[Chapter 648: This Guy is Really Bad]
William White, that bastard, clearly had no intention of letting these guys enjoy a pleasant holiday. The old foxes who often got him into trouble were feeling the weight of his malice. If you think you're up to it, you better not ignore this; let's see who ends up in a mess first.
Among them, the most tangled were undoubtedly Merrill Lynch and Michael Bloomberg. One was a well-known brokerage firm, the other made his fortune selling terminals.
Sure, William White's PDA couldn't hold a candle to a terminal, but it was cheap. And that damned software; by now, everyone knew that buying stocks over the internet wasn't a big deal. However, so far, no company had been able to offer comprehensive tech support.
It's fine if you connect via a dedicated line, but connecting through the internet? Frankly speaking, that poses certain risks. Hackers and computer viruses, while not as rampant as they would be later, were indeed real threats. Moreover, the hackers of this era were different from the profit-driven ones of the future.
Today's hackers were a bunch of idealistic dreamers. They craved recognition and wanted to prove themselves. Therefore, anything they found interesting or relatively famous became their target.
Now, White Systems claimed they had a solid plan to resolve this issue. Some people were skeptical, some scoffed, but many were actually hopeful, especially those mid-sized brokerages that saw an opportunity with a lot of dollars signaling to them.
"Larry, are you sure this thing works? Today's hackers can be really annoying; just the other day, they hacked NBC Online." When he saw a confidently grinning Larry Ellison, William White felt a bit conflicted. This Silicon Valley wild man really wasn't just blowing smoke; he was genuinely that audacious.
"Don't worry, Mr. White, even without a security dongle, I can ensure everything's foolproof. Now that we have a security dongle, the protection level can rival that of banking systems," Larry assured him.
William White wasn't convinced. The higher the level, the smarter the hackers; no matter how great you are, if someone wants to hack you, they will. All they'd do is walk away empty-handed if they wanted to cause chaos, and that's not a big deal at all.
"Larry, let's play it safe. How about we invite some hackers to attack our system? If we crash, we'll just improve things from there. By the way, we can also use it to advertise; there are more users who need firewalls than just me."
Larry Ellison was stunned; he never thought William White would propose something like that. Sigh, this guy deserves to be rich; how did he come up with that? Honestly, even if the system got hacked, White Systems wouldn't suffer too much embarrassment -- it'd just be a test, after all, and also a way to be responsible to their users.
What if they succeeded? Damn, those encryption dongles that cost just a few bucks could sell for over a thousand. And with all that stock software, their own database might not be the most profitable part of it.
...
"Michael, what do you think?" Michael Bloomberg had just come to Merrill Lynch after finishing a press conference. If it were any other company launching this thing, he wouldn't even have to think twice; he would just crush them.
The head of Merrill Lynch was also perplexed. If they didn't support it, others might jump on board anyway. It was clear that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were both very interested.
"Ah, this guy is really troublesome. We at Bloomberg won't be affected in the short term, but long term, it's truly hard to say."
"Yeah, the same goes for Merrill. If no one accepts it, he can't pull off any tricks. But Goldman and Morgan are clearly very curious."
"Paul, I don't understand why he doesn't just do it himself."
"Ha, that's what makes him so tricky. He's made it clear he's not interested in your stuff; he's just a software vendor."
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were also feeling conflicted. Any happiness was merely surface-level; it's clear that no industry leader likes change. In times like these, it's easy to be blindsided.
...
"Let's go, Larry, let's grab a bite -- how about some Japanese cuisine? Your favorite."
"Sure, Mr. White, the cuisine on Lanai is way better than in Los Angeles."
"Ha, it's just that the ingredients are fresher."
"Mr. White, why are you drinking that frozen sake? Isn't sake supposed to be warmed up?"
"You've never had cold sake?" Larry Ellison looked clueless; he was only vaguely aware of Japanese cuisine. Seeing him shake his head, William White wasn't surprised -- many people didn't know; what was odd about him being among them?
"Larry, the top-quality sake is usually served cold. You can heat it if you want, but it'll taste a bit worse. It loses some of that light aftertaste and gains a hint of bitterness."
When it came to foodie knowledge, Larry Ellison didn't doubt it. William White loved good food -- this was no secret. He'd already gotten into arguments with many people over lobster.
"Mr. White, if you're doing this during Christmas break, they must be going crazy."
"Haha, let these bastards give me busywork all day long. I've heard that if you frustrate others, you'll be quite happy yourself."
"Cough, cough, well, I guess that's their misfortune."
While this year's annual report hadn't come out yet, these giants probably already had an inkling of what the results would be.
Negative economic growth was terrifying in any country. If you deducted inflation, the U.S. economy this year could only be described as abysmal.
In such a lousy economic climate, what William White threw out as bait was still quite enticing. If possible, it was best to be the first to dive in.
When the economic situation is booming, there's no point in pushing for change; no one will seek it. But as for now, even if it got a bit worse, what more could possibly happen? Just look at the Japanese; they've already hit rock bottom yet still look lively.
In terms of execution, the U.S. was clearly not on par with Japan. Their stocks had dropped over half, and seeing this new toy, they were all impatient to dive right in.
"Mr. White, do the Japanese still have the mind to mess around with this? They constantly realize just how low they've fallen; if their mental resilience isn't strong enough, maybe they'd jump off a building." Larry Ellison said rather harshly, but William White was even more outrageous.
"Jump off? I'm afraid it won't be that simple; they'll probably be lining up. Japanese are a very orderly bunch; you know, they'll line up properly. Just don't know if they'll be polite about it when jumping. Like, 'You go ahead, please, over there, or would you like to go first?'"
"Hahaha, if they keep being polite, they might not need to jump at all."
"Eh, it's a bit of a tragedy this time. Goldman and Morgan, you believe these two guys? They truly might have died without a grievance."
*****
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