Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Chapter 1038 The Vice President of the United States

…

After the richest man appeared in court to testify, the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company began to enter the stage of real good drama; and the follow-up reports of various media were naturally intensive.

According to the generalization of the gossip media, at this stage, there are two major public figures in the United States who are attracting attention due to the vortex: one is US President Bill Clinton, and the other is the world’s richest man Tang Huan.

The former lied because of the “zipper door” and was suspected of obstructing justice; the latter was suspected of monopolizing the industry because of its too powerful company.

Regardless of whether it is a political-government struggle or a game of power, these two dramas are divided into superior and inferior.

As for the reason, it seems almost human.

For the United States, which has always regarded itself as a conservative society, the dignified president of the world’s number one power turned out to be a post-dinner talk for the whole world because of the less glorious “zipper door”, which must have hindered its external image.

But factional disputes are like this. Once pinched, they can’t stop it, and even some national interests can’t be taken care of.

Anyway, I am the global leader, even if I am embarrassed, who would dare to make irresponsible remarks in person?

In contrast, the United States of America v. Zheru Software Corporation’s monopoly case is extremely grandiose. Anyone can discuss it openly at any time and any place, without any unspeakable concerns.

Look, only the world’s number one power like ours is qualified to play such a high-level professional antitrust game.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Federal Circuit opens on July 10. For the media, it is almost like a holiday, rushing, eyes widened, ears raised, and reluctant to miss any branches. .

The reality did not disappoint those who watched the excitement. The battle between Zheru Software and the Ministry of Justice in the court was fierce and exciting! Especially when the richest man appeared in court to testify, the scene suddenly became magnificent.

Judging from the content of this debate, the Ministry of Justice has collected some evidence worth making a fuss through a series of methods including forcing Zheru Software to retain any paper documents, and it faces the ultimate boss of Tangit today. It’s all released.

However, as the richest man gave more and more answers such as “unclear” and “unremembered”, Joel Klein’s meticulous preparations seemed to hit the cotton with a punch. Get to the point of effort.

The innocent look of the former and the constipated expression of the latter formed a sharp contrast. The reporters snickered in their hearts, and they worked out the topic of the report in advance.

It has to be said that David Boyce, the chief lawyer of the Philosophy Software Company’s lawyers’ team, formulated Tang Huan’s avoidance strategy, which was very effective, and Joel Klein was about to be squeezed out of internal injuries.

After the lawsuit on this day was over, there was no actual progress in the court, except for some refreshing “fresh materials” that broke out in the court.

But as a result, there will not be the slightest disappointment to the gearing media.

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That night, some famous TV talk shows could not wait to use the latest material to compile paragraphs, and the center is the “unclear” and “unremembered” vague answers of the richest man.

The joke here is that Tang Huan’s quick-thinking and wise public image of Shenwu has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; and the “confused ghost” in the daytime can only be described as “shaming”.

The screenwriters summed up three so-called “confusing” settings for the richest man:

How much is it? do not know!

How much did you donate? do not know either!

Have you dated many teenage celebrities? Still don’t know!

For example, the scene surrounding the first:

The host imitated Tang Huan’s style, looked at a magazine, and nodded frequently: “Yes, yes, they have helped to figure out that I am now worth 120 billion U.S. dollars.”

The person imitating the secretary reminded him: “Boss, the rich list in this magazine you read was from last year.”

The host suddenly nodded, picked up another magazine, checked the date, and said to himself: “This is the latest issue. It turns out that my net worth has reached 250 billion US dollars. But why do you feel strange looking at the names behind me on the leaderboard?”

The person who imitated the secretary reminded again: “Boss, what you are looking at is the global rich list. Here is the US rich list.”

…

For another example, the scene surrounding the second article:

The person imitating the charity said gratefully to the host who imitated Tang Huan: “Tang, thank you for your donation.”

The host asked indifferently: “How about it, is that one million dollar donation still enough?”

The person who imitated the charity nodded and replied: “It is enough to include the 5 million dollars you later donated.”

…

That night, after National Entertainment finished the “cute” of the richest man, mainstream newspapers released their own serious reports on the United States of America v. Philosopher Software Corporation’s monopoly case, and this is the real authoritative observation of the outside world.

First of all, these media almost unanimously believe that: Zheru Software Company used the right people, that is, it did not hesitate to pay a lot of money to hire David Boyce as the chief lawyer of the Zheru Software Company’s lawyers.

You know, David Boyce used to provide legal services on anti-monopoly for the federal government, and his qualifications can even be traced back to the late 1970s when the Department of Justice sued the ibm monopoly.

It is not difficult to imagine that David Boyce knows the characteristics of thinking, mental state, behavioral inertia and so on when conducting antitrust investigations on the federal government. It’s not an exaggeration to describe him as an “inner ghost”, and he can In the service process of Zheru Software Company, the most direct and effective countermeasures are taken tit-for-tat.

Take the case of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the District of Columbia yesterday. The Department of Justice has frequently used tactics, but it is unable to effectively hit the target, making Joel Klein’s performance seem a bit naive and ridiculous.

Secondly, the media sighed another point: Tang Huan, the boss, has enough trust in David Boyce, even at the expense of his “wise and martial” image for many years, accepting the “avoidance strategy” suggested by the other party and pretending to be Stupidly asked three questions in a daze.

Such a shrewd client, and an old and spicy lawyer, cooperated tacitly, and the defense was almost impenetrable.

After commenting on the strategies, methods, etc., during the game between the two parties, the opinions and talks about the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Philosopher Software Company were expressed.

The insights of the elites should naturally not be to watch the excitement on the surface, but to grasp the essence through the phenomenon.

U.S. President Bill Clinton’s “zipper door” that has made a lot of noise all over the world, soy saucers only talk about the peachy inside story and moral trials, but the actual battlefield is whether there are lies and obstruction of justice.

Similarly, in the case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company’s monopoly, the people who eat melons are just bluffing. Zheru Software Company used its monopoly position and committed so many crimes, but he can only look at it with envy and hatred. The level of things.

It is no exaggeration to say that the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Co. is equivalent to a philosophical question. Even if the outcome is not revealed, it is still thought-provoking and worthy of discussion.

First of all, the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 federal states sued Philosopher Software for monopoly on the basis of the Sherman Anti-Monopoly Act passed in 1890.

The essential spirit of this thing is to prevent monopolists from harming consumers’ rights and interests.

On this basic point, Zheru Software Company firmly does not admit that it has violated the rights and interests of consumers.

For example, with regard to a crime identified by the Ministry of Justice, Zheru Software Company squeezed out its competitors by integrating a series of free programs including browsers and media players into the operating system. Zheru Software Company defended: This is to provide consumers with affordable product function enhancements, and lists a detailed table to compare the cost gap between consumers directly using the functions of the operating system and purchasing a third-party program separately.

For another example, with regard to the most hated common problems of monopolists that are not enterprising, lack of innovation, and only focus on making huge profits, Zheru Software Co., Ltd. arbitrarily refutes that it is the most innovative technology company. Regarding the operating system, more and more ordinary people can use the computer without any obstacles by striving for perfection in the humanized operation interface.

There are too many debates like this.

Compared with the monopoly and no monopoly of the Ministry of Justice and Zheru Software, the outside world generally believes that even if Zheru Software constitutes a monopoly, it is only a “natural monopoly.” There are many important differences in the energy field and AT&T’s 1984 “traditional monopoly” conclusion in the communications field, and they should not be treated in general.

This kind of controversy is particularly enthusiastic in universities where Zheru Software has implemented special discount programs for product sales ranging from a few dollars to tens of dollars for students and teachers.

Take the two expert witnesses hired by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for the District of Columbia, both of which are opposing views from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

To the great surprise of the outside world, in this heated discussion, US Vice President Al Gore suddenly joined in.

What made the media even more energetic and secretly called “the good show is coming” is that his point of view is on the side of the Ministry of Justice.

Al Gore believes that the reason why Philosophy Software does not show the common problems of various monopolists, including not being enterprising, not innovating, and just making huge profits, is because high-tech progress and development are unique and unique. Attributes.

The fact is: Zheru Software Company has severely damaged the market operating environment, especially because it occupies most of the market share, which has caused great obstacles to new market entrants and violated the principles of freedom and equality of opportunity. King Corporation is a living example.

At the same time, consumers seem to have not been squeezed by philosopher software companies overlordly, but they have also received benefits from the other party, but at the cost of losing their most important “consumer sovereignty.”

From a long-term perspective, perhaps Zheru Software is very “noble” now, but no one can guarantee that it will not be able to withstand the lure of huge profits in the future, in order to continue to maintain its monopoly. , And restrict competition, hinder innovation, and even affect the entire industry, and even the sustainable development of the United States.

Al Gore fired like this, it was amazing. The reaction from all walks of life is not exaggerated.

Generally speaking, the vice president of the United States is a position whose symbolic significance is far greater than its substantive significance. It also has two statutory duties.

First of all, the Vice President of the United States is the first successor to the President of the United States. When the incumbent U.S. president is vacant, such as dying, resigning or being impeached while in office, the vice president will succeed him and become the new U.S. president.

But this is an extreme situation after all. Although Franklin Roosevelt died in office since World War II, Harry Truman succeeded; John Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson succeeded; Richard Nixon resigned because of the Watergate incident , Gerald Ford’s succession and other precedents But looking at the history of more than two hundred years since the founding of the United States, the number of US vice presidents who can be so “lucky” is after all.

Second, the Vice President of the United States concurrently serves as the Speaker of the United States Senate. But under normal circumstances, it does not have the right to vote in the Senate. Only when the 100 members of the Senate vote for a tie, the vice president’s vote has the actual power to decide, that is, the key vote.

But the actual situation is that the U.S. Senate, which has an extremely rich gaming experience, will hardly have such a stalemate. It has to work its usual faceless Senate speaker to vote for the decision.

Therefore, according to the U.S. Constitution, a vice president who is not allowed to have real executive power, in practice, depends on how trustworthy the U.S. president is.

Take Reagan and Lao Bushi as the partner of the US president and vice president. After Reagan was assassinated, Lao Bushi with extremely high political wisdom, behaved very calmly, and did not rush to the White House to ask about his succession, so Reagan trusted him very much, gave him a lot of power, and even let him take over his duties during his operation.

In contrast, Al Gore is very different.

Before he became the Vice President of the United States, he had proposed and passed the “1991 Gore Act” aimed at vigorously developing the American IT industry.

After Bill Clinton came to power in 1993, he implemented the American “Information Highway” construction plan, and Al Gore actively participated in it.

In other words, the American vice president was born with a high-tech aura, and he had been in a good relationship with Don It before; but now why he suddenly went into trouble, in the United States of America v. Zheru Software Corporation monopoly case, he openly stood by the richest man. What is the opposite of?