American History 1988
Chapter 98 - 92 Obstacles Everywhere

Chapter 98: Chapter 92 Obstacles Everywhere

In the first week at Stanford, Dean was essentially busy with various matters related to the start of school. Matriculation, transfer credit applications, the opening ceremony, lectures by professors in his major, and researching elective courses.

These miscellaneous tasks were trivial yet crucial. The professor’s lectures seemed dull, but in the first class, he would tell you which books were genuinely of reference value.

The determination of elective courses also affected whether he could obtain his degree in as short a time as possible. Therefore, he couldn’t let any of these tasks slide, and each time Dean would honestly cycle back and forth between the academic buildings and his dormitory.

The Stanford campus spans over 8,000 acres, more than ten times larger than Cleveland State University. To find various lecture locations here, a bicycle is the best means of transportation for students.

For 200 US dollars, you could get a brand-new, assembled, and reliable bicycle at the Stanford shopping center. Of course, there were also cheaper second-hand ones available, which could be had for just a few tens of dollars.

Considering his student life for the next few years, Dean simply bought a new Huffy bicycle. At 125 dollars, it was known for being cheap and comfortable.

Once again, he zoomed down the campus road on his little donkey, causing the hem of a long-skirted female student at the roadside to be swept up by the draft, startling her into screaming and hurriedly clutching at her knees.

"Sorry~" Dean, wearing sunglasses, apologized from afar and then continued to stand up and pedal hard on his bicycle.

He needed to hurry, as he had no idea how long the wait would be if he was late next time. Relying on his youthful strength, Dean arrived at the school’s library in just two minutes.

Whoosh, he hopped off the bicycle. Dean stuffed his mode of transport into the bike shed, not even taking the time to lock it, and rushed straight up to the library.

Upon finding the computer browsing room, Dean instinctively slowed his breathing. Unfortunately, as he looked around the door, the dozens of computers ahead were already filled with users.

Damn it! Were Stanford’s computer resources so in demand? Seeing that there were no vacancies here, Dean turned and headed for the next computer lab.

As a symbol of Silicon Valley and a hallmark major in its own right, Stanford naturally had abundant computer resources. Just the donations from Apple and IBM amounted to several hundred, and with the school’s own purchases, over a thousand computers were placed in various corners of the campus.

This was only the number of computers available for student use; the number in the laboratories and for office use was even greater, which Marcus said might be two to three thousand.

However, such a scale of computers still wasn’t enough at Stanford. There were too many students, and not just those in the computer science department but also students from other faculties showed a great interest in computers.

The full computer lab just now was proof of that, with a majority of users being male students. Additionally, some staff would also take the opportunity to use the school’s computers in their free time, exacerbating the scarcity of computing resources.

If Dean wanted to use a computer, he had to reserve in advance. After consulting with the administrator for a while, he headed straight for the last few rooms down the corridor.

"Hey~ Dean, over here!" In the second-to-last computer lab, Dean finally saw David Fero.

"OMG, the admin almost canceled my reservation. Thankfully, I made it at the last minute." Dean dropped his backpack to the floor and, out of breath, sat down next to David.

"It’s usually the busiest time here in the library during the beginning of the term. If you need to use a computer, I suggest you come after six in the evening when there are fewer people," David said, offering sincere advice as a regular here.

"Thank you, David." Dean opened the computer and started typing on the keyboard adeptly.

The first thing he did was log into NSF’s online Price’s List, but it took over thirty seconds for the letters to slowly appear on the screen.

"Crap! This speed is slow enough for me to get one off," Dean muttered, doubting that there would be any significant change even if he waited a few more minutes, as the webpage continued to load slowly.

"What’s this?" Seeing the page on Dean’s computer, David leaned in, curious.

"A classified service website, it’s one of my previous projects." Despite the dismal internet speed, Dean proudly introduced it.

"Cool~" David became instantly interested upon hearing that it was Dean’s creation. "Which server did you host it on? Is it here at the Stanford library? The response time seems a bit slow."

As a professional, David immediately sensed the issue. Theoretically, with Stanford’s hardware configurations, there shouldn’t be any response time issues.

"Actually, its server is still in Cleveland. You know, David, I transferred here from there," Dean said, unable to do anything about the slow speed.

Even though it was part of NSF’s network and had its speed increased to 1.5M/s just this year, after traversing the length of America from north to south and passing through numerous nodes, the data transfer speed had been significantly reduced.

Now that this scene had unfolded, Dean was disappointed but not surprised.

Hearing that the server was still in Cleveland, David nodded in understanding. "Information may not be energy, but its carriers and driving equipment are subject to various physical factors, making the transmission process more prone to interference."

"So?" Dean spread his hands out. "Do students have the permission to set up their own websites on NSF’s network servers here at Stanford?"

"I don’t think that’s possible," David said, shaking his head tactfully. "Apart from network administrators and academic staff, no one else has such privileges."

The NSF network now belonged to the National Science Foundation of America, an independent organization under government management with a budget that comes directly from Congress.

Unless granted permission, no company or individual had the right to use the NSF network. After separating from the military, the NSF network was exclusively opened to schools, laboratories, and other research institutions supported by the government.

Thus, although Dean had traveled far with his computer, he found that the once handy tool was now completely useless.

There were no private network service providers in California, where the NSF network was the largest network organization. Even Stanford, right under their feet, was one of the most important backbone nodes of the NSF network in the entire United States.

The big companies in Silicon Valley had their own local area networks, which were more than sufficient for local commercial use. If individuals wanted to use the network, the computer rooms of various schools were the best choice.

Having no other option, Dean could only leave his computer in the dorm to collect dust and reserve time at the library’s computers himself.

But with too many people using the network and too many restrictions, Dean found he couldn’t do much with the NSF network?

He glanced at the computer room, hey, there were other private websites though.

"David," Dean pointed at a student browsing a BBS forum not far away, "which server are these websites built on?"

"This..." David hesitated for a moment before starting to explain uncertainly, "Some people might have built the websites on their own."

"On their own?" Dean quickly seized on the key point.

"Dean, although the school does not allow this in name, some technically skilled students always manage to get around various restrictions and quietly set up their own interest-based BBS.

Sometimes, the administrators would turn a blind eye because everyone needs more varied hobbies outside the monotonous academic discussions."

David said as he also tapped a few keys on his keyboard, "Look, these BBS are strongholds quietly established by the students of several major universities here in California.

However, sometimes due to the large number of visitors, the school would place some restrictions on their data channels to ensure the main server’s smooth operation."

Dean was initially excited, but after hearing about the traffic speed limitations, he lost interest.

"So David, there are no completely unrestricted private websites on the NSF network, right?"

"I think that’s correct," David nodded earnestly.

"That’s really bad news." Dean slumped in his chair in agony, his Price’s List was completely useless here.

Even if Stanford’s servers did not restrict private websites, Price’s List could not profit here since the NSF network banned commercial transactions.

Under so many constraints, Dean found that despite being hailed as the mecca of computing, he couldn’t do related business in Silicon Valley?

"David, have you heard any rumors about the school loosening control over the NSF network? Or are there any other private network service providers here in California? It doesn’t matter if they’re small."

Dean had once talked to Gary, who seemed to have heard similar news. David was in California and might have caught wind of something.

"There has indeed been student protest against the restrictions on the school’s servers. But after meeting several times, the board office has yet to give a clear response.

As for the NSF network..." David tried to recall for a moment, "It’s said that on the East Coast, there are operating institutions looking to privatize parts of the NSF network’s lines."

Dean’s eyes lit up, this was a good sign. The entry of commercial companies was the best catalyst for the complete liberalization of the internet.

If the dissolution of the NSF network could be accelerated, then a new, unrestricted and free internet was bound to take its place.

"David, do you know about the IRC protocol?"

"Jarkko released it last August, right? The Internet Relay Chat protocol to replace the MUT program?"

Snap, Dean snapped his fingers excitedly. "Exactly, that one!"

To Dean’s surprise, David was also aware of this technology update, truly a tech-savvy geek, keeping up with the latest trends in computer technology.

Since there was no opportunity with the NSF network here and it was impossible to replicate Price’s List in the short term, Dean might as well find himself some other work.

Three years of college life at Stanford couldn’t just be spent as an ordinary student, right?

Dean thought it was time to test the waters with his own instant messaging software.

Of course, this was different from C-Link, many of the codes and designs needed to be redone, and Dean also wanted to add some more appealing features to them.

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