Steal the enemy's base at the start and build a technological empire.

Chapter 383 Internal Strife at Star Technology

Ling Yun asked him, "What about Starry Sky Technology? What version are they using now?"

Wang Jianguo put down the document and looked at Ling Yun. He paused for a moment and said, "It's still the same version as before you left, 2.2. It's been almost a year, and it hasn't been touched."

Ling Yun didn't speak.

Wang Jianguo said, "They don't have a CEO right now, and the board of directors is constantly fighting. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are on one side, and Dell and HP are on the other, and neither side will give in. Last month, they held a board meeting to discuss whether to release a new version. Goldman Sachs said to release it, while Dell said there was no rush and they needed to test it further. They argued for two hours without reaching a conclusion, so the meeting had to adjourn. The new version issue is just sitting there, and the technical team is left unattended; engineers are leaving or dispersing."

"After Eric left, the operating systems department had three different people, each worse than the last. The first one stayed for two months before being ousted by people from Goldman Sachs. The second one stayed for three months before being ousted by people from Dell. The third one was of Indian descent, didn't understand technology, and only knew how to hold meetings. The engineers didn't want to work with him, so they all left. Some went to IBM, some went to Microsoft, and some came here."

"Last month we hired four people, all from Xingchen Technology. They said that things couldn't go on there anymore. There was no one in charge, no direction, and no budget. Every day at work was just meetings, and the meetings were just arguments. After the arguments, no decisions were made. The engineers had nothing to do, so they just sat at their desks, browsing the web, waiting to get off work. Some people sat there for a month, couldn't take it anymore, and left."

Ling Yun walked back to the table, picked up a glass of water, took a sip, looked at Wang Jianguo, and said, "Those people still haven't reached a conclusion?"

Wang Jianguo said, "There's no result yet. Goldman Sachs has nominated someone to be CEO. Dell disagrees, saying this person doesn't understand technology or products, and can only do accounting. Dell has also nominated someone to be CEO. Goldman Sachs disagrees, saying this person comes from a sales background and can only sell things, not develop products. Neither side is willing to compromise."

"The company now has no CEO, no CTO, and no product director. The tech team is unmanaged, the sales team is unmanaged, and the marketing team is unmanaged. The stock price has fallen to eight dollars; it was fifty-seven when it went public. It has lost eighty-five percent. If it falls any further, it will be delisted."

Ling Yun asked him, "What about Xingchen's market share? What's the current situation?"

Wang Jianguo said, "At this time last year, Xingchen System accounted for 47% of the new PC installation market, surpassing Microsoft. Now, it's less than 30%. Microsoft has risen to 55%. Users aren't stupid. Xingchen System hasn't been updated for a year, bugs are left unfixed, security vulnerabilities are left unpatched, and new hardware doesn't support it. What can users do? They can only use Windows. Although Windows is bad, at least it's maintained. Xingchen System is neglected. Users use it for a while, and then bugs appear, and no one fixes them. They want to give feedback, but they can't find anyone. They want to upgrade, but there are no new versions, so they slowly leave."

"It's not just users; hardware manufacturers have also left. Dell, HP, and IBM used to pre-install the Starry Sky system. Now? At Dell, Goldman Sachs said that no one maintains the Starry Sky system, and who would be responsible if problems arose after pre-installation? So they stopped installing it. At HP, Dell said that the Starry Sky system's market share had dropped, and no one would buy it if pre-installed, so they stopped installing it. At IBM, neither side cared, so they stopped installing it either. Only Alienware is still using it, and Alienware uses our Starfire system, not their older version."

Ling Yun remained silent. Wang Jianguo, sitting opposite him, also kept quiet. After about a minute, Ling Yun sat up straight and looked at Wang Jianguo. He asked, "How long do you think they can hold out?"

Wang Jianguo thought for a moment and said, "At most two years. We still have cash, and the money raised from the IPO hasn't been spent. But nobody's managing it, and every penny spent is one less. After two years, the money will be gone, and before the board has even finished arguing, the company will be gone. It will either be acquired or delisted. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley just want to cause trouble; they don't care about the company. They don't care if the company lives or dies. What they care about is completing the agreement with Microsoft and continuing to make money from the monopoly system. Dell took the company's customers and transferred them to their own products. They also used Xingchen as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Microsoft. Although they hope Xingchen can continue to develop, with Goldman Sachs and the like stirring things up, Dell can't do anything about it. In the end, it's the company, the employees, the users, and those who trusted us who will suffer the most."

Ling Yun stood up, walked to the window, looked at Wang Jianguo, and said, "So we need to be fast. They're slow, so we need to be fast. They don't update, so we need to update. They don't iterate, so we need to iterate. They don't build an ecosystem, so we need to build one. They don't maintain the community, so we need to maintain it. The market won't wait for anyone, and users won't wait for anyone. If you don't do it, someone else will. Once someone else does it, the users will leave. Once the users leave, it will be too late for you to do it. We need to win back Xingchen's users and not let them flow back to Microsoft systems."

"We're on a great roll right now. Five million x86 installations, one hundred thousand ARM installations, and one hundred thousand open-source users—Git has become the preferred tool for developers worldwide. We need to maintain this momentum and accelerate it. By this time next year, we aim to reach ten million x86 installations, one million ARM installations, and five hundred thousand open-source users. Git should become the industry standard. Not just competing with CVS, but crushing CVS; not just competing with SVN, but replacing SVN. Our goal is for everyone to think of Git when they think of version control. And for every developer to think of the Spark Community when they think of open source—that's our objective."

Wang Jianguo jotted down a few notes in his notebook. He looked up at Ling Yun and said, "President Ling, are you really abandoning Xingchen Technology?"

Ling Yun looked at Wang Jianguo and said, "We can't control it. We don't want to. That's their business. We'll focus on our own things. We'll improve the system, the community, and the ecosystem. Once they've finished arguing, fighting, and causing trouble, they'll look back and find that the market is gone, the users are gone, and the market share is gone. Then they'll come looking for us. But not now. Right now, it's their business, not ours."

Wang Jianguo nodded, looked at Ling Yun, and said, "President Ling, there's one more thing."

Ling Yun looked at him and asked, "What is it?"

Wang Jianguo said, "Someone in the community made a suggestion. They said that our current paid problem-solving is project-based. One project, one payment, and that's it. Could we do a subscription-based system? Monthly or annual payments, with long-term maintenance. Some people don't want to take on projects; they just want a stable income. Getting paid monthly is like having a job. They can focus on maintaining a specific module, fixing bugs, modifying code, and answering community questions. This would make the community more stable, and they would feel more at ease. They wouldn't have to look for projects every day and worry about not having work next month."

Ling Yun thought for a moment and said, "We can do it. Let's start with a pilot program. Find a few core modules: memory management, process scheduling, driver framework, and file system. Find two or three people for each module and pay them monthly. The standard will be based on market rates. If they do well, they'll get a bonus; if they don't, they'll be replaced. Let's try it for three months and see how it goes."

Wang Jianguo nodded and made a note in his notebook.

Ling Yun stood up. "The Spring Festival is coming soon. You should submit an application for employee benefits, and the group will approve it."

Wang Jianguo nodded. "Okay, Mr. Ling."