American History 1988
Chapter 35 - 32: Why Am I the One Going?

Chapter 35: Chapter 32: Why Am I the One Going?

Dean presented to Judge Witt a software that at the moment was only a shell.

He had spent three days writing a simple database search algorithm that only searched in specified locations, like the additional hard drive.

He had picked up the 10MB Seagate hard drive from an electronics enthusiast’s home in the south of the city, which only cost Dean 10 US Dollars. If he had bought a brand-new one, it would have been 1100 US Dollars.

Although the capacity of 10MB was still limited, it was enough to store textual case information.

Dean needed only to input some of the most typical cases for the demonstration, most of which came from the database of Frank’s Eagle Moving Company where he worked.

As for the algorithm, the reason he could finish it in three days was that it was essentially a version of the search algorithm from Price’s List.

It wasn’t very smart, even a bit rigid, but it was good enough.

So, cobbled together, a specialized case inquiry system for demonstration was born.

It did not have networking capabilities, and the database was pitifully small. But to politicians who had never seen internet technology, it was beyond their imagination.

The result that shocked them was the business card that Dean now held in his hand. It could be just a business card, or it could be some kind of key to open doors.

But before knocking on those doors, Dean still needed to optimize this software. To convince Judge Witt, he hoped the software would be more comprehensive in functionality.

"Roger, don’t forget to ask Mr. Vance about how much development budget the school plans to provide for this software after Judge Witt leaves."

"What?" The smile that had been on Roger’s face suddenly froze, "There’s a budget?"

"Of course," Dean looked at him strangely, "every project development needs a budget."

"But didn’t you say before that you could handle everything by yourself," Roger still hadn’t grasped the concept.

"Roger," Dean said earnestly as he patted his shoulder, "while we are willing to devote ourselves to the citizens’ right to information, if the school shows support, why wouldn’t we seek better conditions? After all, with a budget, we can work more efficiently and speed up the software development significantly."

"Then why should I be the one to go?" Roger spotted a loophole.

"Come on, Roger!" Dean spread his hands, "This software is being jointly developed by students from Youngstown State University and Cleveland State University. Did you notice? The list of developers includes the name of Youngstown State University!"

"Okay," Roger felt there was some reason in what Dean said, "But will Mr. Vance really give us a budget?"

"Let’s try, we have nothing to lose. If the software ends up promoted by the Youngstown courts, you might even apply for a scholarship because of it."

"A scholarship," Roger fell into a reverie, never having thought that a poor student like him would one day deal with a scholarship—it was just so damn abstract!

"Dean, will you be applying for a budget from Cleveland State University?"

"If I can make it in time," Dean shrugged, "You know, Roger, our school doesn’t start until around the 20th. If all goes well, the software might even be promoted before then."

"Dean, I’m kind of jealous of you right now. Cleveland State University doesn’t start until the 20th, Youngstown State University starts on the 3rd. You know why our school can’t rank as high as yours? This is the difference!"

Roger felt the reason his school ranked poorly was because it started too early, even though he didn’t know the connection between the two.

...

"Dean, your phone bill’s gone up again this month," Aunt Rachel said as she took a stack of bills out of the mailbox and handed one to Dean.

"What?" Dean set down his "Functional Programming" book, a jolt taking him from the sofa to a sitting position.

"Aha, 720 US dollars, faster than a stock rise," Aunt Rachel shrugged her shoulders.

Dean took the bill and his head started to spin. "The American Network is robbing my wallet!"

As Price’s List slowly spread throughout Youngstown, its number of users kept growing. When it exceeded 240 people—reaching the public channel’s limit—Dean had to pay an additional fee to the American Network.

The site now had over 500 registered users, and sending out a weekly email to them cost Dean dozens of US dollars.

Moreover, although these users were not online simultaneously, the three computers in Dean’s garage were already overwhelmed, and Jerry’s computer had been largely commandeered by him.

"No, I need to talk to someone from the American Network to see if I can rent their server," Dean decided to send an email to the American Network to inquire if they provided such a service.

As the number of users continued to grow, his modded home computer lost its effectiveness. As for the option of buying his own server, Dean had never even considered it.

Price’s List hadn’t brought him a penny in revenue yet, how could he invest tens of thousands of dollars in servers? Besides, he didn’t have that kind of money.

"Dean, has something happened on Charlotte Street recently?" Aunt Rachel asked, a bit gossipy, as he was getting ready to leave.

"Why do you say that, Aunt Rachel?"

"That Ms. Karen has been calling you quite often lately," Aunt Rachel said, eyes fixed on Dean.

"Uh, she’s always complaining about issues with her home appliances, and then I go check them out," Dean explained earnestly, spreading his hands.

"Okay, Dean," Aunt Rachel nodded in understanding. "But I still have to remind you, you have a bright future, you’re meant to be an elite..."

"OK~ Aunt, I get your point," Dean gestured for her not to get agitated, "Ms. Karen, she’s going to be moving out soon anyway."

"Moving out? Why?" Sure enough, Rachel’s attention was piqued.

"Seems like she’s moving to Wisconsin, something about her child’s father being there," Dean shrugged.

"Oh, thank heaven!" Rachel crossed herself with relief.

Don’t think she couldn’t see what was going on; Dean had clearly been running over to Charlotte Street too often lately.

This was not normal; Dean used to love nothing more than clacking away at the keyboard in his garage.

But over the past week, he had made time to go out every day. Whenever Rachel asked him about it, Dean always came back with excuses like "getting some fresh air," "getting a bit of exercise," or "stretching my fingers."

It wasn’t until Rachel noticed the lingering scent of perfume on him that she started to guess what was happening. In her eyes, Dean just lacked self-control.

And if things went too far, it was no joking matter. Rachel could not begin to imagine Dean paying child support each month.

Indeed, Rachel suspected that Ms. Karen was doing it on purpose. These poor girls would never have an abortion; that was their meal ticket for life.

Seeing Aunt relax a bit, Dean raised his eyebrows nonchalantly. He was doubly careful, and he hadn’t left anything amiss, so how could he be ’shot’?

Although Karen was moving out, he could still freeload for a while longer, which was nice.

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