

"How can you be embarrassed, this is a 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 invite Eric over. You can tell the rest yourself," Chris said, picking up the kitchen knife and wanting to help Emily cut the onion.

Emily snatched the kitchen knife angrily: "Okay, I'll say it myself, I don't need your help."

...

"That night, it really freaked me out, especially when the last farm tractor hit the TV screen, I really thought the TV was broken, Eric, how did this happen? "At dinner, Emily recalled something about the release of the trailer for "Tornado" some time ago, and asked a little excitedly.

"It's just a simple visual effect," Eric simply said the principle again, and there was not much pride 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 film technology is not mature enough, the current 3D glasses will cause serious visual fatigue if worn for a long time, so 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, right? It will take a long time. Will Firefly be screened in advance?"

"Of course, I will have someone send you two tickets," Eric replied with a smile.

Emily thanked, and then the atmosphere in the restaurant fell into a short pause. After a while, Emily finally gathered up her courage and said, "Eric, now, that... Firefly Investment Company still has a lot of money in its hands. A lot of money, right?"

Eric glanced at Chris who lowered his head and pretended to be drinking 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 took out a few tissues and turned around.

Eric almost understood. Simply put down the knife and fork in his hand. Seriously said: "Emily. Just say something directly. We don't need these politenesses between us, which will make us seem unfamiliar."

This sentence made Emily a little embarrassed: "Actually, it's our clothing company..."

"Oh, I remember," Eric looked suddenly taken aback, and he quickly remembered the scene when he first met Chris and Emily at Jeffrey's two years ago on Thanksgiving. Chris also works at Morgan Stanley. Just in charge of 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 go down: "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 capital do you need now?"

Emily glanced at her boyfriend before carefully extending a finger: "One... one hundred million?"

Chris immediately turned his head and glared over, and Emily immediately changed her tune: "Actually. Sixty million is also possible."

Eric knows that Chris's character is too serious to be light, and serious. It is old-fashioned. Although he holds a large amount of funds from Firefly, he feels that it would be unprofessional to invest in his girlfriend's family business, which is why he flashes that embarrassing look.

After the acquisition of Disney, Eric still had about 1.5 billion dollars left from the $8 billion in the Gulf War last year, and after the acquisition of Disney, Firefly Pictures itself was able to achieve self-sufficiency. Plan to use the money for other investments.

"Well," Eric thought for a while, then 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. ,it's OK?"

"Of course there is no problem," Emily said with a hint of excitement on her face, she almost wanted to get up immediately and go to take out the prepared materials, but she quickly realized that the current situation was not suitable for doing so.

After dinner, Eric rejected Chris and Emily's suggestion to stay overnight. Chris sent Eric downstairs all the time, and the two walked side by side on the bustling streets of Comicton.

"I always feel that I am very lucky. If I hadn't happened to meet Jeffrey and you, I might not have achieved what I am now. I have no relatives in this world. I have always regarded Jeffrey as an elder. Look at it," Eric said with some sigh, looking at the neon sign by the roadside, he still remembered that a few years ago, he made all the bets on a whim to make "Home Alone", if it hadn't happened to meet Jeffrey With his filming team, he is a rookie who has just entered Hollywood. Even if he can pull up a grass-roots team, he may not be able to make the movie in his memory perfectly.

Chris knew why Eric suddenly said this. Chris didn't think that his father and son were Eric's great benefactors. He had always been self-aware. Likewise, if he hadn't met Eric, he wouldn't have known that his father was still there. Can they get back on their feet, and even the cold war between their father and son doesn't know how long it will last. What's more, he now manages more than two billion US dollars in assets, and if he does not choose to resign, but continues to work at Morgan Stanley, to be able to independently operate investment projects of the same scale, at least Ten years of struggle: "Actually, we are all very lucky."

Eric smiled: "Yes."

Chris put his hands in the pockets of his trench coat and said, "By the way, you can rest assured with this investment, that, Emily's father has retired, and now Emily is in charge of the clothing company, which has been developing well in the past two years. , if it weren't for what happened two years ago, the company's re-listing would have been a breeze."

"The specific investment amount is up to you and Emily to discuss, such as going back later, in bed," Eric joked.

"You better pay attention, I try not to interfere," Chris smiled. "By the way, when you came back today, you said you already had some ideas about computer networks in your mind?"

"I can't believe you remember this."

"Okay, stop teasing me, what are your thoughts, tell me?"

Eric looked around, pointed to a cafe on the side of the road and said, "If you are not in a hurry to go back, let's go in and chat for a while, the villa I bought is right in front, but it's a bit deserted inside, just Before I came today, I informed the housekeeping company to clean it up."

Chris nodded, and the two walked into the roadside cafe side by side, ordered two cups of coffee, and made it by the window.

Eric sorted out his thoughts before saying, "It's a pity that there is no laptop here, or it would be more convenient to say it. You should have studied computer data during this period of time, right?"

"Well, just say it directly, I should be able to understand," Chris said.

"Actually, all of my ideas are based on the widespread popularization of computer networks. However, as I said before, I personally think that this is a trend of the times, and the possibility is very high, and even if the bet is really lost I won't lose too much."

Chris echoed: "Actually, I also feel that your judgment is very reasonable. A few days ago, I found out that Emily was looking at the clothing design drawings on Apple's laptop, and those designs were all designed with software. Yes, this was even unimaginable a few years ago, and now the price of personal computers is not too expensive, ordinary people can buy one with one or two months' salary, if the computer hardware can maintain high speed now If it grows, the popularity of personal computers is a matter of time."

"Well, let's go back to the computer network. I have three ideas at present," Eric paused and added: "This is what I figured out in the process of using computers on a daily basis. Moreover, I plan to separate It became three companies running these three ideas, first of all, an idea about a graphical interface browser."

"GUI browser?" Chris repeated Eric's words.

"It's a kind of... a graphical version of a web browsing tool," Eric thought for a while, then explained: "This way, you'll know by comparison. The web tools we use now are similar to the operating systems of a few years ago, and require It is very inconvenient to run complex instructions, and the GUI browser I envision is to present the current Internet access tools in a simple graphical interface, just like Microsoft's Windows operating system, you know, in the Windows system Before, the people who used personal computers were often more professional technicians, but after the emergence of the Windows system, even ordinary people can use personal computers. And the graphical interface browser I envision is a kind of browser that allows ordinary people to use it. 'Windows Tools' for easy browsing of computer networks." (To be continued..)