Chapter 151 Instant Messaging Tool
"By the way, today Haoming sent an email saying that Berners contacted Xinghai and invited them to join an organization called the World Wide Web Consortium. Xinghai agreed, and then Haoming casually asked whether we should be invited too. Berners said yes—have you received the email?" Xi Xiaoding, seeing that Su Yuanshan couldn't carry so many packages, thoughtfully handed him a plastic bag.
"Hmm? So fast?" Su Yuanshan stuffed the snacks into the plastic bag, stunned by the news.
"What do you mean by so fast?" Xi Xiaoding looked at him puzzled.
Su Yuanshan came back to his senses and smiled, "Nothing, I just didn't expect Berners to move so quickly... Hmm... Speaking of which, it's time to set a standard."
In Su Yuanshan's memory, it wasn't until 1994 that Berners, the founder of the World Wide Web, brought together more than two hundred computer, software, and related companies worldwide to form the World Wide Web Consortium, truly launching the grand era of the Internet.
Now, this timeline had advanced by almost a year.
Su Yuanshan understood that the acceleration was because the main driver behind the World Wide Web Consortium—the web browser—had appeared earlier.
Thanks to Chen Haoming's ambition to "prove himself" by developing a browser and website design tool, which immediately caused a sensation in Silicon Valley upon release. It might be an exaggeration to call it viral marketing, but saying that everyone promoted it enthusiastically would not be wrong. Especially after two high-profile appearances at the CEBT and TB computer expos, the browser's fame had spread globally.
Now, driven by the popularity of browsers, any company with a little clout was building its own website, which in turn accelerated the infrastructure of the Internet.
With the western governments' approval, a main root server and twelve auxiliary root servers had been set up worldwide—just like in the original timeline, the domestic side still couldn't secure a root server—but mirror servers were already under construction and would be completed by year-end.
In other words, although the domestic side connected to the international Internet ahead of schedule, without a local domain name server, visiting any website required passing through a tiny 64K pipe to the west for domain name resolution before returning with the server's IP address—even if the website's server was in the country, you still had to go abroad to open it through the domain name.
Once the mirror servers were established, local domain resolution could be prioritized.
"Too bad the domestic network progress is still slow; otherwise, many companies could have been invited too," Xi Xiaoding said with some regret.
"Well, it can't be helped. The spread of the Internet is closely tied to the popularity of personal computers, which in turn depends on the level of economic development... Right now, apart from enterprises and institutions, only schools are major users. And even in schools, networks are more for academic exchange." Su Yuanshan smiled, "For a poor and underdeveloped country like ours to send a representative to the Internet conference is already not easy."
"That's true."
"Then I'll go back and check the emails to see if we got an invitation—if we did, will you go, senior?"
"Sure." Xi Xiaoding agreed without hesitation.
As the technical director of Yuanxin, it was more than appropriate for him to represent the company in such a world-class technical consortium.
Carrying his snacks, Su Yuanshan wandered through the office area. Just like Ye Ruda suspected, he found himself feeling increasingly uneasy as Ye Ruda's appearance overlapped more and more with his memories.
He had watched Ye Ruda's face transform from youthful, collagen-filled vibrancy to the wrinkles of a woman over forty. Sometimes, he even thought that if he ever held Ye Ruda's hand again, it might feel like touching his own.
Returning to his office, he logged into his email account.
Sure enough, there were two emails waiting for him, one of which was the invitation from Berners.
He gladly accepted and then opened the other email...
"Hello, Mr. Shan."
"...With the country's connection to the international Internet and the government's increased investment in network infrastructure, the Internet's spread will surely come rapidly."
"And when that day comes, our online costs won't be as expensive as now; they will definitely drop."
"So I have an idea... to develop a communication software capable of real-time feedback, fundamentally different from current email and forum-based communication."
"Imagine if we both installed this communication software, then every message I type would instantly appear on your computer. Similarly, your messages would instantly appear on mine."
"This would make communication faster and more convenient. Furthermore, if installed on every computer within a local area network, and with proper grouping and marking of each computer, we could achieve efficient instant messaging with everyone."
"Thus, it would be far more efficient and conducive to communication than the current forums and emails."
"I hope to get your support."
—Pony.
Su Yuanshan read the long letter slowly. At first, he froze, and then a wide smile gradually formed on his lips, almost causing him to burst into laughter.
Was this an original creation?
He knew that after graduation, Pony had joined the Zhongxin branch in the Special Economic Zone. Moreover, because Pony had successfully completed an assignment on the Huido forum, Su Yuanshan had given him his personal email address, mentioning that he rarely visited the forum, and that Pony could contact him via email if necessary.
Months had passed without a word from Pony, and Su Yuanshan had almost forgotten about him.
After all... he was a "big shot" now.
He hadn't expected that after months of silence, Pony would come with such a bombshell.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yuanshan replied quickly, "I support you. Would you like to transfer to Yuanxin? If yes, I'll have HR issue a transfer immediately. If you prefer to stay in your hometown, we can discuss."
After replying, Su Yuanshan thought for a moment and grabbed the phone.
"Senior Ding Lei? Are you free?"
"Great, come to my office. I have something for you."
Twenty minutes later, Ding Lei arrived at Su Yuanshan's office, panting.
At that moment, Su Yuanshan had just closed his email—Pony had replied, expressing willingness to transfer to Yuanxin but also mentioning some attachment to the Special Economic Zone, believing it had stronger Internet support. However, Pony stated he was willing to comply with Su Yuanshan's arrangements.
"Mr. Shan, what's the task?"
Ding Lei adjusted his glasses, looking at Su Yuanshan with admiration.
"Go to the Special Economic Zone and, together with a person named Pony from Zhongxin, establish Yuanxin's Internet Research Center."
"Huh?" Ding Lei widened his eyes but quickly became ecstatic!
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