American History 1988
Chapter 53 - 49 The stockings are nice, I like them

Chapter 53: Chapter 49 The stockings are nice, I like them

"Dean, you are our school’s only representative on the One Cleveland project. Therefore, I feel obligated to remind you that everything you do could have an unknown impact on the school’s reputation,"

"OK~ I accept."

He was only five minutes late, but Miss Miranda had discussed this issue with him for nearly twenty minutes.

"Hmmmm..." Crossing her legs in the other direction, Miranda subtly straightened the hem of her lady’s suit.

She really enjoyed the feeling of being a teacher so much that, after lecturing the student in front of her for ten minutes, she still wasn’t ready to stop.

A few months ago in school, she was the one standing, and more than once she had inwardly criticized strict professors. Now that the roles were reversed, Miranda realized that this feeling was indeed quite pleasant.

Seeing the Yale girl cross her legs shrouded in black stockings right in front of him again, Dean had to remind her. "I’m sorry, Miss Miranda, but shouldn’t we be talking about business now?"

"Business?" Lost in thoughts about how to get her fix, Miranda looked up confusedly.

Dean shrugged, "One Cleveland~"

One Cleveland? Miranda glanced at her wrist, "Oh~ my God! Dean, we’ve got to hurry!"

"What?" Dean watched Miranda, who had started to pack her things in a fluster, a look of confusion on his face.

Throwing her bag casually over her shoulder, Miranda pointed at her wrist. "I have an appointment with people from Case at 10:30 for an initial meeting about the project. We are going to be late if we don’t leave now, we only have ten minutes!"

WTF? Dean looked puzzled, "But I never heard you mention today’s meeting before?"

"Hmmmm..." The blonde Miranda flashed an awkward but polite smile, "Maybe... I forgot..."

So you had twenty minutes to discuss with me about being late, and then you forgot about a much more important meeting?

"Come on, hurry up Dean, we’re going to be late." Grabbing her keys, Miranda walked rapidly toward the stairs with a click-clack of her heels.

Dean sighed, the halo of a Yale student was shattered in his mind for the first time.

Cleveland State University wasn’t far from Case; just two or three miles east would get them there. Stepping out of Miranda’s BMW Mini, they arrived right at 10:30.

"Dean, during the meeting, you’ll need to combine the project plan and talk about your ideas. Do you have the project planning document with you?"

Dean stared at her wide-eyed, "Miss Miranda, what do you think? I didn’t even know there was a meeting today~!"

"OK~" Miranda signaled him not to be nervous, "We can improvise, can’t we?"

"Maybe~" Dean spread his hands in resignation.

...

"We have already outlined the basic framework for the One Cleveland collaboration system. Here at Case, everything is progressing smoothly, and we plan to conduct the first test within two months," Ronald from Case was presenting the development progress of the project in the meeting room.

As the head of Case and the director of the One Cleveland project, the system aimed to connect all universities and academic institutions in northern Ohio for efficient resource sharing and communication.

For example, academic research reports could be accessed by Cleveland State University from Case’s open resources at any time. Even for open research topics, professors from each university could assess or make suggestions using the same system.

Of course, real-time communication between these institutions’ personnel was also one of the target functions of the system. Professors from different schools always needed to communicate, and both phone calls and emails had their limitations.

But communicating through the system allowed them to exchange ideas while referencing relevant materials simultaneously. This was very well received by everyone, and the system was very suitable for a purely academic atmosphere.

Regarding instant messaging, Ronald glanced in the direction of Cleveland State University, his eyebrows raising subconsciously. Development teams from other schools generally consisted of at least five or six members, but Cleveland State University had only two people.

And they were so young that it made one doubt their capability. "Miss Miranda, how is your school’s progress?" As the director, Ronald needed to have a clear understanding of their status.

"Err..." Miranda looked pleadingly at Dean. Come on, Dean, stand up and say something, please~

Caught in her innocent bunny-eyes, Dean stood up empty-handed.

"We plan to improve the instant messaging feature based on the Plato System, using TCP/IP as the underlying protocol to segment and pack data streams and establish a virtual circuit between two machines. This is to ensure the continuous, bidirectional, and accurate transmission of data,"

"The Plato System?" Everyone present was an insider in the computer field, and they had heard of the Plato System.

It was an old relic from over a decade ago, typically offering six channels, each allowing up to five users to chat online. Another distinctive feature of the Plato System was its "true real-time" communication!

How real-time? Every time someone typed a letter on the keyboard, the other side could see it instantly. Meaning there was no send button; any mistakes you made or anything you deleted was clear as day to the other person!

However, the instant messaging Dean had in mind differed slightly from Plato, "That’s right, the Plato System. But I’ve made some modifications, starting with the removal of the channel count and the limit on the number of people per channel.

Just this year, the NSFnet network’s backbone speed had been upgraded to 1.5Mb/s, and the connection capacity per host also expanded to 20,000. With their support, the limits on channel numbers and users no longer made sense."

"Additionally," Dean presented his coup de grâce, "I’ve changed this instant messaging system to end-to-end transmission, that is, person-to-person sending."

"Person-to-person?" It was Ronald’s first time hearing that instant messaging could be done this way. Chat rooms were already a thing, but everyone was used to crowding together to interact, and one-on-one had been overlooked.

"I believe that even though this is a system developed for work, everyone should be allowed some personal space," Dean’s statement won the approval of most people present.

At least it doesn’t sound like a bad thing, does it?

"End-to-end, meaning that each person is both a server and a client. I will set up a private account for each user that will be able to see who’s online or offline within the system. The most important point is that chat messages will no longer appear in real time; they will only be displayed to the recipient after the sender has finished editing and clicks send."

"Whether it’s public channels or private exchanges, they will all use this working principle. We have the right to edit our messages before posting, and also the right to communicate with just one person instead of discussing private issues in a public chat room."

"Cool~!" Dyson Demmon, who had been sitting opposite, excitedly stood up and pumped his fist.

With his lead, the other young students couldn’t help but applaud and cheer. An instant messaging system like this was interesting; they could already imagine using this tool to chat up the girls present.

Seeing the jubilation of the students in the meeting room, Ronald raised an eyebrow, "Wow~ seems like it’s fun?"

"At the very least, we’ll become the institution with the most advanced instant messaging system in the NSF network," Dean answered from another perspective.

"Okay, how long will it take Cleveland State University to complete this part of the work?" Ronald needed to consider the overall project timeline.

"Uh... maybe three months or half a year?" Miranda looked uncertainly at Dean, hoping to negotiate as much time as possible for him. As the project liaison, she felt it was necessary to do something.

"No," Dean smiled and shook his head, "One month, we’ll test it alongside the collaborative system in a month."

"Dean?" Miranda hurriedly tugged at his sleeve, "You’re only one person!"

"One person is my best state~" Dean winked at the Yale girl.

"Mr. Price, are you sure you can handle all this in one month? If needed, I think others in the organization could offer some support," Ronald said, looking at the representatives from various colleges in the meeting hall.

Dyson, sitting behind him, was the first to wave at Dean. His excited expression was almost enough to make him defect to the Cleveland State University team on the spot.

Dean smiled and nodded at him, then reaffirmed, "I think one month is enough, of course, if there is a need, I will ask for help in time."

"Alright, since you insist," Ronald respected Dean’s choice, "What’s the name or codename for this program?"

"C-Link (Cleveland Link)," Dean came up with a name on the spot.

"Good," Ronald was fairly satisfied with the name, at least it wasn’t something nonsensical like "Little Boy" or "Miss Miranda."

...

"Dean, I think you need to reassess the project completion time. It’s not too late to back out now, just give the word and I’ll go ask Mr. Ronald for support."

Upon leaving the meeting room, Miranda followed at Dean’s side, expressing her worries non-stop.

"Miss Miranda," Dean stopped, somewhat resigned, "I’m the one who should be worried, but clearly I’m not, so what does that tell you?"

"But Dean..."

"Miranda, if you really want to help me, it’s not out of the question," Dean suddenly stopped, looked her up and down, and evaluated her.

"What?" Miranda looked at him, puzzled.

"Today’s stockings are nice; I like them. If you could switch up the styles more often, maybe my efficiency would significantly improve," Dean winked at her and then turned to find Dyson, who was waving at him.

"Dean, you’re such a jerk," Miranda stamped her foot in frustration.

However, as she lowered her head and saw her long, slender legs, she felt a trace of pride and arched an eyebrow slightly.

"Hey, Dean"

"Hey, Dyson"

The two went through their usual routine of fist bumps and back slaps.

"Your Price’s List is so cool, can you imagine? I saw someone there bragging about the size of their junk? Mother F*cker, that was so damn thrilling."

"OK~" Dean shrugged helplessly, "That post has turned into a competition for who can exaggerate the most. I just hope the FBI won’t come looking for me because of it."

"Who the hell cares about that? Isn’t everything free on the internet?" Dyson thought Dean’s concerns were entirely unnecessary.

"By the way, how’s the transfer work for the NSF network going?" Dyson whispered, leaning in closer to ask.

"I’ve got the school’s permissions; if all goes well, we can go online today. Of course, to avoid unnecessary trouble, some features might be castrated."

"Come on, that would take away a lot of the fun," Dyson knew what Dean meant.

After all, the NSF network was a government-controlled academic institution network, and Dean definitely wouldn’t dare to openly allow sections for frivolous encounters with the opposite sex, as well as certain trading sections.

But there was no helping it, since campus network reviews were already much stricter. Especially since they weren’t allowed to do these things on the sly.

"Dyson, at least we can use the NSF network to funnel everyone to the American network. But you have to help me with some of the code conversions, with C-Link on top, I’m a bit overwhelmed."

"No problem, I was just looking for something interesting to do," Dyson said, eager to get his hands dirty as a geek.

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