Reborn since 1993

Chapter 657: Heartfelt Goodness
“Dongling Hi-Tech has some important new projects to undertake next, which will require a lot of funds, manpower and resources.

The digital video recorder project was originally established for cooperation with Microsoft. Dongling Hi-Tech may not be able to invest more resources in this project in the future. If Microsoft is interested, perhaps Microsoft can operate the digital video recorder project..."

Li Dongling told Ed Fleiss "frankly" that Dongling Hi-Tech's launch of the digital video recorder was a way of expressing its "sincerity" to Microsoft.

In the future, if Microsoft wants the digital video recorder project, Dongling Hi-Tech is willing to transfer it to it to demonstrate Dongling Hi-Tech’s determination to cooperate with Microsoft!

It is estimated that there will be a market for digital video recorders in the next few years, with sales of tens or even millions of machines per year, and the sales volume may be even higher.

But that was only in the past few years. When the Internet video platform emerged, all kinds of resources could be found on computers. People could watch them just by turning on the computer, and digital video recorders became useless.

The transition from digital video recorders to Internet video will take no more than seven or eight years. Even after five years, the sales of digital video recorders will probably be stagnant!

At this time, the best thing to do is, of course, to cash it out in advance while the market is good, just like the taxes in Goose City, which are collected all at once for a hundred years...

Based on annual sales of one million units, the annual revenue of digital video recorders can reach more than 300 million US dollars, which seems to be a considerable profit.

It seems that a lot of machines are sold and the revenue is very high, but in fact, the profit that Dongling Hi-Tech can get each year is only more than 40 million US dollars.

But what if Dongling Hi-Tech also collects taxes from Goose City a hundred years later?

By selling digital video recorders to Microsoft, you can earn back ten or even twenty years of revenue from digital video recorders in one go!

As for Microsoft, which took over, and how many years it can sell digital video recorders, that has nothing to do with Dongling Hi-Tech!
Taking advantage of the good market conditions, Dongling Hi-Tech sold its digital video recorder business to Microsoft, which dreams of making hardware. This is not a scam for Microsoft at all; it is clearly considering Microsoft!
After hearing what Li Dongling said, Ed Fleiss was obviously interested. Bill Gates and the Microsoft board of directors both wanted to enter the hardware industry.

If Microsoft can really get a product that sells millions of units a year, it will be enough for it to brag about.

To be honest, in the computer software industry, Microsoft has become somewhat "unrivaled". Even if it brags more, people will get tired of it, because everyone knows that in the computer software industry, Microsoft's world is the only one that can challenge Microsoft's position.

But if Microsoft can make some noise in the hardware industry, then it will have something to be praised. Not to mention that digital video recorders can make money, even if it loses money, as long as it is well-touted and people can see Microsoft's achievements in the hardware field, the stock price will skyrocket!

"Of course, this depends on Microsoft's willingness. It won't be too late for Microsoft to make a decision after the Stargazing Digital Video Recorder is released!"

Li Dongling said to Ed Fleiss in a "thoughtful" way that he was afraid that the digital video recorder project would lose money, so he allowed Microsoft to observe first. It would not be too late to make a decision after seeing the sales of the Stargazing digital video recorder.

Of course, this seems to be done for Microsoft's sake, fearing that Microsoft will suffer a "loss". However, if the performance of the digital video recorder exceeds expectations, then when Microsoft acquires the digital video recorder project from Dongling Hi-Tech, then it will have to pay more dollars, right? This is not too much, right?
But from Ed Fleiss's perspective, Li Dongling, the ally, really considered Microsoft and showed enough "sincerity".

"Li, I will tell all this to Mr. Bill Gates!"

Ed Friesland said to Li Dongling that as the go-between with Dongling Hi-Tech, the more projects Microsoft got from Dongling Hi-Tech, the greater the say Ed Friesland would have in Microsoft.

"Microsoft and Dongling Hi-Tech will be eternal allies in the hardware industry. Microsoft's software technology, combined with Dongling Hi-Tech's hardware technology, will form the best software and hardware alliance in the world!"

Ed Fliess also looked excited and spoke to Li Dongling.

Hearing this, Li Dongling also showed a smile on his face, but as for whether to believe what Ed Fliess said, it would be bullshit if he believed it.

Whether the alliance between Microsoft and Intel is solid or not, when it was time to sell, Microsoft sold it directly to Intel.

Not to mention now, even in the past, when Microsoft saw the ARM camp gaining momentum, it also began to cooperate with ARM and launched a system version based on the ARM architecture. At that time, it didn't care about Intel's life or death.

As for Microsoft, we can cooperate, but it is more like seeking the skin of a tiger. The two sides are at most an alliance for profit. As for other things, don't expect too much at all, otherwise the other party may really be "heartfelt" to Dongling Hi-Tech!

"Next, Dongling Hi-Tech will continue to cooperate with Microsoft to complete previously agreed projects, including Internet set-top boxes, computer projects, etc."

Li Dongling continued to speak to Ed Fries.

But in fact, what Li Dongling is eyeing at Microsoft is not these projects, but the game console project that Microsoft has not mentioned but will definitely do!

That's the big part. Microsoft spent 10 to 20 billion US dollars on the game console project, not to mention the 80 to 90 billion US dollars it spent on acquiring game manufacturers such as Blizzard to introduce games. I don't know if it's losing money, but the companies that provide parts and OEMs to Microsoft are making a lot of money.

Rather than letting Microsoft waste all the money, it would be better to benefit Dongling Hi-Tech.

At least Dongling Hi-Tech is really doing the job for the money and will not treat Microsoft as a rookie in the hardware industry and try to fool it.

In the past, Microsoft invested so much money in game consoles, but due to graphics card problems, the "three red death" incident occurred. The return rate once reached 68%, which almost killed Microsoft.

After that, Microsoft's game consoles were plagued by various problems, including screens, controllers, hard drives, headphones, capacitors, and fires caused by workmanship issues. Those companies that supplied components and did OEM for Microsoft were absolutely lying if they said they had not cheated Microsoft. No company could allow itself to be cheated by the OEM factory like that.

If Dongling Hi-Tech were to do OEM for Microsoft, at most it would just earn some "hardship fees" from Microsoft, but if other companies were to do OEM for Microsoft, they would be trying to kill Microsoft!

The digital video recorder, Internet set-top box, computer projects, etc. are all expressions of "sincerity" by Dongling Hi-Tech to Microsoft.

If these projects are not launched and Microsoft is not given the chance to reap the benefits, how can the pig-killing scheme be launched? No, how can Microsoft be confident in handing over the production of game consoles to Dongling Hi-Tech?
“Microsoft also looks forward to cooperating with Tanglin Hi-Tech!”

"Lee, I need to bring a prototype back to Seattle to show Bill Gates and the Microsoft board of directors the Stargazing Digital Video Recorder!"

After watching the Stargazing Digital Video Recorder, Ed Fries couldn't help but want to take the machine back to show it to Microsoft.

Of course, Ed Fries was also cautious. He was afraid that Dongling Hi-Tech was deceiving him, so he wanted to bring a prototype back to Seattle and have Microsoft engineers check it out, fearing that it might have been tampered with.

Li Dongling smiled and nodded, signaling Zhang Bing to pack a prototype for Ed Fleiss.

Seeing Ed Fleiss leaving, Zhang Bing, the head of the Innovation Laboratory of Dongling High-Tech Department, couldn't help but say, "Are you really going to sell the digital video recorder to Microsoft?"

The digital video recorder was developed by Zhang Bing and his team. The technical difficulty of the digital video recorder is not very high. The key lies in creativity.

Zhang Bing, who has been in America for many years, feels that this product is something that America is familiar with.

When he was in America, he was middle class himself, and he knew what middle-class families in America wanted. He felt that there was a market for digital video recorders here!
"uncertain!"

Li Dongling saw the reluctant looks on Zhang Bing and several other engineers' faces, so he calmed them down first.

“But in the future, if the Innovation Lab has more projects to do, there may not be much energy and resources to spend on digital video recorders!”

“For the Innovation Lab, Tanglin Hi-Tech has more things for you to do and needs you to develop better projects than digital video recorders!”

"In the future, Dongling Hi-Tech will invest more funds in the innovation and experimental department. This year, the innovation laboratory has developed digital video recorders and handheld radio projects, which will receive special dividends from the headquarters!"

Li Dongling did not finish talking about selling digital video recorders. He just told Zhang Bing and the others that there were more important products than digital video recorders that they needed to develop. Their goal was the stars and the sea, not to waste time on this "broken machine"...

Li Dongling did not mention the specific dividend figure, but from what Li Dongling said, Zhang Bing and the others could guess that the dividend was probably not a small amount.

Zhang Bing and his colleagues had heard some rumors about Dongling's high-tech technical department. As long as the projects they participated in and the products they developed were still profitable, the engineers and R&D personnel in the department would receive dividends every year.

Just like the earliest researchers who participated in the research and development of the Shenzhou digital cordless phone, from the day the Shenzhou phone went on sale until now, every year they have been able to receive a substantial dividend from the profits of the Shenzhou digital cordless phone.

Some of the earliest engineers to join Dongling's high-tech department are now worth over one million RMB, earning much more than their peers.

This is also the reason why the engineers in the technical department of Dongling Hi-Tech are working so hard, because they are not only working for Dongling Hi-Tech, but also for themselves!

There are even rumors in the domestic technology industry that if you join Dongling Hi-Tech, work hard for ten years, and participate in several large projects, you will be able to earn enough money for your retirement after ten years.

In this respect, Dongling Hi-Tech is very similar to the Chrysanthemum Factory in the previous life. The engineers in the Chrysanthemum Factory in the previous life were really tired and really risked their lives for money. But as long as they really had the skills and participated in the project, they would have the opportunity to earn a seven-figure deposit in five years and then choose to retire in a small city...

(End of this chapter)