Chapter 203: You can't catch a wolf without giving up your children (Part 2)

December 23rd was the second day of the Future Tech Expo, but on this day, Zhou Ming did not go to the Stanford Conference Center, but instead went in the opposite direction, this is because the second day of the technology exhibition is much less important than the first day, because with the flow of people on the first day, everything that should be seen, investigated, and displayed has been done. Most people have a general idea of who has what technology have a pretty good idea. Most of the people who haven't come yet are also in the minority, and they can be dealt with before the trip. Secondly, there are more important customers to be dealt with here.

Zhou Ming was speeding down the streets of California in his car, with Jacko's technical manager Liu Qiang sitting next to him.

'Manager Liu, we're going to Suffolk right now. You're our technical manager, and today's task is to evaluate their previous information base equipment and software, as well as storage and usage. Do you know what to do?' asked Ming.

Faced with this sudden question, Liu Qiang was at a loss. He had no idea what Zhou Ming meant by this question, because an assessment was simply about understanding the situation of Suffolk's information base clearly and then listing the appropriate items according to their requirements, right? I've been doing this job for more than ten years, so how could I still not know what to do?

From Liu Qiang's expression, Zhou Ming knew that he must not understand, so Zhou Ming explained, 'What I mean is that when you do the assessment inspection at Suffolk, they will definitely ask you about the assessment situation...'

Hearing Zhou Ming say this, Liu Qiang had an epiphany and said, 'Vice President Zhou, I understand. I will definitely say no comment!'

Zhou Ming waved his hand: 'In fact, there is nothing to tell. If you want to talk, just go ahead, but you have to tell him that our price has increased three or four times.'

Liu Qiang was surprised: 'Multiplying it by so many times, the total price will likely reach 7 or 8 million. Vice President Zhou, won't this scare them away?'

'That's not your concern. You're right to say that, and I'll take care of the rest,' Zhou Ming said.

Liu Qiang nodded blankly. In the end, he still didn't understand why Zhou Ming wanted to do it this way. In his opinion, since they were a small company, to win such a big project, shouldn't they lower the price? In the past, everyone else in the company did this, so why is Vice President Zhou now reporting three or four times as much? Maybe they have the technology from Apple now, but that's just a fox pretending to be a tiger. Vice President Zhou is so young, so he's probably just a bit cocky, isn't he?

Liu Qiang thought to himself, and he was also torn between whether he should advise the young Vice President Zhou. If he did, he was worried that he would become angry out of embarrassment; if he didn't, he was worried that any problems that arose afterwards would be dumped on him.

Liu Qiang's expression was like he had constipation. Zhou Ming of course easily guessed what he was thinking at the moment. Zhou Ming said to him, 'Don't worry, at most they will only bargain with me. They gave up yesterday at the exhibition.'

'Why is that?' Liu Qiang asked blankly, his mind as confused as if it had been filled with glue.

'It's simple. If you were a consumer and went into a shop and the owner treated you badly, what would you do?' asked Zhou Ming.

'Of course you won't spend any money in that shop,' Liu Qiang answered without hesitation.

Zhou Ming said, 'That's it. If it were me, I would turn around and walk away too. After all, there are many other shops in the world, but they don't have that. Just yesterday at the exhibition, when the chairman of Suffolk's board of directors came to our booth, our president Tang said a few words to him. I could tell that he was very angry, but he didn't leave, so I judged that he must definitely be ours.'

'Vice President Zhou, isn't this a bit of a hasty judgment?' Liu Qiang asked cautiously.

Zhou Ming was a little surprised that Liu Qiang would ask him this question. Zhou Ming said to him, 'I'm very glad that you would ask me this question, because you are really thinking about the company's interests. But let's do what I say today. I'm confident.'

With these words from Zhou Ming, Liu Qiang could only nod in agreement. A few minutes later, they arrived at the office building where Suffolk was located. They got out of the car and went upstairs to the floor where Suffolk was located.

As the president of Suffolk, Hillel personally greeted him at the door. After some pleasantries, Liu Qiang followed the head of the logistics department, Brown, to inspect the database, while Zhou Ming and Hillel chatted over tea at the door. At noon, Zhou Ming was invited to the restaurant next to the office to eat the best seafood.

When it was 4pm, Liu Qiang came back with his notebook full of technical terms, his face full of the expression of someone who can't let out a fart. He came up to Zhou Ming and whispered to him Ming, 'Vice President Zhou, I just inspected their information storage equipment and found that although it has not been updated for two years, it is still at least functional.'

This answer surprised Zhou Ming very much, and he blurted out, 'What?'

Zhou Ming's surprise startled Xilai, who hurriedly asked Zhou Ming what had happened. After all, Liu Qiang had said it very quietly to Zhou Ming alone, and he hadn't heard it. Zhou Ming asked Liu Qiang to calm down, and also whispered to him, 'What did they mean when they said the storage device would fill up very quickly?'

'That it's because those storage devices are full of junk files, which take up a lot of storage space, so subsequent information data is difficult to store. But in fact, as long as these these junk files cleaned up, I think that at least for two years, if there are no major changes in the information, the current information storage device is still sufficient,' Liu Qiang said.

Liu Qiang Zhou Ming felt a little disbelieving at this answer, and turned to Hilaire and asked, 'Your database was maintained by another company in the past, wasn't it?'

Hilaire nodded and said, 'A company was responsible for maintenance before, but just three months ago, the chairman of that company was arrested for suspected insider trading, and the company later closed down. After the company closed down, my database lost routine maintenance. Is there something wrong with the equipment or software of the database?'

Zhou Ming his brain was working at top speed. As a reborn person from a later era, Zhou Ming knew very well that any university student would know that if a computer is running slowly, it is most likely because there are too many junk files in the system disk. At this time, you just need to download an antivirus software package from the Internet, and then you can solve the problem with just one click.

But this was nearly 30 years ago, when personal computers were not yet commonplace, memory was still a paltry 32 megs, and anyone who knew anything about computers was considered high-tech talent. Then, how could Hilaire not even know about computer computer junk file cleaning. Although it sounds ridiculous, in order to be able to process junk files with one click, it is actually necessary to spend several million dollars on a new generation. But it is still possible.

In that case, if I don't give you a good lesson, wouldn't I be doing a disservice to the readers and viewers?

With this thought, Zhou Ming said to Hillaire very seriously: 'My technical manager just told me that because Suffolk's database is too old, there are many devices that need to be upgraded...'

Zhou Ming was interrupted by Hillaire with great displeasure: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, you are wrong, aren't you? Although I admit that our company's information base needs to be upgraded and updated, but I don't think the word old is accurate. At least our information base was updated and replaced on a large scale three years ago. How could it be too old?'

At Hille's remark, Zhou Ming could not help but burst out laughing. Zhou Ming said to him, 'Mr. Hille, I don't think you've heard of Moore's Law, have you?'

Hille nodded blankly. Zhou Ming told him, 'Moore's Law states that every 18 months, the number of components on the same integrated circuit can double, and so can its performance. This law reveals the speed at which information technology is advancing.'

Zhou Ming took a deliberate pause here and continued, 'So Mr. Hille, the equipment in your information database has not been updated for three years. In these three years, the information equipment has basically been completely updated twice. Do you still insist that your equipment is not outdated?'

Hille subconsciously glanced at Brown, who knew what Hille meant and nodded to him.

Hille's eyes grew serious and he asked, 'So does that mean that the equipment in our company's database will be completely replaced?'

In response to Zhou Ming looked back at Liu Qiang, who immediately whispered something to Zhou Ming in a way that made it clear. Zhou Ming said to Hillaire, 'My manager told me that not all the equipment needs to be replaced. After all, some less important terminal equipment can still be used even if it is too old, but some core components must be replaced, especially your storage equipment.'

Hilaire nodded helplessly nodded: 'In that case, there's no choice but to replace it. But Mr Zhou Ming, your company Jieke must be responsible for maintaining my information base.'

'We are duty-bound to do this,' said Zhou Ming, He was overjoyed at this request from Hille, because from what he had just learned, it was clear that this company had very poor computer knowledge, so only constant maintenance by himself could reap a steady stream of benefits.

'So what what is your initial quote?' Hile asked again.

Facing this crucial question, Liu Qiang quickly calculated and handed Zhou Ming his estimated price. Zhou Ming took the paper Liu Qiang handed him, glanced at the figure on it, and then held up five fingers to Xilai: '5 million.'

This price almost made Hile jump under the chair. Hile's eyes widened as he said, 'Why do you want so much money? My initial budget was only 2 million! You're not trying to trick me, are you?'

Zhou Ming laughed 'Mr Hillaire, at Jieke, you get what you pay for. I don't know if you remember, but you said you wanted the Mark-type computer you saw at the trade fair Mark-type computer, as well as those independently developed operating systems and office software. I also told you at the time that this would exceed the budget.'

'But I also didn't expect it to cost so much. This is also too much. I'm sorry, I can't accept it,' said Hillel.

'Then I don't think Mr. Xile has heard the story of the child who was not spared to catch the wolf,' said Zhou Ming. 'It was a long time ago, when a village was often attacked by wolves. Not only did they bite many livestock to death, they even took away the children of several families. The villagers was very distressed and wanted to catch the wolf. However, the wolf was very cunning and no matter how the villagers tried to set traps, the wolf never fell for them.'

Zhou Ming deliberately paused here and asked Hilai, 'Do you know what the people in that village did in the end?'

'They took used a child as bait, and the wolf fell for the villagers' trap and was captured.' Hile replied.

Zhou Ming said with a smile, 'Yes, that's right. Using a child as bait to capture a wolf is undoubtedly very cruel, but it is also necessary. Just like Suffolk equipment. If you don't want to spend money, you won't get good equipment. You can only get the best equipment if you are willing to spend money. So, Mr. Hillaire, can you tell me your final answer?'

Hillaire gritted his teeth and said, 'If you don't want to give up your child, you won't catch the wolf. I agree with your offer!'