Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 604 If the enemy wants war, then I will fight! (Fourth update)

Ma Huateng walked to the window, gazing at the dazzling night view of Shenxia City, and slowly said, "Just now, I received a call from President Cheng. Do you want to know what President Cheng said to me?"

These words were like a ray of light, instantly illuminating the conference room.

Everyone's eyes lit up.

"He said that Momo Group will unconditionally support us in winning this battle. Funds, technology, resources... whatever we need, they will give us." Ma Huateng turned around, his gaze sweeping over every face, and said sharply, "President Cheng Yi only said one sentence: If we're going to fight, we must fight with spirit."

The atmosphere in the meeting room changed instantly, with the previous anxiety and panic being replaced by a firm belief.

Ma Huateng returned to his seat, his tone calm yet powerful: "So, tell me, are you still afraid now?"

The group looked at each other, then shook their heads almost simultaneously.

“Fine!” Ma Huateng slammed his hand on the table and said, “Now, I only have one sentence to say.”

He paused for a moment, and the entire conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"If the enemy wants war, then we will fight!"

These six words exploded in the conference room and then quickly spread throughout the entire Penguin Building.

The initial panic was instantly replaced by a tragic fighting spirit.

Soon, the group's orders were quickly disseminated, and Zhang Zhidong personally took charge, drawing on 200 of QQ's core engineers to form the Lightning Project Team.

The goal was clear: to launch the official version of QQ2005 within a month, completely outclassing MSN in terms of functionality.

The project team's office area was quickly set up, with boxes of Red Bull and coffee being moved in, and cots filling the lounge.

A huge countdown sign was posted on the wall: 30 days until the new version is released.

"Brothers! This battle isn't for the company, it's for pride." Zhang Zhidong's voice was hoarse but full of passion as he rallied the troops: "Microsoft wants to destroy us, so we'll tell them with our fists: Screw them."

The engineers were in high spirits, coding, testing, and optimizing day and night.

Many people didn't go home; when they were tired, they would take a nap on their cots and then continue working when they woke up.

On Tuesday afternoon, at the headquarters of Huaxia Shangding Technology, more than 20 employees worked in three shifts to monitor related discussions on various platforms.

Share positive content you find, and deal with negative comments immediately.

They will immediately amplify and spread any negative news about QQ.

QQ account theft, QQ security vulnerabilities, QQ suspected of violating privacy... Any negative news about QQ will be pushed to the front page of major websites in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, in a column of a newspaper in Yanjing, a well-known technology commentator published an article titled "Your Chat History May Be Being Spoofed."

The article details the risks that security vulnerabilities in instant messaging tools may pose, especially the serious consequences such as identity theft and leakage of trade secrets.

Although the article does not directly name QQ, it suggests through a series of case analyses that a well-known domestic instant messaging tool has serious security risks.

Choosing a secure instant messaging tool is not only about protecting personal privacy, but also about protecting business secrets. The article concludes: Internationally renowned brands typically invest more resources in this area and are trustworthy.

In response to their attacks, Tencent held a grand press conference in Beijing on Wednesday morning, jointly releasing the "QQ Security White Paper" with well-known domestic security companies such as Visionox and Rising. Major portal websites under the Momo Group immediately reported on it.

At the press conference, technicians demonstrated QQ's multi-layered encryption mechanism and security protection system, and third-party experts conducted on-site testing, confirming QQ's security.

"QQ boasts the most advanced security protection system in China's internet industry, defending against more than 1200 million attacks every day and protecting the privacy and security of hundreds of millions of users. Our account theft rate on the Moc-OS system is only three in five million, while on Microsoft systems, our product theft rate is as high as one in ten thousand. We believe that the system vulnerability caused the problem with our security protection system," Xu Chenhua solemnly declared at the press conference.

This passage was quickly featured on the homepages of portal websites such as Sina and Sohu.

Immediately after the press conference ended, several tech blogs simultaneously published a lengthy article titled "MSN 7.5 vs QQ 2005: A Comprehensive Comparison and Evaluation."

The article objectively compared MSN from multiple perspectives, including interface design, transmission speed, security performance, and resource consumption, and the result was still that MSN won in all indicators.

MSN's interface is simple and elegant, exuding a professional feel, while QQ is too flashy and more suitable for younger users.

In file transfer tests, MSN was 37% faster than QQ.

MSN uses 20% less memory than QQ and runs more smoothly.

These data seem very convincing, but the evaluation criteria were clearly manipulated.

The tests used an optimized version of MSN and an unoptimized version of QQ, while the file transfer tests were conducted on Microsoft's own servers.

On Wednesday, Chen Dan, Marketing Director of Tencent, immediately announced a major update to QQ Zone, further strengthening its integration with instant messaging, offering several exclusive games on the QQ Games platform for a limited time to be free, and introducing new privileges for QQ members…

All these measures have only one purpose: to significantly increase the cost of migration for users, making them reluctant to leave the QQ ecosystem.

In response to Tencent's actions, MSN immediately came up with a countermeasure.

On Wednesday evening, the financial interview program "Dialogue with Elites" invited several corporate executives and experts to discuss the principles of modern corporate management.

The conversation naturally shifted to the selection of corporate communication tools.

“Our company uses MSN exclusively for internal communication,” said an executive at a manufacturing company. “It’s not just a choice of tools, but also a reflection of the company’s professional image.”

Another glass company executive echoed, "Indeed, when our overseas clients see that we use MSN, they perceive us as more international and professional."

"In the workplace, details determine success or failure," a university professor said. "Indeed, I really recommend that everyone start using MSN as early as possible; it will make you look more professional."

Just as Tencent and Huaxia Shangding were engaged in a full-scale war, Momo Group's support arrived.

A loan of 5 million RMB with no time limit and no interest was immediately deposited into Tencent's account, with only one simple note: "For market counterattack."

Yu Sen also secretly led a team of technical experts to the Penguin Building to work alongside the Lightning Project team, bringing Momo's advanced experience in system optimization and security protection. Lin Qingyin's Dark Lance team began its operation; instead of attacking MSN, they specifically dug into MSN's security vulnerabilities and privacy issues, then cleverly leaked this information to independent security researchers and the media.

Meanwhile, Momo's portal website published dozens of in-depth reports exposing Microsoft's unfair competitive practices.

Although Cheng Yi is in Jingzhou, he calls Ma Huateng every day to learn about the latest developments and offer suggestions within his capacity.

“Old Ma, remember this: the key to this battle isn’t the gains or losses in a short time or place, but a protracted war. Neither side can truly defeat the other in this battle,” Cheng Yi said on the phone. “Microsoft has money, but it lacks patience. Our advantage lies in our better understanding of Chinese users and our more complete ecosystem. As long as we persevere, victory will surely belong to us.”

“I understand,” Ma Huateng agreed wholeheartedly.

With the strong support of Momo Group, Tencent's confidence has greatly increased.

Ma Huateng's famous quote, "If the enemy wants to fight, then we will fight," is not just a slogan, but has become the belief of every Penguin employee.

The bright lights of the Tencent Building, burning all night long in the depths of summer, stand in stark contrast to the ever-burning lights of Microsoft Asia Headquarters in Beijing, like two giant stars about to collide in the night sky of China's internet industry.

No one knows how it will ultimately end, but one thing is certain.

If this battle truly yields a victor, it will ultimately reshape the landscape of the Chinese internet.

Two weeks later, the atmosphere in the conference room of Huaxia Shangding Technology was warm and excited.

The projector displayed the results of the past two weeks in striking charts, with each upward curve seemingly singing praises to their victory.

Chen Yongzheng, president of Huaxia Shangding Technology Co., Ltd., stood in front of the projector, his face flushed and his voice trembling slightly with excitement: "Mr. Waters, in the past two weeks, our ground promotion team has carried out promotional activities in 78 cities across the country, distributing a total of 5000 million brochures and small gifts worth more than 8000 million yuan. Our online advertising has covered 65% of mainstream portal websites and technology forums."

He switched slides to show the user growth curve: "The most exciting thing is that we have gained 1200 million new registered users, an average daily increase of 85, of which 40% are mobile phone registered users!"

Waters leaned back in his leather seat, a satisfied smile on his face, and asked, "How about the online buzz?"

"A significant improvement!" Chen Yongzheng responded immediately, then switched to another chart and said, "Our MSN positive rating has increased from 15% to 45%, while QQ's negative rating has risen from 10% to 25%. We have gained a clear advantage in the public opinion field. Momo Group's dominance in this type of website field, which is not affected by the system, is very weak. Only the four major portal websites under its umbrella can compete with us."

A restrained round of applause filled the conference room, and everyone's face beamed with the joy of impending victory.

“Very good.” Waters nodded, his gaze sweeping across the room, and said, “But this is just the beginning. I want you to continue to increase your investment. Within three months, you must see a substantial change in market share. Funding is not a problem; I want results.”

"Understood!" Chen Yongzheng and the other senior executives responded in unison, full of confidence.

However, amidst this optimistic atmosphere, Zhao Wei, the head of the market analysis department, frowned slightly, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

The data she had showed some less-than-optimistic details.

Although their number of registered users is astonishing, their daily active user growth rate is far lower than the registration growth rate, and the average user time spent using the app is only one-third of that of QQ...

While Huaxia Shangding Technology was celebrating its milestone victory, the data analysis center at Deep Summer Penguin's headquarters presented a completely different picture.

Ma Huateng and Zhang Zhidong stood in front of the huge data monitoring screen, their expressions serious but not flustered.

“MSN’s registered users have surged, but look here.” Zhang Zhidong pointed to a complex set of data curves on the screen and said, “But their user retention rate is only 38%, and their activity level starts to decline sharply on the third day after registration.”

Ma Huateng nodded slightly and said, "As expected, many users were only attracted by the advertisements and gifts. After registering, they found that their friend list was empty, so they naturally returned."

“What’s even more interesting is this,” Zhang Zhidong said, pulling up another set of data. “We’ve detected that a large number of users are logging into QQ and MSN simultaneously on the same device. Preliminary analysis suggests that most of these users are working professionals who use MSN for work communication and QQ for personal social interaction.”

“Amphibious users…” Ma Huateng said thoughtfully, “This shows that MSN has not truly shaken our foundation, but has only torn a hole on the surface.”

Just then, Xu Chenhua hurried in, holding a newly printed report, and said, "Mr. Ma, some media outlets have started to question MSN's promotional strategy. Computerworld published a commentary today. Please take a look."

Ma Huateng took the report and glanced at it. The title was "Can users bought with money truly stay?"

Ma Huateng quickly glanced through the document, a smile playing on his lips. He said, "Finally, someone with eyes can see through this game. Tell the public relations department not to respond directly, but to provide some data support to other media outlets when appropriate."

“Understood.” Xu Chenhua nodded and said, “Also, we received news from Momo that Lin Qingyin’s team has discovered seven security vulnerabilities in MSN and is choosing the right time to expose them.”

"Hold it still for now." Ma Huateng waved his hand and said, "We can still withstand the pressure. Microsoft hasn't even started to exert its full strength yet. It will be more effective to unleash it when Microsoft's offensive reaches its peak."

Financial Street, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, 6 p.m.

Inside the headquarters building of Fuhai Bank, employees were leaving get off work one after another.

27-year-old analyst Zhao Lei skillfully logged out of MSN and logged into QQ.

"Another day is over," he said to his colleague Wang Peng at the next table. "Switching between chat tools every day is exhausting."

While packing his things, Wang Peng grumbled, "You bet! During the day I use MSN to report to my boss, and at night I use QQ to chat with friends and play games. I'm practically having a mental breakdown."

"Why does the company insist on using MSN?" Zhao Lei lowered his voice and said, "I think QQ's group chat function is much better."

“Our bank buys systems from other companies, right? If we support MSN now, maybe we can get a discount on the October purchase.” Wang Peng curled his lip and said, “I think this is just making things difficult for us working people. Yesterday, the finance department tried to send a file using MSN, and it failed three times. In the end, they secretly sent it using QQ.”

The two exchanged a knowing smile and shook their heads.

The company leader only needs to say a few words, and the employees below will run themselves ragged.

I understand, we all understand.

Such scenes are constantly playing out in office buildings across the country.

MSN did indeed physically occupy users' bodies thanks to Microsoft's powerful push, but it failed to truly capture their hearts.

In many companies, MSN has become the facade, while QQ remains the substance.

(End of this chapter)