Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 327 HotOS!

The holiday flew by.

The four-person date went smoothly, but what was originally a simple and innocent youthful journey turned into a battle of wits when Zhai Da gave Li Haili a small task.

Li Haili had almost lost interest in touring Harbin and instead focused on figuring out how to carry out her work.

Even that night, after Wu Yue took Li Haili back to her hotel, he didn't return home all night, leading Zhai Da to believe that Wu Yue had made a "huge breakthrough."

The result was that the two talked about work all night, and it was all about how things would unfold after they returned to Shenzhen.

After spending the entire night on the pilgrimage, Wu Yue developed dark circles under his eyes.

On the evening of May 2nd, Li Haili ended her short two-and-a-half-day trip and embarked on her journey back to Shenzhen with a surging heart, becoming a seed for Zhai Da's future work in Shenzhen.

The first phase of the task is to find and understand the upstream suppliers of those counterfeit phones as much as possible, and to determine whether they have any intention of connecting to the new operating system.

Zhai Da wanted to approve some funding for Li Haili, but Li Haili refused. She felt that she should first achieve some results, and if that didn't work, she would just consider it spending her own money.

Of course, the root of all this is that the operating system must be good enough and competitive in the market.

On May 3, Zhai Da drove to "Yueda Street" and entered the office specifically for Cheng Mo's use.

The original structure here consisted of street-front shops, and even after being converted into offices, the environment was still quite ordinary.

Cheng Mo still maintained his neat and slightly pretentious style. More than a month of studying had not caused him to become bald or develop dark circles under his eyes; instead, he exuded a vibrant energy.

Zhai Da didn't really understand the complex code on the screen, but he knew how strong Cheng Mo was.

Using that seemingly chaotic and broken future system as a reference, Cheng Mo was able to maximize his talent.

It's worth mentioning that a mobile operating system is not something a programmer can create, not even a genius like Cheng Mo.

In particular, he did not choose to copy and paste, but planned to rebuild the underlying layer. Even if it was an "early operating system" and the "shit redundancy" was cut off, it was still a huge amount of work.

Cheng Mo himself was well aware that clarifying the route was more important than writing more code. As a future leader, he needed to set the most accurate direction.

And to improve one's own skills.

A genius is not necessarily a strong person, but it is easier and faster for a genius to become a strong person.

By making full use of commercial development tools and existing open-source technologies, although some underlying optimization performance is sacrificed, efficiency is greatly improved.

His general direction is to first get a basic model, and then iterate to perfect it.

Of course, this has also meant that he has already spent nearly a million on commercial licenses for various development tools, even though he is the only one doing it.

Having spent so much money on Zhai Da, Cheng Mo felt a lot of pressure, but remained confident.

"President! I happen to have something for you to see."

Cheng Mo took out a mobile phone with the logo "HTC", which is one of the mainstream manufacturers of smartphones. Previously, this phone was equipped with Microsoft's garbage mobile phone system "Windows Mobile".

Yes, in Cheng Mo's eyes it was garbage. Even if it came from the world's largest software company, if it was bad to use, it was bad to use. He was both a developer and a user.

Almost all of this software company's attempts on mobile have failed.

Cheng Mo has now removed the "large screen" touchscreen device. Inside was a minimalist test version he had created to test some functions.

On the screen were the familiar "square arrangement" icons, but most of them were pure white squares, and there was almost no UI.

But when Cheng Mo swiped down from the top left corner, a drop-down menu appeared with the words "Message Center" written on it.

Swiping the top right corner reveals several common tools such as volume control, airplane mode, network connection, and screenshot.

Zhai Da's eyes lit up: "Not bad, is it compatible with the hardware?"

"Some are compatible, some are not."

Cheng Mo turned off the screen, then turned it back on. A 3x3 grid appeared on the screen. He skillfully drew a "6" shape and successfully unlocked the device, replacing the password unlock.

Zhai Da's lips curled up; finally, a sense of familiarity was returning.
In fact, besides the architecture, compatibility, performance, and scalability that developers focus on, the most impactful aspects of a mobile operating system for users are precisely some of the "small features".

They don't care how awesome your architecture is, how great your battery optimization is, or how advanced your background multithreading is. All of these things will just translate into a question like "Is it laggy?", "Is it hot?", and "What does this have to do with my monthly salary of 3,000?"

Those practical little features are what determine user stickiness and make users' eyes light up.

Customizable unlock, long-press drag and drop and delete app icons, notification center, and quick screenshot.
These features, which seem commonplace in later generations, were gradually selected through voting by generations of programmers and billions of users.

To give a simple example, the "like" function only appeared in a small company in 07. It was acquired by Facebook this year and was only applied to its own platform two months ago.

Countless other software and platforms around the world currently lack even a "like" function.

It is conceivable that the generational gap in "usability" may be even greater than the generational gap in hardware.

Cheng Mo can now directly glimpse countless key functions that will gradually emerge in the future; even excluding those limited by hardware, there are still plenty.

Of course, these functions were not originally included in the vehicle's infotainment system of the [Mechanical Core], after all, it's not a mobile phone, but Zhai Da can tell Cheng Mo directly that this guy has an exceptional understanding.

Cheng Mo sighed, "President, although we're still far from completion, I'm increasingly convinced you're right." "We're about to develop an operating system that will redefine 'smartphones' and shock the market."

Zhai Da laughed and said, "That's inevitable. I've never doubted the quality of this operating system, but shocking the market isn't worth anything; dominating the market is. I'll have less and less to do with the technical aspects in the future; at most, I can only offer suggestions. I'll have to rely on you in that regard from now on."

Correspondingly, in terms of business, you have to rely on yourself, which may be more troublesome.

Fortunately, he still has some resources and direction.

"By the way, besides checking on the progress, I also wanted to tell you that the 'Mechanical Core Research Institute' is about to open. Let's go take a look together tomorrow, and then we'll move there to give you a better environment before we start building the team."

Once we get there, with the bonus from "Executing Old Yu," the efficiency of the entire development team will increase significantly, especially for a genius like Cheng Mo whose potential is already high.

Because Lao Yu can transform thoughts into inspiration, and inspiration is the most precious quality of a genius.

Cheng Mo felt full of confidence. He had taken a peek at it before, but it was just a construction site and he couldn't figure out what it was all about.

The president said that they would provide a relaxed, comfortable, and high-class working environment.

He was particularly interested in the last item.

Zhai Da reminded him, "You are a student, which means you're starting your career early. I won't lie to you and say that what you're doing now is less important than studying, but your studies are something you shouldn't give up."

Cheng Mo nodded; time allocation was a major issue.

Zhai Da pointed to the phone: "But you have to understand the school's mindset. The ultimate goal is to cultivate talents. Academic studies are the main way of cultivation, but not the only way. If you can get through the busiest early stage and achieve certain results, the school will also provide some convenience to make things easier for you."

Then he pointed to himself: "For example, I was exempt from attending half of the classes, and theoretically I can complete my undergraduate degree in two years. You can also consider doing this in the future, depending on your own ability to withstand pressure. Exemption from attending classes does not mean exemption from exams. Harbin Institute of Technology will not be sloppy in this regard."

Cheng Moshen agreed: "President, don't worry. If I can't even balance my studies as a member of 'π', then I don't deserve to be a second-level member."

He really liked the new card Zhai Da gave him; it was very classy.

It's so beautiful that someone can take it out at night, touch it, and laugh at the same time.

"By the way, Chairman, we still don't have a name. What should we call our operating system? Considering that we will be expanding overseas in the future, it would be best if it had both Chinese and English names."

Zhai Da: "What are your thoughts? Let's hear your opinion."

He wasn't concerned about the system's name or naming rights; if Cheng Mo had any ideas, he could use it directly.

Many names that resonate through the ages are not famous because of their names, but because of their content.

Is Mixue Ice Cream a really good name? And what's the hidden meaning behind Google's name, "chicken neck"?
Cheng Mo clearly had a plan in mind, otherwise he wouldn't have raised this question. He was very happy that Zhai Da was willing to listen to his opinion. If he could name this system, he would benefit from it for the rest of his life!

"I think a Chinese name should have a real meaning, and not just be easy to pronounce."

"Uh-huh."

"The ultimate goal of an operating system is to create an ecosystem, so its name should convey a sense of 'all-encompassing'."

"Uh-huh."

"Therefore, combining this with our traditional culture, I came up with a word: '鸿' (hóng)."

Zhai Da's eyes widened: ? ? ?

"How about we call it: Hongtu OS?!"

Cheng Mo slapped his thigh: "Great ambitions will unfold! How fitting!"

Zhai Da:
I almost thought you were about to spout some brilliant quotes.

"Sounds good, what about the English name?"

"How about choosing a name that sounds similar and has a meaning, like Horizon (the horizon)? HorizonOS."

After thinking for a moment, Zhai Da shook his head: "It's too long, and the pronunciation is quite complicated, which is not conducive to its spread."

"That"

Zhai Da: "HotOS, the simpler the better, the more widely it can spread."

Cheng Mo nodded: "Got it, let's do it this way! Hongtu Operating System, HotOS! They're both catchy."

Zhai Da patted Cheng Mo on the shoulder: "I'll arrange for registration later. There aren't many companies in this field, so there's no chance of duplicate names or conflicts. Remember to dress smartly for the opening of 'Mechanical Core Research Institute' tomorrow. I've invited all the second-level members of 'π' and a few third-level members."

"One of them is a genius in art design, who may help you with UI design in the future."

Cheng Mo's eyes lit up: "Oh? A member of 'π'? What's their code name?"

"Little Pencil".

Cheng Mo was taken aback.

Is this a nickname a person should have?

(End of this chapter)