2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 745 Boss Tan Taking Advantage of the Situation (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Wednesday, September 11th.

An ordinary workday.

"Xiaotian, go buy some food. Let's work overtime today and try to finish this drawing. The workshop is urging us to finish it."

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Mingkai took out a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and said to his assistant Tian Chenxi.

"Okay, Brother Zhang, what would you like to eat?"

Tian Chenxi skillfully took the banknotes; clearly, this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Same as always, you decide what to do."

They both worked at a small auto parts company, where they were in charge of mold design. The entire department consisted of only three people, with their supervisor being the only other person, who had already left long ago.

Zhang Mingkai is in charge of 3D design. Tian Chenxi is a girl who just graduated this year and has little work experience. She usually helps him draw 2D drawings and does administrative work.

Small companies offer flexible working hours, so playing games during work hours is fine. However, when things get busy, it gets really hectic, and overtime is a frequent occurrence.

Fortunately, this company pays overtime, which is a good thing.

The cafeteria does provide food, but it's terrible. It's okay to eat something for lunch, but two meals a day is a bit unbearable.

Therefore, Zhang Mingkai always paid for his own meals when he worked overtime.

"I was too late, the chicken legs were sold out, so I bought you a duck leg instead, is that alright?"

About half an hour later, Tian Chenxi returned with two takeout orders and handed Zhang Mingkai the change, which Zhang Mingkai readily accepted.

"It's okay, it's better than the cafeteria where there's hardly any oil or fat."

"That's right, the food in the cafeteria is terrible. Sigh, the boss doesn't even know to change the chef."

"It has nothing to do with changing chefs. Just bear with it. After you learn some skills, apply to Weilai or Shanchi. Those are the companies your child should work for. Small companies like this have no future."

"Why don't you go, Brother Zhang? You're really good at it."

Zhang Mingkai smiled and said, "If it were two years earlier, I would definitely have tried, but not now."

Two years ago, Flash Motors didn't have many educational requirements when recruiting technical staff; a high school diploma was enough. But that's no longer the case. Now, at least a college diploma is required, and that's for Flash Motors; Weilai Autos has even higher requirements.

Besides, he's used to working in small companies, so he might not be able to adapt to the pace of a large company. Large companies have their own rhythm; for example, those who draw paper are dedicated to drawing, working like assembly line workers and emphasizing efficiency.

Someone like him, who is a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, is not necessarily popular.

Tian Chenxi is different. She has the required education, but she was tricked into coming to their company by HR. Not only is the salary low, but there are also few ways to get promoted.

Instead of wasting time here, why not try your luck at a big company, or even just find a partner there?

"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Zhang. I'll try out for Flash's spring recruitment next year."

Tian Chenxi thought about it and realized it was true. Going to a big company was better than staying in a small company. Since they were both in Beicang, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

After finishing his meal and cleaning up, it was already six o'clock. Zhang Mingkai returned to his seat and continued working.

"Holy crap, Ma has retaliated?"

Zhang Mingkai, who had returned to his computer, let out a gasp, which immediately attracted Tian Chenxi's attention. Tian Chenxi smiled and ran towards her own computer.

The nickname "Little Ma" originated when Tan Jincheng accidentally blurted it out at an internet industry conference. It then spread online and became his public nickname.

"Really? Is Pony Ma really that ruthless? What should we do? Should we uninstall 360, Brother Zhang?"

Tencent and 360 have been exchanging barbs online for months. At first, people were somewhat interested, but over time, no one paid much attention. The deeper struggles behind the scenes are rarely brought to the forefront.

However, just a few days ago, 360 suddenly launched a software called 'QQ Guard', which can block QQ software ads and QQ pop-ups.

This delighted netizens. Within 72 hours of its launch, QQ Guard was downloaded over 10 million times, averaging 40 unique installations per second, setting a new record for internet software releases and downloads.

Blocking ads and pop-ups is cutting off Tencent's revenue stream. Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents, and this is definitely something Tencent cannot tolerate.

The entire internet was waiting for Pony Ma's counterattack, but no one expected it to be so ruthless.

"We have just made a difficult decision."

Tencent has sent a public letter to users outlining its countermeasures against 360: a choice between two options!
"Damn, Pony Ma's behavior is disgusting. He's forcing users to make choices. Does he think he can control my computer?"

There are two options: either only Tencent software or only 360 software can be installed on a single computer, and if both software are installed at the same time, the screen will be black.

Tan Jincheng learned of the news immediately.

"Let's get moving, but be discreet. Let those two draw their fire while we play around on the sidelines."

Just as Boss Tan got home, he received a call from Dingding's project team.

"Our Little Ma has finally come to this."

If you follow the whole process closely, you'll find that Tencent seems to have the upper hand, but in fact, it lost every step of the way. The two companies started arguing, insulting each other, and engaging in underhanded tactics in May, but six months later, Tencent hasn't done anything to 360.

Instead, Zhou Hongyi took the opportunity to launch software such as 360 Browser. Although the number of installations of 360 Browser is not very high, it has established a foothold.

With the release of QQ Bodyguard, Zhou Hongyi, who lacks any sense of martial ethics, has finally cornered Tencent.

In 2010, Tencent and 360 were not even in the same league. Tencent had plenty of manpower and money, while 360 ​​was just a small internet company that could go bankrupt at any time. Being forced to use the worst public relations strategy of choosing one of two options was simply unbelievable.

Tencent's open letter caused a complete uproar on the internet.

Zhang Mingkai's company is a small company and does not have its own office software. They usually communicate with colleagues and clients using QQ. It seems like they have to choose one of the two options, but do they really have a choice?

"Damn it, this is shameless. What else can we do but uninstall 360? Otherwise, we won't be able to get any work done later."

"Sigh, you're right. It's really unpleasant to be forced to make choices like this. When will a software come out to replace QQ?"

The internet forums were in an uproar, filled with criticism of Tencent. Internet cafes of all sizes were also filled with complaints. Everyone was playing games on QQ at this time, and suddenly the screen went black. Who could stand that?

"You're smiling so slyly, are you plotting something bad again?"

Gu Qingqing, who arrived home shortly after her husband, saw him holding a phone and chuckling to himself, with a computer on the coffee table in the living room. She knew he was up to no good.

The trajectory of the 3Q dispute seems to have unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.

"Hehe, I'll have the Dingding project team secretly promote Dingding."

"Huh? You're thinking of this? But QQ can't possibly lose, right?"

"QQ certainly won't lose, don't worry. That old bastard Zhou Hongyi won't lose either, but we can win a little bit too."

Tan Jincheng, who had been thinking about how to gain some advantage in the 3Q war, realized that only Dingding among his products could be somewhat related, while the others were irrelevant.

Although Dingding is primarily an office software, it also has a chat function. While it doesn't have much market share among ordinary users, this is a perfect opportunity to promote it to enterprise users.

For companies with one or two hundred employees, Dingding is a good option. Taking this opportunity to do a small-scale promotion and increase the number of installations seems like a good decision.

"Aren't you afraid of angering Brother Ma and getting him to call you and yell at you for being uncivilized?"

"Haha, no conflict. Dingding's social attributes are different from QQ's. He must be out of his mind to provoke me. At most, he'll just complain a bit."

Zhou Hongyi's lack of sportsmanship has driven Brother Ma to a dead end. After following the whole process, you will find that, given how things have developed to this point, it seems that there is no better public relations strategy than choosing one of the two options.

The interests of users and companies are always in conflict. Companies need advertising revenue to make money, while users hate watching ads the most. The record number of installations of QQ Guard can also be seen as users' long-standing annoyance with ads.

The importance of advertising to internet companies is self-evident. With hundreds of millions of users, the revenue from QQ's pop-up ads is immeasurable in monetary terms.

Even Tencent in 2023 wouldn't dare say it would give up advertising revenue.

Finding a balance between these two is a problem that many internet companies need to solve. Even in 2023, there were still some internet companies that behaved particularly badly.

Zhou Hongyi's move was somewhat like digging up someone's ancestral graves.

These two are practically fighting tooth and nail right now, and Little Ma has no time to care about Ding Ding.

That being said, when faced with Zhou Hongyi's table-flipping approach, there's really not much you can do. 360 also needs advertising revenue to support it, and his approach is heading towards a lose-lose situation.

"I really don't know how to describe this Mr. Zhou. I'm starting to wonder if he'll retaliate against us for poaching their people."

Unlike the online outcry against Tencent and the chorus of curses in internet cafes, industry professionals do have some reservations about Zhou Hongyi. It's undeniable that QQ Manager was designed to compete with 360 Security Guard and 360 Antivirus, and Tencent's actions are quite domineering.

But didn't your 360 Antivirus also rise to the top by stepping on the corpses of a bunch of paid antivirus software? Competition is about using different methods, but you can't ignore the rules.

If you kill off the advertising sector, how will those small startups survive?
"Just wait and see, this is going to cause quite a stir."

Although the Anti-Monopoly Law was implemented in 2008, anti-monopoly efforts in the technology sector have mainly focused on the traditional IT and telecommunications industries, while the internet remains a "protected domain." Tencent's behavior is essentially an abuse of its market dominance, but currently there are no legal provisions to regulate it. The back-and-forth between the two parties is only now truly beginning.

The most amazing thing about QQ Guard is not just its ad-free feature, but also its ability to directly link the security button on the QQ panel to QQ Guard. It is said that this software was secretly developed by Zhou Hongyi and a group of people in a villa.

Gu Qingqing learned from the 360 ​​engineers she had recruited that some of their former colleagues had been missing for more than a month and could not be reached by phone during that time.

That old guy is ruthless. He makes enemies everywhere and digs people out of their roots right away. He did this in the antivirus software field and in his competition with Tencent.

72 hours after QQ Guard was launched, Pony Ma (Ma Huateng, founder of Tencent) announced in grief and anger that "in three more days, all users may be wiped out."

It has a hint of playing the victim, but it's not particularly exaggerated. Letting it run its course is definitely not going to work.

"How long do you think this will last?"

Gu Qingqing asked with some curiosity. The whole process seemed to be within her husband's expectations. Even this "choose one of two" public relations tactic was something he had anticipated after QQ Bodyguard was launched.

"It will definitely take a long time, but this choice between the two shouldn't last long. If it goes on for too long, 360 will be finished."

The 3Q War can be said to be a major battle that changed the landscape of the Internet. Before that, there were many instances of choosing between two options on the Internet, but they were all small-scale and did not cause much of a stir.

For a company of Tencent's size to do something like this is like opening Pandora's box.

Later, giants like Ali, Dong Ge, and Waimai Tuanzi all tried this approach. Although they all received huge fines, do these giants care about that?

Ordinary people and ordinary companies committing wrongdoings have limited impact, but the most terrifying thing is when behemoths commit wrongdoings without regard for human nature.

For ordinary users, the 3Q dispute also seriously affected their online experience.

Among hundreds of millions of internet users, very few actually understand computer knowledge. They tend to blindly follow large companies, and if antivirus software detects a virus, they simply treat it as a virus and remove it directly.

However, there is now a piece of software that has nothing to do with antivirus software, but can control your computer. If you don't comply with its wishes, it can make your computer screen go black and render your computer unusable.

The idea that your computer is no longer your computer is quite frightening.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng also experienced this farce. At that time, his computer knowledge was the same as that of most ordinary netizens. His first reaction was to feel uncomfortable with Tencent's actions, but he decided to give it a try and did not uninstall the 360 ​​software.

You don't know until you try it, and once you try it, you're scared. You can't even control what software you install on the computer you paid for.

The promotion of 3G networks and smartphones is definitely the main reason for the decline of PCs. But it has to be said that Pony Ma's move was not without reason. If I can't even control my computer, why would I buy it? I might as well just buy a mobile phone.

The choice between e-commerce and food delivery apps is limited to the functionality of the apps and doesn't necessarily lead to control over your phone. However, Tencent's move to directly control your computer is truly ruthless.

This is not good news for PC manufacturers.

"Let's go, get off work."

At 9:30 p.m., Zhang Mingkai finished his work for the day. Chaotian Chenxi said that the company's requirement for the design department is that overtime should not exceed 10 p.m., and they usually finish work at 9:30 p.m.

"Okay, Brother Zhang is causing a huge uproar online."

Tian Chenxi's work schedule wasn't as packed as Zhang Mingkai's. She could still surf the internet while working, and she basically just watched the whole thing unfold as an observer of Tencent's choice between two options.

She just tried to see if QQ could run without uninstalling 360 software, but it didn't work, which made her angry, so she cursed a few times online.

"Neither of these companies are good people, but Little Ma is even worse."

Zhang Mingkai curled his lip. When he finished work, he had also browsed the content on the online forums. There were many people sympathizing with 360 and criticizing Tencent, but it was all for naught.

While QQ is indispensable for the time being, antivirus software can be used as a substitute, and Zhang Mingkai is not optimistic about 360's future.

However, Zhou Hongyi, who started out making malware, doesn't deserve any sympathy; it's just dogs fighting each other.

After the news spread for three and a half hours, the number of 360 software installations dropped noticeably.

At this moment, the 360 ​​office building in Beijing is brightly lit, and the atmosphere in the company is very tense. Looking at the constantly fluctuating backend data, the employees feel a sense of powerlessness.

Zhou Hongyi sat in his office with a livid face. He could have imagined Tencent's counterattack, but he hadn't expected Tencent to use such a ruthless move.

He, who has always been unruly, was indeed a little flustered when he suddenly encountered an opponent who also didn't play by the rules.

"A gentleman can be deceived by his principles, but if you encounter an opponent who is not a gentleman either, and whose strength is much greater than yours, you'll have a real headache. Haha, Old Zhou won't be able to sleep tonight, will he?"

Tan Jincheng scrolled through the information online one by one, while another computer was monitoring 360's installation data, which had dropped significantly in a short time.

"That's right. Both have hundreds of millions of users, but 360 is really too vulnerable in front of QQ. If they don't retaliate soon, they really will have to shut down in a few days."

Gu Qingqing was equally moved.

"Don't worry, this is the only time they've ever done this to control user terminals, and no company will dare to do it again."

Tan Jincheng knew what he was worried about. Tencent had indeed been incredibly domineering over the years, but no matter how domineering it was, there had to be a bottom line. The higher-ups couldn't just let this kind of bottomless behavior go unchecked.

Alas, the development has been too rapid in a short period of time, and the laws and regulations have not kept up.

Normal business competition, or even playing the "either/or" game, is fine as long as you have the ability to handle it. However, you cannot affect third parties, especially user experience. Directly controlling user terminals is simply too despicable.

For car companies, each car actually has a backend system, but it's limited to collecting data. If you directly control a user's vehicle, you're courting disaster.

"The Tintin project team has already started taking action. That's pretty fast."

In the large study, there are many computers. In addition to monitoring data, the two of them are now each using one to observe public opinion.

"Haha, we definitely have to seize such a great opportunity."

There are many people criticizing Tencent, but among them are some strange advertisements that promote Ding Ding.

The most effective way to promote oneself is to insert one's own personal message into jokes.

That's how Dingding's team first came up with the 'Difficulty Style'.

Dear Microsoft users: By the time you read this letter, we have just made a difficult decision: until Tencent stops scanning and infringing on Microsoft's software, we have decided to stop running the Windows operating system on computers with QQ software installed.

You can choose to use MSN, Dingding.

Jokes are always the fastest way to spread, and the first step for the Dingding project team was to take advantage of the time difference to distribute these jokes to various forums, websites, and QQ groups.

Secondly, they pushed Dingding to the top of the rankings on major app download platforms.

As a niche software, Dingding functions similarly to Taobao's Wangwang. When netizens first saw the jokes, they just found it amusing, but their first thought was, "What is Dingding?"

Now it's time for the shill to step in.

However, on some forums and websites, there's no need to promote them. Just because a software is niche doesn't mean that the number of users is ridiculously small. For example, the companies wholly owned by Tan Jincheng have more than 30,000 employees.

Other investments involve companies in the supply chain with numerous employees, and the number of employees covered by these investments is substantial.

Personnel from the company's own supply chain explained on Dingding's behalf.

"It doesn't matter whether you download it or not, the effect is already great."

Pointing to the post titled "What is a penis?", Tan Jincheng was quite satisfied.

It's uncertain whether this post was actually posted by Tan Jincheng, but for an ordinary questioning post to have such high popularity, it must have been pushed up by paid trolls.

All you need is curiosity. Everything is driven by curiosity. Once you have curiosity, you'll search, download, and try things out.

This is Dingding's first promotion; we'll see how it goes tonight.

By tomorrow, or even earlier, more businesses will realize this and use the popularity of this difficult situation to promote their products.

The 360 ​​headquarters was brightly lit tonight, and several floors of the FlashCheer headquarters building where the Dingding project team was located were also brightly lit, with project team members racing against time to promote the project.

There weren't enough staff, so some were borrowed from other departments.

"Come on, everyone, let's have some late-night snacks. After we finish, let's all work harder and try to push the hype up even further."

Zhou Ao clapped his hands, followed by four employees, each carrying a full load of various bento boxes and coffee, all prepared by Zhou Ao for tonight's big operation.

As the marketing director of FlashTech, and also the head of the online trolls when Tan Jincheng first prepared them, his marketing methods and internet troll tactics can be said to have been deeply inherited from Boss Tan.

Tan Jincheng attached great importance to Dingding's first large-scale promotion and specially transferred Zhou Ao to oversee the central command.

The project team members were technically competent, but Tan Jincheng was still somewhat skeptical about their promotional abilities. Although Zhou Ao worked in marketing in the physical industry, he also had considerable experience in the internet sector.

"Thank you, Director Zhou. Tonight's meal is very plentiful. You didn't pay for this yourself, did you? I noticed that a lot of the food isn't from our cafeteria."

"Haha, it won't be that bad, I'll ask my boss for reimbursement."

Zhou Ao chuckled as he picked up a cup of coffee, his own little scheme in mind. The boss had spun off the Dingding project team and brought him over for the first promotion, which meant the project had potential.

(End of this chapter)