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

Chapter 106 UHSB Alliance Plan Leaked

Everyone has signed the letter of intent, and the alliance is now officially established.

"What's next?" Dell asked.

"Four things." Ling Yun put away the signed letter of intent. "First, establish an alliance preparatory committee, with two representatives from each of the four organizations, to formulate detailed bylaws and operating rules. Second, select a location to establish a standard testing laboratory; I suggest Silicon Valley. Third, begin drafting the official documentation for the UHSB 1.0 standard. Fourth, prepare for a public announcement."

"Timetable?" Platt asked.

"Preparations were completed in January, the lab was launched in February, the standard documents were finalized in March, and the alliance and the UHSB 1.0 standard were publicly announced in April." Lingyun outlined the plan. "Meanwhile, AMD's chip design continued to advance, with tape-out in February, samples in March, and mass production in April."

Febvre calculated: "Announced in April, the market has three months to prepare, and the new product will be launched in July. Time is tight, but feasible."

"What about Intel?" Dell asked. "They have a developer conference in March, and they might push USB aggressively."

"Let them push it." Ling Yun said calmly, "The theoretical speed of USB 1.0 is 1.5Mbps, but our actual test speed is 500Mbps. A difference of three hundred times cannot be made up for by marketing. Once a user plugs in a UHSB device, they will never want to use USB again."

Platt stood up: "I'll have HP's vice president on the preparatory committee. First meeting next week?"

"Next Monday, January 6th, 10:00 AM, right here." Ling Yun confirmed the time. "Bring your technical and legal representatives."

The three left one after another. Dell was the last to leave, pausing briefly at the door.

"Ling, you designed this alliance not just for UHSB, right?" he asked.

Ling Yun looked at him without saying a word.

"All four founding members have veto power," Dell continued. "This means that any major decision requires consensus. This structure... can be used to do much more in the future. Not just interface standards."

"The future is still far away," Ling Yun smiled. "Let's focus on doing UHSB well first."

At 2:10 p.m., the door to Bill Gates' office was flung open. Steve Ballmer strode in, clutching a newly received fax, his face ashen.

"Bill, something's happened." Ballmer placed the fax on Gates's desk. "Take a look at this."

Gates was looking at a Windows NT 4.0 performance report when he looked up and adjusted his glasses. He picked up the fax machine.

The fax was only two pages long, but the content was very dense. The first page was a brief text report titled "Urgent Intelligence: UHSB Technical Standards and Alliances." The second page contained tables and diagrams of some technical parameters.

Gates reads quickly. His reading speed is astonishing; he can scan the first page in ten seconds and then read the technical specifications on the second page in twenty seconds.

Then he put down the fax, took off his glasses, and leaned back in his chair.

"The source?" Gates asked calmly.

"Reliable." Ballmer said, panting, pacing around his office. "It happened this morning. Lingyun met with Dell, Compaq's Favor, and HP's Pratt at a golf course in Los Angeles. He showed them this UHSB technology. This afternoon they went to the Starry Sky office and signed the alliance agreement."

"Alliance structure?" Gates picked up the fax and glanced at it again.

"Patent pool. Free licensing. Founding members have veto power. Dell, Compaq, HP, and StarCraft are the four founders. AMD will also join, designing chips." Ballmer spoke quickly. "The membership fee is five million US dollars. The standards are completely open source."

Gates was silent for a few seconds. The only sound in the office was Ballmer's pacing.

"5Gbps?" Gates finally spoke, pointing to the parameters on the fax. "Actually measured at over 500Mbps?"

"Our technical department's preliminary analysis confirms the parameters are reliable." Ballmer paused. "The interface is reversible, small in size, and has strong power delivery. Every aspect is designed to target the weaknesses of USB 1.0. This is a precise strike."

Gates stood up and walked to the window. Outside was the lawn of the Microsoft campus, the grass somewhat withered and yellow in winter.

"Does Intel know?" he asked, his back to Ballmer.

"They probably don't know yet, or they just found out," Ballmer said. "Our people relayed the intelligence as soon as they received it. Intel's reaction... is definitely slower than ours."

"It won't be long." Gates turned around. "Dell, Compaq, and HP are all major customers of Intel. They will notify Intel, or Intel will find out on its own."

He walked back to his desk, picked up the fax, and looked at the technical specifications sheet again.

"5Gbps versus 1.5Mbps. Reversible versus orientation-dependent. Small interface versus large interface. Free license versus paid patents." With each statement, Gates' tone grew colder. "This is aimed at USB. And at us."

"The Wintel alliance," Ballmer gritted his teeth. "Reaching Cloud is fighting on two fronts: operating system against Windows, and interface standard against USB. He wants to drag us and Intel down with him."

Gates sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the table. This was his habit of thinking.

"The alliance has four founding members, each with veto power," he analyzed. "This means that any major decision requires consensus. It's hard to bribe, hard to split. At least not in the short term."

"We can start with Intel," Ballmer suggested. "Have Intel accelerate the development of USB 2.0. If USB 2.0 can reach 480Mbps, it will be close to the level of UHSB."

"There's not enough time," Gates shook his head. "The USB 2.0 standard is still in the draft stage. Intel's own roadmap is for a 1999 release. Cirque du Soleil's timeline is for product launch this October. We're two years behind."

"Then let's attack from somewhere else." Ballmer slammed his fist on the table. "Patent war. UHSB has definitely infringed on some of our patents. Or Intel's patents. We can sue."

"The patent pool structure is designed to defend against this," Gates said, pointing to a relevant paragraph on the fax. "Alliance members share all patents. If we sue any one of them, the others will file a counterclaim with their patents. And since the standards are open source, it's very difficult to prove infringement."

Ballmer took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "What can we do? Just watch them set a new standard? If UHSB becomes widespread, PC manufacturers will pre-install UHSB interfaces. This will give the Starry Sky system a hardware advantage. Users will choose computers pre-installed with Starry Sky to use UHSB devices."

"I understand." Gates' voice remained calm, but his eyes were cold. "So we must act. But we must use the right methods."