Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 338 The Initial Stage of Harvesting the Global "Grand Ambitions Tax"
After school, Zhai Da took Xiao Mutou home, and then drove to the industrial park himself.

Building No. 9, Mechanical Core Research Institute.

More than 20 programmers have already moved in here. These days, programmers are a typical highly sought-after talent. In Harbin, where the average salary is around 2000 yuan, the salary of an ordinary programmer can reach more than 6000 yuan, and those with excellent resumes and high skill levels can earn nearly 10,000 yuan.

However, Harbin is not a city with a developed internet and software industry. After the staff expanded to 20+, there was a feeling that they couldn't recruit people. The human resources department shared with Yueda Catering has started to recruit from other cities.

Similarly, the programmers selected in this round of merit-based recruitment are not as skilled as those in first-tier cities; they would only be considered qualified in other places.

But it's okay, I've got a cheat code!
With the blessing of "Execution of Old Yu", my work efficiency is extremely high every day.

When you feel at peace, content, and happy, inspiration flows like a torrent, impossible to contain.

The probability of Lao Yu turning an idea into inspiration is actually not high, maybe even 1%, but one inspiration may be enough to support several days or even longer of work. In reality, it comes one after another, and he simply can't stop!

An exceptionally good work environment, promising project concepts, and a dopamine-fueled work atmosphere—every ordinary programmer here plays a "superstar" role and learns and progresses at an extremely fast pace.

In just a few months, the starting salary was 6000, and the salary would probably double when you leave. Of course, no one is that stupid. You can't find a better or more promising programmer job in the entire Northeast.

Their hair is starting to grow!
"Boss, you've arrived?"

I swiped my "π" ID card to open the access control, and the employees inside greeted me warmly.

Zhai Da nodded in acknowledgment as he headed toward the central Root Pool, glanced at the readings on the hydroponic fertilizer meter, and then continued into a space resembling an indoor villa.

This is Cheng Mo's office, and it was the core of the research institute before other projects were launched.

Cheng Mo, dressed in a white shirt, sat upright, his hands tapping the keyboard as if playing the piano. He stopped when he saw Zhai Da arrive: "President, it's just in time for you. Let's have a meeting in a bit to finalize our work goals."

Zhai Da sat opposite Cheng Mo and said, "No rush. I just wanted to check on you. Also, I wanted to remind you that exam week is coming up."

Cheng Mo was dazed for a moment before he came to his senses.

Oh, right! I'm a college student!

I was having so much fun at work that I forgot!
He scratched his temple and said, "My roommate should have confirmed the exam scope for me. I'll just start studying and take the exam directly. Don't worry, President, all the professional courses are a piece of cake for me. I only need to look at a few non-professional courses."

Zhai Da nodded: "What were the topics discussed in today's meeting?"

Cheng Mo pushed his ergonomic chair back and pulled a piece of paper from the cabinet: "Our underlying and application layer development is basically complete. Currently, everyone is working hard on optimization and testing, but the optimization work ultimately needs to be linked with the hardware, including the processor, camera, baseband, and memory."

Optimization takes up just as much time as development, and sometimes even more. And if you want to achieve the best results, hardware adaptation is unavoidable.

The types of hardware on the market today have not yet reached the level of high standardization seen in later generations: there are only a few chip manufacturers, and baseband and camera components can all be sourced from a single order.

At this time, the mobile hardware market was still in a "Warring States" period, with each mobile phone manufacturer having its own strategy and preferences.

For example, Japanese mobile phones, which have taken a unique approach (and have chosen the wrong technological path), now have a considerable market share, not to mention counterfeit phones from Shandong Province and contract phones from various carriers.

It's obviously impossible for the research institute to manage all the resources; they need to be "targeted." For example, which models will be the first to adopt Hongtu OS, and what chips, memory, and batteries will they use?
It also requires some support from hardware manufacturers; some require instruction sets, some require IP cores, and some require technical documentation.

Some parts are charged, some are free.

Upon hearing that commercial licensing was required again, Zhai Da felt a subtle sense of financial detachment, as these things were priced in US dollars these days, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Moreover, it was quite opaque, and Zhai Da even had the feeling that the price was "tailored to the person," with the price depending not on the value of the item, but on how much you could afford.

Because there is no cost involved.

He finally understood the feeling of painstakingly making socks and shirts, only to have foreign engineers come and install screws, only to have all his foreign exchange reserves harvested.

Just wait, I'll turn the tables and reap the rewards, then I'll show you what a "grand scheme tax" really means!

"I understand. I originally planned to deal with it after the exam. In that case, I'll go to Beijing this weekend."

Having connections and resources is something we should still use. There's nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to seizing industrial bridgeheads and driving industrial upgrading.

To put it bluntly, it benefits the country and its people.

It empowers countless industries and markets, creating numerous high-quality jobs.

The mobile internet will remain the most important industry for at least the next decade. In the past, China followed the rules set by others for more than a decade, only to have those rules changed in the end.

You think you're achieving a win-win situation with someone, but they go from putting their arm around you to grab you by the neck.

In a sense, problems such as being held back by chip shortages and lacking their own operating systems arise from the backdrop of the "huge mobile internet market".

If mobile phones hadn't become a necessity for human production and daily life, who would care about whether you were facing technological bottlenecks or not? How many things would actually require advanced process chips?

Why do we only see chip wars instead of supercomputing wars? Because the latter has a market and money to be made.

Occupying a stronghold now, even if it remains stagnant or insignificant ten years later, is better than having the entire industry hampered by others.

Although Cheng Mo didn't know where Zhai Da's confidence came from, he figured the president must have already planned ahead by choosing this path, and continued, "The other part is ecosystem development: IDE tools, API libraries, simulators, and CTS."

Zhai Da: "Simplify it."

"Well, roughly speaking, the basic tools needed for the open source ecosystem are gradually becoming complete. Our own development capabilities are ultimately limited. It would be good if version 1.0 had about ten core applications. Building an ecosystem still requires mobilizing external developers. Relying solely on specific commercial partnerships is far from enough. There should be at least a few dozen in the app store, even if they are a bit low-quality."

"In the future, I want to establish a technology community and invite programmers from all over the country and even the world to participate, so that commercial development and freelance development can go hand in hand."

Zhai Da nodded: "That's to be expected, but a review mechanism needs to be established. App stores can't be full of weird stuff. We need to plan ahead legally, with things like developer agreements. Open source doesn't mean losing control." "The number won't be too large in the short term, so we can review them ourselves."

Ultimately, we are currently in the early stages of the "Hongtu Tax" harvesting global dreams, and Hongtu OS 1.0 is destined not to reach the level of future mainstream systems in one step.

Zhai Da was already mentally prepared for bugs everywhere, frequent restarts, and the heat so intense he could barely hold his hand.

But this does not prevent it from being a cutting-edge operating system in terms of intelligence.

Even when Android first appeared, it was only compatible with one device model and a few simple applications.

"By the way, prepare two or three 'Hongtu OS' prototypes for me, one each from ZTE, Coolpad, and a white-label phone. I'll take them to northern Beijing to test the waters."

The so-called white-label phone is similar to a counterfeit phone; it is a pure hardware factory-made phone that has not formed a brand effect.

But don't underestimate this market share. Zhai Da has access to national-level statistics from Qian Lao. Last year, the national mobile phone sales volume was 1.6 million units, of which white-label phones and counterfeit phones accounted for a full 35% of the market share. Even if we discount this share due to the difference between feature phones and smartphones, this market share still far exceeds that of a single brand.

Of the remaining 65%, less than 17.5% are domestically produced mobile phones. This refers to domestically branded phones, excluding those manufactured for overseas brands.

In the end, overseas brands took up about 45% of the market share. Of course, Apple had nothing to do with it. This company is not exactly invisible in the global market, but it is a small fry.

As long as Nokia lives, Apple will always be a concubine.

This is why Zhai Da values ​​the Shenzhen Shanzhai Phone Alliance so much; they are truly formidable, supplying the domestic market and exporting tens of millions of units annually!

Besides the system cheat, his knowledge from later generations, and the geniuses he gathered, Zhai Da's other advantage was that he could see a lot of authoritative data and do scientific industry analysis with his teacher.

That report bearing his name contains genuine information.

"No problem, it's just that the optimization might not be very effective."

"It's okay, even if it crashes during the demonstration, I can just restart it!"

They're all on our side, so it's easy to talk to them.

As they talked, the two left the cramped office and began to wander around the research institute.

The excellent environment here makes you feel relaxed and not at all depressed. Going out for a walk is just as pleasant as strolling in a park, and it's a great way to relieve work stress.

On a second-floor terrace by Gennotan, Zhai Da took two bottles of cola from the free refrigerator.

"Where's Wang Qianyu? How's your teamwork going?"

Cheng Mo nodded and said, "She's very capable, but not that career-driven. You just reminded me, President. Is it because of exam week that she's been taking less time off lately?"

Zhai Da took a sip of his soda and said calmly, "That's not called ambition. We can't expect everyone to be fully committed. Everyone has their own plans and characteristics."

In the not-too-distant future, the number of members of "π" will eventually exceed what he can directly control. It is impossible to get close to every genius and plan the most suitable position for each of them.

At most, he can build an ecosystem and allow as many people as possible to infiltrate it.

Some people weave deeper, some weave shallower, that's normal.

"If you want her to be more proactive, you shouldn't make demands, but rather try to get closer to her."

Cheng Mo pondered for a moment: "Zoom in."

He looked down at the Root Pool, where there was no sense of day or night, but the view outside the window could still serve as a reference: "President, it's been more than three months since you first contacted me. Although it's not a short time, I still have a feeling of sudden realization."

Can Hongtu OS really succeed?

Zhai Da shook his head, a gesture that made Cheng Mo feel uneasy.

"You don't need to worry about this issue. We agreed from the beginning that you would be in charge of the technical part, and you only need to care about whether it is excellent or not."

"Whether it succeeds or not, I will take responsibility."

This is just the appetizer.

The real competition begins when you first establish a foothold and start expanding into overseas markets; that's when the real competition starts.

Whether or not the "grand ambition tax" can be collected depends on the international market, and whether or not it can gain a foothold also depends on the international market, given the current trend.

Before things even start to look promising, underhanded tactics will emerge; peaceful rise is a false proposition.
Because those who rise to power desire peace, while those who don't want you to rise to power don't think so.

Therefore, this project needed a broader background to support it from the very beginning.

Fortunately.

He is really big.

　Diejia Xiaobao:
　　As all experienced programmers know, no matter how much material Xiao Xin lacks, he can never truly match the breadth of knowledge of industry professionals. This is why programmers are so valuable.

　　DS can indeed provide lengthy and professional interpretations, but they are simply too tedious. Novels should be made lighter and more accessible.

　　Xiao Xin can only guarantee that the logic and path are as clear as possible. This is not a programming book. The operating system is only a small part of the storyline. If there are any omissions or confusions, please consider them as unique settings of a parallel world.

　　Translate from Chinese to Chinese: Be gentle.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)