American History 1988
Chapter 120 - 114: The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings

Chapter 120: Chapter 114: The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings

"Global Overview" magazine is almost a must-read for tech workers in Silicon Valley, despite its irregular publication schedule and lack of a special promotional channel.

But when the Christmas special issue hit the display windows, bookshelves, and even convenience stores, white-collar workers who discovered the magazine did not hesitate to put it in their shopping carts.

The selling price of five US dollars was affordable for almost every student, especially in the Golden State’s Silicon Valley, where wealthy people abound.

So, of the five thousand magazines sponsored by Dean, the majority were distributed around the Bay Area, with the rest sent to San Francisco and nearby San Jose.

Now, those seeing the Christmas special issue were not just Mayfield investors and the founders of 3Com, but it also landed on the desks of other executives in Silicon Valley.

For example, Andy Bechtolsheim from Sun Microsystems was having a private talk with John Hennessy from MIPS, among others.

MIPS, a chip design company, counts Sun Microsystems as one of its clients. Interestingly, both company founders are of similar age and graduates of Stanford University.

Of course, they were not discussing business today but rather the upcoming MIPS IPO, a high-probability event of substantial profit, which as alumni they naturally shared with each other.

However, during a casual chat, when John Hennessy flipped through the "Global Overview" magazine in his hands, Andy was drawn to the eye-catching cover.

"Wait a minute, John, I think I saw something familiar."

"What?" John Hennessy followed his gaze, flipping the magazine over. "You mean this software named ’Teams’?"

"Teams? Yes, that’s the name!" Andy suddenly remembered, "John, just a few days ago, Jim said he found an interesting piece of software. If I remember correctly, its name is Teams."

Andy had been too busy with end-of-year matters and still had not found the time to visit Clark’s Silicon Graphics. Now, suddenly seeing the magazine cover, he remembered Clark’s earlier invitation.

After listening to Andy’s story, John Hennessy also showed an interested look. "I thought it was just an improved version of the Plato System, but Jim said it was interesting – maybe it really is a surprise?"

"Jim has already installed this software at the company," Andy nodded to John, "Shall we pick a time to check it out?"

"Now?" John closed the magazine, asking uncertainly.

"Mm-hmm~ We’re both in Silicon Valley anyway, it’s just a ten-minute thing."

Thanks to the report in "Global Overview," Teams was starting to ripple through Silicon Valley. In an era when media networks were not widespread, word of mouth among programmers was the primary path to reputation building.

And as the hands-on editor of this special issue, Kevin Kelly was not content with the existing publicity for Teams. Don’t forget, he had signed a profit-sharing agreement with Dean.

Whether he could make a big profit from this opportunity depended on how Kevin would promote his own son’s computer store.

Although the name "Computer Shopette" had appeared in the "Global Overview" magazine, it was far from enough.

Kevin knew that the main audience of the magazine were office workers or executives, who would mostly contact Byte Software directly if they had needs.

The ones who were really willing to patronize an electronics store were mostly electronics enthusiasts. They might pay attention to "Global Overview," but it was a matter of chance.

So, after contemplating, Kevin decided to advertise on the WELL (Whole Earth ’Lectronic Link), the most famous BBS forum among internet enthusiasts.

Conveniently, one of the founders of this BBS was Brand, also the co-founder of "Global Overview."

Of course, being the most high-profile BBS, the other founders of WELL were also famous figures, many of them celebrities in Silicon Valley.

These included the lyricist for the Grateful Dead, John Barlow, journalist Steven Levy of "Personal Computing" and "Newsweek," and the founder of Lotus Software, Mitch Kapur.

As Brand’s right-hand man, Kevin easily gained editing rights to the BBS forum’s homepage announcement board.

With the help of an electronics enthusiast, Kevin quickly posted information about the Teams software on the WELL forum.

But this time, he focused the report on the software’s free calling feature, phrasing it as, "This is a disruptive software that’s going to kick the butts of traditional telephones quite hard."

The cultural DNA of the WELL forum was counter-mainstream, hippie, and utopian, attracting people who despised large and rigid companies.

Especially an entity like AT&T, which they referred to as "Ma Bell." The Teams software that Kevin introduced was right up their alley—free calling software? Very good, they were eager to try it out.

The forum also detailed how to set up a private local network, of course, with the only purchasing option for the software being the "Computer Shopette" in Palo Alto.

This was the advertising channel Kevin had secured for himself. The contact information for Byte Software was conveniently forgotten.

...

On the same day, December 20th, Stanford University had just begun its break. Following the academic calendar, this year’s winter vacation started in late December and ended in the latter part of January, lasting one month.

However, Dean hadn’t yet managed to go home, not because Byte Software was too busy. Teams had just hit the market, and other than Clark from Silicon Graphics giving it a boost, no one else had contacted Byte Software.

According to Dean’s estimates, it might be due to the upcoming Christmas holiday, a time when clearly not many are inclined to attend to business matters.

So, having placed the magazine advertisement for Teams, Dean prepared to peacefully head back to Ohio for the holidays.

However, just before leaving, Professor Donald Knuth asked him to stop by the office.

"Dean, I have an assignment for you."

Dean: ???

The door opened to a surprise attack, and Dean’s mood soured instantly. Could it be that Stanford University still assigns holiday homework?

"I remember you wrote a protocol for the interaction between multiple network communications before?" The protocol Donald Knuth mentioned was the transport layer protocol originally written by Dean for Teams to be compatible with other network communications.

Because of that prank, both Donald Knuth and Vinton Cerf had seen Dean’s programming creation in that area.

"Professor Knuth, I have indeed written similar protocols. If you need it, I can provide the relevant materials." Dean didn’t want to write holiday homework, so he preferred to hand over his underlying code.

After all, Teams had already registered for a software patent; he wasn’t concerned about that.

However, Donald Knuth was not interested in Dean’s proposal, "I need you to improve on it some more, consider it a new subject."

Speaking of which, Donald Knuth had already pulled out prepared materials from his office desk, "Here are the communication protocols for the mainstream network operators in America. You should incorporate them into the compatibility protocol.

As compensation for sacrificing your holiday, you can choose whether or not to attend my classes next term. Of course, it’s not urgent, just have it to me by next March."

Mainstream network operators in America? Dean was a bit sensitive to those words, and given the compatible interaction protocols, he had some guesses.

"Professor Knuth, is it the multiple operators interaction project I assumed last time?"

Seeing Dean’s cautious demeanor, Donald Knuth thought for a moment before giving a vague response. "Dean, in principle, it’s not the time to divulge these details.

But it is indeed an initial exploration, the National Science Foundation’s network is commissioning us to perform technical validation. I think your plan is suitable, even with a relatively mature programming protocol.

So this is just a pre-proposal review; whether it will be adopted depends on its verification results, and only after that can it be decided."

"OK, I understand." This time Dean’s mood lifted considerably. It was his first time hearing definite progress on the privatization side of the NSF Network.

Perhaps more detailed official news would be released soon. Dean thought as he flipped through the materials in his hand, and soon he spotted another issue.

"Professor Knuth, why isn’t the Compuserve Company (America Online) listed here?" In Dean’s recollection, America Online was not small; how could it be absent from the list of mainstream network operators?

"The list is from the National Science Foundation," Donald Knuth clarified with a brief explanation, knowing of America Online’s existence and having even tried it out.

But some decisions were not his to make, and Donald Knuth was not interested in them either.

However, seemingly recalling that Dean was from Ohio, Donald Knuth asked curiously, "Dean, you must have used America Online, do you know Price’s List?

Their website’s algorithm is quite interesting. If it’s convenient for you during the holiday, you might want to talk to them, you could learn something."

"Price’s List?" This time, Dean was beyond surprised, his eyes widened, "Professor Knuth, you know about it?"

"I stumbled upon it on a business trip, but I didn’t have time to contact them."

"That website is my creation."

"Ah, wait... what?" Donald Knuth suddenly came to his senses, "What did you just say, Dean?"

Dean shrugged, "It was an experiment before I transferred schools, but due to commercial policy issues, it could only exist in Ohio."

"Wow~" Donald Knuth looked at him in astonishment, "That’s unexpected... I should have known, you all share the Price name~"

"To have Professor Knuth remember it, I take that as an honor." Dean did not expect to hear his website’s name from a Stanford professor, which gave him a bit of pride.

Price’s List? America Online? Now Donald Knuth somewhat understood why Dean cared about the names of the operators on the list.

"Dean, is Compuserve Company very important to your website?"

"At least for now," Dean nodded honestly. Without a more significant network operator, it would be challenging to replicate Price’s List’s scale in Ohio.

"OK, I think I understand." Donald Knuth mused, stroking his chin slowly, "The list isn’t final. If your interaction protocol is impressive enough, maybe I can suggest a small recommendation to the NSF office."

Dean’s eyebrows twitched; he understood the hint from Professor Knuth. "I’ll complete it as soon as possible and ensure it’s excellent."

"Good, many liked your original proposal, so work hard on it." When Donald Knuth and Vinton Cerf submitted Dean’s prior assumption as a formal proposal, third-party network operators had already begun to react.

"By the way," just as Dean was about to take his leave after accepting the task, Donald Knuth called out to him again.

"I’ve used that Teams software you developed, and it’s quite good. However, I suggest you reconsider whether there are better alternatives for some technical protocols."

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