Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Winter of 1980, Beijing.

A rare heavy snowfall blanketed the ancient city, making the red walls and yellow tiles appear especially solemn against the white backdrop.

However, the Golden Hall of the Jingxi Hotel was filled with steam at that moment.

This is the scene of the "Red Star Computer System Launch Conference".

Representatives from more than 30 global technology giants, including IBM, HP, Siemens, and NEC, along with hundreds of Chinese and foreign journalists, packed the hall, which could only accommodate 500 people, to capacity.

All eyes were focused on the machine covered by a red cloth in the center of the stage.

"Have you heard? The Chinese are going to release a personal computer."

An IBM representative whispered to the HP executive next to him, "They say they're using that 'Loongson' chip."

"Loongson chips are indeed fast, but what's the use without software?"

The HP executive shrugged dismissively. "Are you suggesting we spend thousands of dollars to buy a machine to run benchmarks? Today's users need to do office work and process reports. In this field, only our command-line interface reigns supreme."

"Yes, the CP/M system is the standard."

"I heard that Bill Gates from Microsoft is writing something called DOS for IBM, and that's pretty good."

The foreigners whispered among themselves, their tone still carrying a deep-seated arrogance. In their eyes, although the Chinese had successfully outmaneuvered the competition in hardware, they were still beginners in the field of software interaction, which required extensive experience.

"Gentlemen, quiet."

The lights suddenly dimmed.

A spotlight shone on the center of the stage.

Su Zheng, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and jeans, strode onto the stage.

There was no nonsense, no speeches from leaders.

He walked straight to the red cloth and ripped it off.

Whoosh—!

A machine, entirely milky white with rounded lines and a futuristic feel, appeared before everyone.

Unlike the bulky metal boxes common in computers at the time, its unibody design was compact and exquisite, with the monitor and main unit seamlessly integrated.

But what's most eye-catching is the strange little thing next to the keyboard.

A thing, only the size of a palm, attached by a string, lying on the mousepad...

"mouse?"

A reporter in the front row exclaimed, "Is that a rat?"

"It's called a mouse."

Su Zheng picked up the small object, smiled, and said, "It's the control baton of this machine. It's also... the key to the future."

"Power on."

Su Zheng pressed the power button.

drop!

A crisp start-up sound.

The images were displayed simultaneously on the large screen.

There was no lengthy memory self-test, no blinking cursor with black text on a white background, and no impersonal C:>.

The screen instantly lit up with a soft, pale blue light.

A bright red flag fluttered in the center of the screen, then transformed into countless points of light, converging to form four powerful characters:

Red Flag Window

RedFlag Windows 1.0

"Windows?"

The foreigners in the audience were stunned. What did this mean?

Before they could react, the screen switched to the desktop.

boom!

It was like a silent bombshell that exploded in everyone's minds.

There is no command line.

No code.

On the screen were neatly arranged, exquisite...small pictures?

We call them 'icons'.

Su Zheng gripped the mouse and gently pushed it.

On the screen, a white arrow moved smoothly with his movements to an icon that read "My Study".

Click, click.

double click.

A rectangular white frame—a "window"—popped up on the screen instantly!

The window displays neatly arranged folders such as "Files," "Pictures," and "Music."

"My God..."

The IBM representative's glasses fell to the ground. "What is this? Is this magic?"

In an era where people still type DIR to view file lists, this "what you see is what you get" operation method has a visual impact that is no different from alien technology!

"This is a graphical user interface."

Su Zheng's voice echoed in the deathly silent hall, "No need to memorize instructions, no need to understand computer languages. Just click on what you want. Just like picking up something with your finger in real life."

He held down the left mouse button and dragged the window.

The window moves freely on the screen with the cursor, without any lag or afterimage.

The smoothness and responsiveness of the controls sent shivers down the spines of the experts in the audience.

Multitasking.

Su Zheng did not stop.

He opened a window called "Red Star Document" and started typing Chinese characters; at the same time, he opened a window called "Phonetic Machine" and pressed the play button.

The melody of "The Butterfly Lovers" flowed from the loudspeakers.

Music is playing, text is being typed, and windows are being dragged.

The three tasks can be carried out simultaneously without interfering with each other!

"That's impossible!"

The HP executive jumped to his feet, his face flushed. "How can a single-core CPU possibly handle graphics rendering, audio decoding, and text input simultaneously? That requires workstation-level computing power! Is there a minicomputer hidden inside this machine?"

"No."

Su Zheng smiled, "Because we have 'Loongson'. And also because we have... Cangjie."

"The Red Flag kernel, written in the Cangjie language, has an original 'coroutine scheduling' mechanism. It can squeeze the CPU's computing power to the extreme, making every clock cycle dance."

"Next, I'll show you something fun."

Su Zheng closed all the windows, leaving only a blank desktop.

He opened the "Paint" program.

A blank sheet of paper and a row of drawing tools appeared on the screen.

Su Zheng handed the mouse to Ye Xinyi, who had been standing beside him.

Ye Xinyi took the mouse, her expression focused. Her wrist moved lightly, and the cursor on the screen danced accordingly.

A line, a circle, a splash of color.

In less than a minute, a lifelike red plum blossom appeared on the screen.

Signed: Aoxue Lingshuang.

"Oh my god..."

A French journalist covered his mouth, exclaiming, "This is art...this is art painted on glass!"

If you don't see it with your own eyes, who would believe that the cold-blooded machine that only calculates missile trajectories could show such a gentle side?

This is not a computer.

This is simply like Ma Liang's magic paintbrush!

"This is Red Flag OS."

Su Zheng took the microphone back and scanned the entire audience.

At this moment, the once arrogant foreigners in the audience now only had awe, and even... fear, in their eyes.

Their proud DOS and their developing CP/M, in the face of this blue window, are as laughable as a primitive man's stone axe facing a machine gun.

What is meant by "dimensional reduction attack"?

This is a case of dimensional reduction attack.

From characters to graphics, from keyboard to mouse, from single-tasking to multitasking.

This marks a leap forward in history.

And this leap was accomplished by the Chinese people.

"Mr. Su!"

The IBM representative, disregarding etiquette, rushed to the front of the stage, his voice trembling, "This system...are we licensing it? We at IBM are willing to pay any price!"

He figured it out.

If IBM computers didn't have this operating system, they'd be nothing but scrap metal. Who would turn down a color TV to listen to the radio?

"Authorization?"

Su Zheng looked at this tycoon who had been arrogant at first but became obsequious later, and smiled slightly.

"certainly."

"However, there is one condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"Red Flag OS only runs on the Loongson architecture."

Su Zheng pointed to the machine, "If you want to use our souls, you have to replace them with our hearts first."

boom!

If the previous demonstrations were technologically impressive, then this statement is a commercial killer move.

Software bundled with hardware!

This is the strategy that later led to the Wintel alliance (Windows + Intel) dominating the world. Now, Su is turning it into the "Red Dragon Alliance".

If you want to use this groundbreaking system, you must abandon Intel's x86 and switch to China's Loongson!

This is forcing hardware manufacturers worldwide to choose sides!

"You...you're engaging in monopoly!" HP executives exclaimed in exasperation.

"No, this is ecology."

Su Zheng spread his hands, looking completely innocent. "I just said, Loongson's instruction set is open source; you can build your own. Red Flag OS's API is also open; you can write your own software. Where have I monopolized anything?"

"I just... walked a little faster than you guys."

He extended his thumb and forefinger, making a "little bit" gesture.

But this "little bit" represents a full five years.

It's Windows 1.0, which Microsoft will need five more years to figure out, and Lisa, which Apple will need three more years to release.

Now, they all share the surname "Red".

……

The press conference has ended.

But the storm has only just begun.

That night, the phone lines at the Jingxi Hotel were overwhelmed with calls.

Countless transoceanic phone calls relayed news of "Red Flag Window" back to Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Tokyo.

The next day, The New York Times headline:

With a simple click of the mouse, the old era came to an end.

The accompanying picture shows Su holding a mouse, with a red flag fluttering on a large screen behind him.

At the celebration banquet of Red Star Software Research Institute.

Ye Xinyi hid in a corner, rubbing her aching wrist.

"Does it hurt?" Su Zheng walked over and handed her a cup of hot milk.

"It doesn't hurt."

Ye Xinyi shook her head, looking at Su Zheng, "It just feels... a little unreal. Did we really... do it?"

"This is just the beginning."

Su Zheng sat beside her, watching the snowflakes swirling outside the window. "The window is just a shell. Next, we'll fill this house with things."

"What should I fill in?"

"Office software, browsers, databases, games..."

Su Zheng counted on his fingers, "We want to build an ecosystem that programmers all over the world can't live without. We want to make the 'Cangjie' language the new world language."

"and……"

Su Zheng's voice lowered, "We want to bring these computers to every school and every family in China."

"Because the wars of the future will not be fought in trenches, but on screens."

"Those children who grew up watching Red Flag windows are our true...moat."

Ye Xinyi looked at him.

Bathed in the sunlight, Su Zheng's profile appeared exceptionally resolute.

She suddenly realized that what this man wanted to build was not just a business empire, but... a completely new civilization.

A digital civilization composed of Chinese characters, Loongson chips, and the Red Flag.

"it is good."

Ye Xinyi gripped the cup in her hand tightly. "Then let's... go all out again."

Outside the window, the snow was falling even harder.

But this auspicious snow is a harbinger of a prosperous and bountiful year.

……