Chapter 198 The Beginning of the Internet
Sail Building Office.

Liu Zhicheng was sitting in a leather executive chair imported from Italy, listening to Huo Haiqing's report on internal informatization.

After several months of hard work, Huo Haiqing and his team completed the construction of the group's intranet and developed email and BBS.

Email is one of the earliest applications of the Internet. It appeared as early as 1969 when the Internet was just emerging.

There is no need to describe in detail the importance of email in previous work. The first thing many people do after work is to open their computers and check their emails.

Although the file transfer function of instant messaging software later took over most of the market, its role has always been important.

In the 80s, due to various limitations such as network communication speed, the content that could be transmitted via email was relatively limited.

But it does not prevent email from becoming an important tool for long-distance communication.

The internal communication speed of the LAN developed by Orange Technology is extremely fast. The email system used for internal communication in the LAN can transmit more content.

The effect of improving the efficiency of internal communication in Shanfeng Group is naturally more obvious. Therefore, after its completion, Liu Zhicheng vigorously advocated the computerization of offices.

Instant messaging is also one of the earliest applications of the Internet. Now Liu Zhicheng is reading messages on Fetion.

In order to better meet internal office needs, Liu Zhicheng asked Huo Haiqing and others to develop an extremely simple instant messaging software: Fetion.

However, due to the hardware limitations at the time, it is not possible to support too many Fetion accounts being used at the same time.

Therefore, for now, it can only be used within a small range of companies, let alone become a public communication platform, because Southeast Asia is still an Internet desert.

Although Orange Technology's supercomputer is still under construction, Orange Technology has already been equipped with a number of medium-sized and minicomputers.

Huo Haiqing used a medium-sized computer to build a server to provide Internet services within the company.

Because today's mid-range computers are sufficient to be used as servers in terms of both computing speed and storage space.

Email and Fetion both meet point-to-point communication needs and have strong tool attributes.

But bbS is different. bbS has very obvious social attributes and is the beginning of true online social networking.

Orange Technology has also established bbS within the local area network, which is used by the company to communicate various company decisions to employees, and is also used by employees to conduct various technical exchanges and discussions.

The launch of these Internet applications is just the beginning of the company's networking and informatization.

If we want to have the Internet in the true sense, we must promote it to the market so that more ordinary citizens can also access Internet services.

Liu Zhicheng knew that this process could not be accomplished overnight, and might even require decades of consistent promotion.

We must maintain enough patience and let the market slowly ferment so that more citizens can accept it and know its fun.

In order to plant the seeds of the Internet and let the first batch of users who come into contact with the Internet feel the fun of the Internet, Liu Zhicheng made a new decision.

"Mr. Huo, how is the battle platform for chess and card games that I asked you to develop last time?"

"Mr. Liu, it can be put online and opened on our internal LAN at any time." Huo Haiqing reported.

"Then why aren't you online?" Liu Zhicheng asked curiously.

"During the testing process, we found that playing games on this platform is very addictive. In order not to affect work, we temporarily did not put it online," Huo Haiqing explained.

"Well, I can understand this." Liu Zhicheng nodded and said.

In the past, Internet games have poisoned so many people. This is caused by addiction, which is the so-called Internet addiction.

"But you can't just do it one size fits all. In order to promote our Internet, I plan to let our employees become seed users of Hong Kong Internet.

After you go down, you will launch this game platform and hold an online challenge. And it must have a prize.”

Liu Zhicheng just wants his employees to experience the fun that the Internet brings to them and become seed users of the Internet.

By then they will take root and sprout throughout Hong Kong and become towering trees.

"How is our supercomputer?" Liu Zhicheng continued to ask.

"Mr. Liu, it will be done after the Spring Festival. Moreover, we have used new technology this time, which will make the calculation faster." Huo Haiqing reported.

"Yes." Liu Zhicheng tapped his desk with his fingers while listening to the report and said, "You have to put the research and development of supercomputers in the top strategic position.

In addition, we need to speed up the Internet work with various universities to let young people feel the charm of the Internet. "

"Okay, Mr. Liu." Huo Haiqing nodded and replied.

…………

Si Weisheng graduated from an electronic science and technology university in the United States and is quite proficient in Internet technology.

After graduation, I originally planned to stay in the United States to develop my career, but due to family reasons, I returned to Hong Kong to find a job.

I have currently joined Orange Technology, where I have been involved in the construction of the intranet. My salary is already among the highest among general technical personnel in Hong Kong.

It has been almost a year since he arrived in Hong Kong. The good working environment and generous salary of Orange Technology make him very satisfied, and he works more and more actively.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Si Weisheng, who had finished breakfast in the employee cafeteria, sat down at his workstation and started working.

After turning on the computer, I habitually clicked on the company's electronic bulletin board on the intranet to see if there were any important announcements from the company.

This electronic bulletin board has been online for some time. Various notifications, announcements, and personnel appointments of Orange Technology Company will be posted on this electronic bulletin board for employees to view.

Allow employees to grasp the company's trends more quickly and be aware of the company's decision-making changes.

There was only one notice on the bulletin board today, issued by the operations department.

The notice was very brief, just announcing that a new functional site would be launched on the local area network of Orange Technology today, and all employees were welcome to experience it.

Si Weisheng tried to log in to the website, but he only saw a huge funny smiley face made up of symbols.

Below is a countdown display, and the end time is exactly 8 o'clock tonight. It seems that it will not be officially opened until 8 o'clock tonight.

Seeing this smiling face, Si Weisheng also smiled, thinking that this was just a joke the company was playing on everyone.

Si Weisheng didn't expect that the company would play such a trick, so he didn't think about it any more. After closing the bulletin board, he started a busy day at work.

At noon, he went to the cafeteria to eat as usual, and soon sat together with several acquaintances from the same dormitory.

As everyone ate and talked, someone soon mentioned the announcement the company had issued today. "What kind of website do you think the company will launch today?" a colleague asked.

"How do we know? You should ask your colleagues at the research center?" a colleague replied while eating.

"Weisheng, aren't you in the Internet Technology Department? You are familiar with the research center, so you should know something about it."

It seems that everyone has a gossipy heart, and today's notice successfully aroused everyone's curiosity.

And their opinions were very different. Some thought it was just a joke, while others believed that a new site would be launched in the evening.

Si Weisheng was usually taciturn, but when he saw someone asking him, he couldn't help but say nothing, so he smiled and said:

"I am just a network technician. Although I communicate with the research center on a regular basis, it is limited to the scope of my work.
I really have no idea what products they are developing, and it is not for me to know.”

Orange Technology has a strict confidentiality system. We don’t ask what we shouldn’t ask, don’t look at what we shouldn’t look at, and don’t say what we shouldn’t say.

What's more, Si Weisheng really didn't know this time, and he was also curious.

At the invitation of several acquaintances, Si Weisheng decided to stay in the company at night and log on to the site to take a look.

Orange Technology's headquarters is in Hong Kong and has never advocated an overtime culture. But at dinner time, Si Weisheng suddenly discovered that a lot of people stayed to work overtime that day.

Because as soon as he walked into the cafeteria, he found that there were no fewer people than at noon.

The reason why so many people stayed today must be that they were affected by the company's announcement.

There are many young people in Orange Technology Company. They like to join in the fun and are curious about new things, so it is normal for them to stay.

After dinner, everyone started to gather together and chat, and time soon came to eight o'clock.

Si Weisheng connected to the website in the company announcement again, and after opening it, he saw that the smiling face from the morning was still there.

It has just been reduced in size and turned into a logo similar to a product logo. In fact, this is the product icon released this time.

Below the icon are three sub-icons arranged horizontally, labeled game lobby, chat room and forum respectively.

When he saw these three logos, Si Weisheng immediately became excited, knowing that these three should be the new functions mentioned in the company's notice.

It turns out the company isn't that boring, to make those kind of boring jokes on the official bulletin board.

Choosing to launch a new product in this way today is just a gimmick, the purpose is to attract more employees' interest.

Si Weisheng naturally had to try all three new functions one by one, otherwise his wait would be a waste.

The first icon is the game lobby. Before Si Weisheng clicked on it, he had some guesses because he knew that the company had developed chess and card games.

However, after clicking in, he was still surprised by the content. He didn't expect that the company had developed so many kinds of games.

There are more than a dozen icons in the game lobby, representing more than a dozen board games such as chess, go, international chess, gobang, flying chess, bridge, hoe the earth, and pig archery.

If people in later generations see these, they will definitely feel very familiar. These games are basically the content of the chess and card game halls in later generations, but they were put on the local area network in advance by Orange Technology.

Si Weisheng randomly selected the flying chess and tried it out. He was reminded that it was pairing, and the pairing was successful after a short while.

Si Weisheng knew that the person on the other end must be a colleague from the company, he just didn't recognize him through the screen.

Orange Technology has moved games that originally required people to sit together to play to the Internet, turning them into online games.

These games can currently only be played against humans, with no option to play against computer programs.

But most of these games have an announcement that Orange Technology encourages its employees to write software for human-computer battles.

In addition, a high prize of 10 Hong Kong dollars will be set up for this kind of fighting software to encourage more people to participate.

Not only that, Orange Technology also made another announcement to encourage employees to accumulate points through games. After one month, the company will give certain rewards to employees.

If loopholes and optimization suggestions are found during the game, the company will give rewards depending on the situation.

The game department of Orange Technology is where Liu Zhicheng made his fortune, and the game design team of Orange Technology Games has always been a group with higher income within the company.

Si Weisheng is also a technical person and knows a little about software, but since his job is mainly network maintenance and construction, he is not good at software development.

However, these company announcements encouraging employees to develop software did not stimulate him much, because he needed to buy a house and longed to have his own happy home.

In fact, at this time, Liu Zhicheng and Huo Haiqing were also sitting in an office, playing online games in front of their computers.

Liu Zhicheng played a few games casually and had a good experience. The local area network was fast and there was almost no noticeable lag.

Liu Zhicheng then closed the game lobby interface and began to try the other two functions.

After entering the chat room, you will see a public screen with a text input interface below. Type text in the input interface and click Send, and the text will appear on the public screen.

At this time, the chat room has been online for a while. The number of people online at the same time shown in the upper right corner has exceeded 100. The public screen refreshes very quickly, making people feel a little confused and dizzying.

"Mr. Huo, there are a lot of people in this chat room. It seems that everyone likes to chat with 'strangers'." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

"Yes, it seems there are still problems with our management." Huo Haiqing sighed.

Liu Zhicheng just smiled and did not answer Huo Haiqing's question.

In fact, everyone has their own little secrets, but they just don’t want to face the reality.

Si Weisheng also thinks so. When he used instant messaging software before, the people on the other side were all colleagues and most of the discussions were about work.

He is also reluctant to talk about life and work because he is afraid that his colleagues will laugh at him after knowing his private affairs.

But in this chat room, people participating in the chat do not need to use their real identities, and the topics are very casual, which made him feel like he had opened up a new world.

You can complain about the unpleasantness in life and work and release your stress.

Si Weisheng is still single and is usually a bit taciturn.

Therefore, Si Weisheng's spare time life was a bit boring and lonely, and he soon fell in love with this kind of unrestrained and free chatting.

Before he knew it, Si Weisheng had been in this chat room for more than an hour.

It was not until he remembered that there was a function he had not tried that he reluctantly closed the chat room and checked the last forum function.

(End of this chapter)