November 9.

  The periodivestments made in Stanford Uy had paid off, and with partial assistance from Alvy Ray Smith, the pany Nvidia, which previously only thought to give a 30% stake, decided to stretch that pertage to 40% for 2 million. It was a bold move, but Billy accepted 1.5 million, which was eagerly received. Despite being just a small pany, they were beginning to manufacture processing boards and had secured a 3 million i-free credit line. Billy wasn't stingy when it came to iing in a pany he knew would grow siderably iure.

  Nvidia's exquisite ma iing boards and their stant expansion with 1.5 million was the stepping stone for 5000 processing units. It was the pany's first order, and with Billy's mohey set up a small produ industry, hiring staff and purchasing pos.

  Meanwhile, Raimon outing. His workload had kept him so busy that he had fallen behind on his readings and was three ics behind. He parked at a "Toys and ics" store and bought the test volumes of Sm Dunk and four volumes of Cowboy, both old and ions.

  -Sir, would you like to take a special Toys and ics bag? - asked the cashier, pag the nine ics. The store was vibrant, with rge piles of ieatly arranged, including colles of Evangelion and Yu Yu Hakusho. The bag featured One Piece, and they still had some Evangelion ones left.

  -Are there any Evangelion ones left? - asked Raimon, sidering grabbing a couple more bags.

  -No, - came the reply.

  There was an awkward silence. Raimon's silly grin, coupled with his Toy Story t-shirt, might have made anyone smile, but the cashier dealt with ers like him every day—people who came to buy id boast about their knowledge.

  -I'll take it! - Raimon resolved, avoiding embarrassment.

  As he was leaving, he received a call. Hotmail was evolving from a mere team and shared office spa the RPG Ptforms factory. Its inauguration was beginning, with a team of nine boys who had pleted all the formalities to un email service that would ect people worldwide through the i.

  -Hello, - Raimon answered.

  -We've got it all set. Ihan two months, we unch the first version of the email serviline, - said Aaron Walter, overflowing with excitement.

  -What's left iwo months exactly? There are many analog examples in the project review about server development, - said Raimon.

  -We've desighe page as requested, took a copy from Word, and renamed many characters. For now, we're testing the server to hahe delivery and receipt of email messages, as well as st users' mailboxes, - expined Aaron Walter.

  Standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and IMAP (I Message Access Protocol) protocols were employed. Email was developed in the 1960s by Arpahe precursor to the i, created by the US Department of Defe enabled users to send messages to others on different puters ected to a work.

  -Does Billy know about this? - Raimon inquired.

  -'s just a progress update. We'll deliver the material and advanext month. The proposal closes in two months, but only the message delivery aiowork. We o create a server that colled store data, maes to link servers, and assist in space modeling, along with more email-specific details like user identification, favorites, message anch, some... I don't uand them, - said Aaron Walter.

  -No problem, I'll review it tomorrow. I have some pending matters today, - said Raimon, taking a detour to the pany he o visit: Pixar. Anne had visited the pce before and had reached an uanding, but Billy had invited him since Pixar's growth was ridiculous. As major designers not only of TV ercials, video games, and films but now with a sed team w on another movie, it ossible that the produ time of two years per film could be reduced to one year or a year and a half per film. It could be a risk, but it could also lead to signifit gains.

  The sed building was marvelous, repg the houses, all its walls made of gss with a tent-shaped roof, giving it a modern and updated architecture for Vivian's time. This was the new home of the sed team, a fresh enviro for produ.

  Billy was in a board meeting; the sed team led by Peter Docter and James iganh was a reality. The first team, headed by John Lasseter and Aatan, painted a bright future for Pixar.

  -Raimo James iganh; he's mostly in charge of developing our video games, known as the genius of sarios around here, along with Peter, - ented Billy, pointing to both. They just nodded, happy to be the team leaders of the film. Although it had a director behind the ses, for the post-produ process, the team of 24 animators would bring the Ice Age to life. Official hiring of newers to focus on ercials, and puter games as a form of training was also a wonderful teag move that allowed them to start with simpler tasks and gradually take on more plicated ohe pany had 69 animators and 13 software developers at their disposal.

  -Pleasure to meet you, - Raimon said effusively. He knew Peter Docter, who seemed like a pleasant guy. Now they were the ones making Disney movies. They weren't the only ones fag problems; the developers had been struggling to replicate snow, hair, and, of course, humans. Developing humans was a plication that had pushed them to strive harder, with the help of Autodesk and ID Software, although this task had its limitations.

  -Likewise, you're the Director of Operations and the one who attends our funs in cool es, - said Peter Docter, embarrassing and fttering Raimon at the same time.

  -That's me. I just do what I must and show people how awesome Pixar movies are, - Raimon replied.

  The kickoff party allowed many animators to be delighted to plete their tasks. Billy's pns were clear: first Ice Age, then Shrek, and third Madagascar. These films, aimed at an animated audience, would trast with Pixar's cssic films, turning the 3D ema cssito an unparalleled revolution.

  Peter Docter took the microphone. - It's fair to say that in the ing months, we'll get to know each other. We have a very taleeam in the great art of making movies. The first team knows this, and at this moment, they are close to the release of the pany's sed film. From today, not only the sed team is created, with views and aims to improve creative space, the office has decided to create a simir system of script creation, opinions, and future projects. Anyone create; they just o have a good idea, - he said, receiving appuse.

  James iganh was o speak, followed by other animators who took the floor. Not far away, Billy sipped on some juice while Raimon appuded those who spoke great words. The celebration was undoubtedly wonderful.

  -What do you think of all this? - Raimon asked.

  -We'll succeed, Raimon. We'll i money in voice actors specialized in dubbing. When we have enough funds, I'll buy a dubbing academy. We o improve the entire produ process. It's not just about good animation but also good voices, sound effects, marketing, and more. There are so many series we pn to produce that it's best to i in resources like these, - said Billy, surprising Raimon with his fidence.

  -You're impossible, - said Raimon. - I spoke with Aron; he could have said that in two months, the email website will be mostly designed, and it's highly likely we'll have a messaging email in a year. -

  -Has Jim said anything about the produ of the shoants to Be a Millionaire? - Billy asked.

  -Not much, - said Raimon.

  ...