Chapter 37: The Overlooked Path Ahead

Looking at this 486-era computer, a lot of ideas suddenly popped into Henry's head.

Although he was used to playing AAA titles from twenty or thirty years later, that didn't mean games from the nineties and earlier were worthless.

Many games aren't about graphics or how grindy they are — they're about the concept. Take Tetris, for instance. No matter how powerful the hardware, how could you change the core gameplay? Would it really be unpopular in the future?

But! A computer isn't a game console, and its uses aren't limited to gaming.

A computer's main function is computation, followed by networking based on signal transmission principles. Both of these are directions with huge potential.

In his past life, he was just a shut-in who played games and watched adult videos. Now that he had a Kryptonian super-brain in this life, doing some hacker work shouldn't be hard, right?

Although DC's Big Blue often relies on an external brain — Batman — to dominate, his own intelligence is actually nothing to scoff at.

On Brainiac's super-AI intelligence scale, he himself sits at the highest tier, level 12, while the entirety of twentieth-century Earth humans combined only reach level 6.

At Brainiac's level is only Big Blue's arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, whose peak intelligence also reaches level 12. Big Blue himself averages level 11.

It's only because Brainiac has the technology to synthesize Kryptonite that he can usually keep Big Blue completely pinned down.

Big Blue has plenty of scientific products too, but most of them are auxiliary in function. The main reason is that his own abilities are simply too powerful, so people often overlook how smart he is. Especially when Batman is around, the super-brain basically goes offline.

Of course, Henry doesn't think his Kryptonian template can hold a candle to Big Blue.

Just look at the starting conditions — Big Blue ran into the Kents, who somehow molded an Earth god into a Kryptonian traitor and made him see himself as an Earthling.

As for him, his opening had him being tormented half to death by the Russians, yet he's still a lazy salted fish who can't be bothered to go dark and take revenge on society. What virtue or ability does he have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that moral paragon?

But as long as his brain is half as smart as Big Blue's, the best way to hide himself on Earth is to develop the brain's uses as much as possible. Not to count on solving everything with fists.

He doesn't want to end up only able to wear red underwear to block bullets. Or have Earthlings on the ground look up at the sky and shout: Look! A dumb bird!

Or shout: No, it's a bullet! And then make people wonder how good your eyesight has to be to see a bullet fired from high up...

Since he had these thoughts, Henry couldn't possibly wait until computer performance caught up to the world he used to live in before getting involved in these things.

This kind of thing has to be done early. Besides, each era of computers has its own era's technology. Hardware may keep advancing, but the technology itself can keep accumulating.

And an interesting point is that although hardware advances at a truly dizzying pace, the actual retirement of equipment isn't that fast.

A lot of old gear, if there's no special need, basically keeps being used as long as it doesn't break — that's just human nature.

Take that millennial catastrophe. All the banks were clutching their money, scrambling to find old code monkeys, even retired old-timers, hoping they could fix the Y2K bug in their systems.

A bunch of newbies unfamiliar with the old tech were completely useless at a time like that.

Even if they could cram at the last minute, the banks wouldn't dare trust these youngsters rashly. After all, the banks' transaction systems were on the line — if something went wrong, it would be total chaos.

So upon seeing this 486 computer, Henry couldn't help glancing left and right before asking: "You got a modem? What system are you running?"

The enthusiastic old white guy said: "I don't have a modem — that little thing can only connect to some university BBSes anyway. I'm using this big boy to play Ultima VI, way more fun than those brain-dead console games.

"As for the system, it's MS-DOS 4.01. PC-DOS's command efficiency and resource management are a bit lacking, so I didn't bother with it. I also tacked on DOSV, which color-codes file types — looks way nicer."

"You know Linux?" Henry asked.

"Li... what the hell is that."

"Oh, not out yet, huh." In his memory, this ancestor of open-source sharing should also have been born in the past year or two.

Actually, related open-source sharing plans had always existed, especially widespread on university campuses across Europe and America.

The main reason was that professors and university students had all kinds of research, and commercial software that fit their exact needs wasn't always available on the market. So for them, developing their own software was the best option.

But all along, the software they developed was application programs based on some system, not involving the computer's core system.

In other words, to use a computer, you still had to buy these already-commercialized system software. It wasn't until Linux — a core system built for open-source sharing — was born that university campuses with an open atmosphere were given another free option.

In short, these people's core principle was just one thing. As long as it's not commercialized, as long as you're not making money off it, then go wild and build away!

Even though later there were many commercialized server vendors based on the Linux system, what they were actually selling was 'service', not the system itself.

Regardless, this is a very interesting path. Especially in the foreseeable future, it's bound to enter the information age. So getting involved a bit earlier is always better than waiting.

After all, hardware performance has no limit to its advancement — waiting is meaningless. This isn't a game where you can grind to max level before leaving the newbie village and then go around bullying monsters.

If you keep grinding, waiting until you have the ability to bully monsters before leaving the newbie village, there's a good chance you'll stay in the newbie village forever.

Seeing how interested Henry was in personal computers, the old white guy smiled and said: "Like it? I have a friend who can get you one. Fast, and the latest model too — unlike everyone else who just sells old stock and clears inventory."

Henry was quite tempted. Wandering around the streets of Los Angeles these past two days, he'd noticed that America these days, while it did have the kind of electronics specialty store from his memories — RadioShack — some rare items still required luck.

Otherwise you could hit up big-box stores and keep trying your luck. Or, if you had a way, go straight to the product company's sales department and place an order with them.

But... glancing around him, Henry said in confusion: "This is a goddamn photo studio, right?"

"It is."

"That also goddamn sells personal computers?"

"You said it yourself — also sells. If it makes money, why not?"

"You're really not Jewish?"

"I'm Italian. Fuck Mussolini." The old white guy said it as if declaring his anti-fascist stance.

After thinking it over, Henry shook his head and said: "Forget it, I need to find a place to live first. Unless you can get me a personal computer I can use in a car."

"Hey, finding a place to live I can do too."

"Fuck." The Kryptonian was speechless...

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(End of chapter)