American History 1988
Chapter 102 - 96: Foreign Aid

Chapter 102: Chapter 96: Foreign Aid

After examining California’s networking environment, Dean found that his Price’s List would unlikely be replicated here in a short period of time.

He didn’t have permission to access Stanford’s servers on the NSF network, and even if he could secretly port Price’s List over, its capacity limitations doomed it to insignificance.

So, although reluctantly, Dean had no choice but to give up on the expansion plans for Price’s List in California. Given America’s current networking environment, it was still confined to Ohio.

Dean wasn’t sure when dawn would come, and therefore he didn’t plan to wait idly at Stanford. Since the network was currently a dead end, it was time to pivot.

As Silicon Valley’s calling card, computer technology had evolved for over twenty years. The previously huge and cumbersome mainframe computers had now been miniaturized.

They appeared not only in thousands of offices but had also entered ordinary households, which also spurred the creation of another massive ancillary market: software.

The representatives of this sector included Microsoft based in Seattle and the almost simultaneously established Lotus Development Corporation and Oracle Corporation in 1982.

A couple of days ago, Dean had casually read in the newspaper that Oracle’s latest fiscal year sales were 584 million US dollars, with net profits reaching 82 million US dollars.

Okay, this astronomical figure was beyond his imagination, but it was sufficient to prove the maturity of the software market.

So after much thought, Dean concluded that besides Price’s List, the only other thing he could work on was instant messaging software.

After all, with his previous experience developing C-Link in Cleveland, redesigning and programming from scratch would be much easier.

However, due to NSF network restrictions, the instant messaging software market for individual users was not yet mature.

But there was a definite market for communication software targeted at enterprises, and Dean’s aim was a platform for internal corporate collaboration and communication.

Of course, to attract them to pay for this software, just text communication wasn’t enough; after all, the free Plato System was already available on the market.

Dean’s development of the Teams software meant text communication was just the most basic functionality; file transfer and voice communication were the real game changers.

The name Teams was also perfectly suited to its function—a succinct and powerful team collaboration platform.

Having set the software’s development goals and codename, Dean began the groundwork for the project.

"Marcus, have you found any development tools based on the IRC protocol that I asked you to look for?" Dean said, meticulously studying the new protocol’s programming logic in front of his computer in the dorm.

"Come on, Dean, that thing is too obscure. Apart from the original developer’s initial version, there’s simply no discussion about it on the BBS." Since the dorm’s computer wasn’t connected to the NSF network, Marcus had even made a special trip to the library.

"Alright, maybe I shouldn’t have hoped for much." Dean leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face to alleviate some of the fatigue.

"Dean, if you keep going like this, I’m worried you won’t be able to hit a home run even with a girl lying in bed, posed and ready." Marcus admired Dean’s genius brain, but Stanford’s demanding academics didn’t allow them much spare time.

"A good hitter can score a home run at any time." Dean got up to make himself a cup of coffee. "I wonder if David could find us some external help?"

Dean was currently familiarizing himself with the new protocol, a process that would take half a month. The development of application-level software required four processes just for system design.

Not to mention subsequent front-end and back-end adaptation, testing, and other steps, it wouldn’t be possible without three months’ time. Especially since Dean and his team were short-handed, if they had to do everything themselves, it would take even longer.

So to speed up development and solve some tricky technical issues, Dean needed help.

As a master’s student, David said he could ask around among his classmates to see if there was anyone working in this area.

Dean had skillfully avoided issues with servers and bandwidth limitations. If he could smoothly overcome the code-level obstacles, the initial version of Teams would soon meet them.

Hearing Dean bringing up David’s external help, Marcus shrugged and spoke. "I think given David’s eloquence, that could take three months."

"Ah ha~ so you have that much confidence in David?" Dean couldn’t resist being sarcastic as he set down his cup.

"It’s not that I’m biased against David, but..." Marcus gave him a "you know" look, "David truly isn’t good at these things, he’s better at solving problems in front of a computer."

Knock, knock, knock—there came a knock at the door. "Dean, there’s good news, someone has agreed to help."

It was David’s voice. Dean gave Marcus a suggestive eyebrow raise, and Marcus spread his hands helplessly. Okay, the rebuttal came too fast.

"David, did I just hear some good news?" Dean opened the door of the dorm, welcoming David inside.

"Yes, a student from the Infolab lab who communicated with Jarkko on the BBS might be able to solve the compatibility issues between IRC and UDP."

David was referring to Jarkko, the inventor of the IRC protocol, while Infolab lab was a research organization at Stanford focused on database research, network analysis, and image mining.

"Good, it looks like our Teams will soon come into being." Dean snapped his fingers cheerfully. See, the developments were unexpectedly smooth.

"Uh... but Dean, he says he needs to meet you in person before making a decision." David was reluctant to dampen Dean’s spirits, but he still relayed the conditions posed by the other party.

"Meet in person?" Dean initially seemed puzzled but quickly nodded in agreement. "No problem at all. Did he mention a time?"

"Tomorrow in the school’s microcomputer room, there’s a public class for freshmen in the computer science department. He hopes to meet you there," said David.

Dean turned to look at Marcus, who nodded and said, "The first public class of the new semester, I suggest we’d best not miss it. Professors usually recommend reference books worth reading this semester during class, which is quite helpful."

"OK, David. Please tell him I’ll be there on time," Dean said. He had lost track of how many courses he had attended since the start of the semester two weeks ago.

With a two-and-a-half-month term system, the course schedule was very tight. In another two weeks, the intensive midterm exams would take place, then classes and exams would continue.

However, for the smooth development of Teams, Dean didn’t plan to skip this unplanned public class either.

...

"Donald, have you heard? Bosack and Lerner are having a tense relationship with Valentine and the others at Cisco," Winton said to Donald Knuth as they walked through Stanford’s Main Quad, discussing the latest gossip from Silicon Valley.

Donald Knuth’s full name is Donald Ervin Knuth, and Winton and the others were accustomed to calling him Donald.

"Winton, you know. You wouldn’t need to tell me these stories, I might not even know if they had left Cisco," replied Knuth with a chuckle, greeting the students who passed by–his primary focus was on research, not so much on the outside world.

"But speaking of Cisco, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) they released this year is a fantastic innovation. The routing between autonomous systems brings greater possibilities to the network, and Bosack and Lerner are still bursting with genius ideas as they did before."

Both Knuth and Winton knew this couple, but the former’s impression of them was more technical, while the latter was aware that tensions within Cisco had reached a breaking point.

"Donald, perhaps Bosack and the others are really leaving Cisco," Winton said, his gaze thoughtful as he looked at the limestone buildings across the campus, where they had all once toiled.

"That serious?" Knuth finally became serious, the smile on his face fading slightly.

"If nothing unexpected happens, after Cisco goes public next year, Bosack and the others will be ousted," Winton had his sources.

Valentine of Sequoia Capital, nicknamed "Rocket Man," met with the equally temperamental Lerner, ensuring quite a spectacle.

After some thought, Knuth shook his head resignedly, acknowledging he couldn’t help with the situation. "Such a pity. I was thinking, Cisco’s multiprotocol routers could have made the privatization of the NSFnet transition smoother and faster. But now, it’s up to Stephen to worry about it."

Winton, walking by his side, chuckled at the comment. "Donald, we’re thinking alike. Multiprotocol routers support communication between different network protocols. They can work with NSFnet and other private networks simultaneously, which is a promising direction.

"However, IBM is the reality we have to face. Now it’s up to Stephen to resist their temptation," said Winton.

"Winton, although I’m not very concerned with external news. But coming from the vice president of MCI, it’s hard not to wonder if you think I’m a fool," said Knuth.

"Ha, Donald. See, you’re clearer on that than anyone." MCI and IBM had a cooperative relationship, and whether Winton would join the West Coast in opposing IBM wasn’t certain.

"Alright, it’s almost time for class. To make a good impression on the new students, I think we better be punctual."

"Thinking about facing so many students, I’m starting to regret agreeing to you, Donald."

"I would advise you not to entertain such thoughts, or else the students’ complaint letters will flood your company’s mailbox," Knuth warned.

...

"David, aren’t you coming with us?" Dean, astride his rented bicycle, one foot on the ground, looked at David emerging from the dormitory.

"That’s the freshmen’s public class, and..." David pointed toward the laboratory, "my research isn’t finished yet, my supervisor hopes to see results by the end of the month."

"All right, good luck, David." Dean greeted him and then rode off toward the microcomputer room in the central campus with Marcus, one in front of the other.

His beloved bike had been stolen, so for now, he had rented one. As for whether to buy a new one, Dean was still undecided, as the loss of his previous bike still pained him.

When they arrived at the bottom of the academic building, they realized the class had already started.

"Shit! Marcus, did you get the time wrong?" Dean hastily parked his bicycle and rushed toward the classroom.

"F*ck! I didn’t check the notice; I just heard others saying so," Marcus hurried after him, it was clear they might have gotten the time wrong.

The two sneaked in through the back door, crouched low, and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Choosing the seats closest to the door, Dean and Marcus settled down.

As they opened their computers, another Caucasian young man next to them suddenly turned toward them. "Dean Price?"

Dean and Marcus exchanged a glance, both seeing the question in each other’s eyes, as this didn’t seem to be one of their classmates.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.