Chapter 82: Cooperation

In the month or so since Di Ye proposed the Open Source philosophy, he had been met with cold indifference both online and in reality; the vast majority of replies on Cfido were sarcastic and mocking, and while things weren't quite as hostile in reality, he was essentially ignored.

For instance, although Liu Shaosong believed the term "Open Source" was more precise than the Free Software Movement, he had no interest in promoting it vigorously, while Dean Fei felt that "Open Source" might help improve the reputation of the Yun University School of Computer Science, but that was as far as it went.

Professor Xu Jiafu was the first person to truly take the Open Source philosophy seriously; he had previously studied those few Open Source articles carefully and asked Di Ye many profound questions, the two most critical of which were: what is the core value of Open Source, and what is the true advantage of the Open Source community when competing against multinational corporations like Microsoft and IBM?

There is a famous saying in the *Analects*: "If names are not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things; if language is not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success."

The first key question Professor Xu raised was about "rectifying names," asking why one should Open Source; Di Ye gave a very lofty justification—to break monopolies and lower the cost for humanity to learn and use knowledge.

The second key question was about "language being in accordance with the truth," asking why Open Source could succeed; the answer Di Ye provided was not the rhetoric popular in the 90s like "freedom," "free of charge," or "security," but rather an exposition of two things not clearly explained in those few Open Source articles—scenario adaptation and technical dumping.

"Closed-source enterprises represented by Microsoft and IBM can only develop software based on limited user feedback over cycles lasting one or two years, so their products cannot satisfy all usage scenarios, nor can they adapt in time to changes in usage scenarios..."

"Let me take Microsoft's Office as an example; it was designed based on American office scenarios, yet the office scenarios for Chinese people and Americans are different, so some functions are very popular in the United States but completely useless in China, while there are some functions that would be very useful in China, yet Office does not provide them. If it were Open Source software, there would be no such problem, because everyone could customize it according to the scenario they are in."

"Take Office 4.0, which was released in January of last year, for another example; the world has changed a lot since then, and the World Wide Web has begun to rise, but at Office's development speed, 5.0 won't be released until August of this year, leaving a gap of over a year in usage scenarios. If it were Open Source software, this gap would be quickly filled through active user feedback, thereby seizing the market."

"And the advantage brought by scenario adaptation will eventually evolve into technical dumping, because the free and Open Source nature of Open Source software can attract a large number of research institutions and small-to-medium enterprises to use it. Out of considerations for academic and commercial interests, these users will actively participate in the research and development and maintenance of Open Source software based on their own scenarios. Once technical dependence is formed, it will snowball and squeeze the market share of closed-source software, thereby achieving a dumping effect."

This theory was only summarized after the internet became developed in the 21st century; it appeared very novel in 1995, sparking a keen interest in Professor Xu Jiafu, who then called over several other professors to turn the exchange between him and Di Ye into a small seminar.

The professors at Jinling University all had impressive backgrounds, but Di Ye had the protection of Xiao Honghua, so he naturally wouldn't feel stage fright; he cited sources, spoke eloquently, and re-explained the refined Open Source philosophy, finally concluding: "I believe that after Open Source is combined with the internet, it will smooth out the knowledge gap of over a decade or even several decades in the domestic and foreign computer industries, making it possible to catch up with or even surpass developed European and American countries in a short time, so I will unswervingly promote this philosophy and hope that all my teachers will provide their support."

"Well said, young people should have such ambition!"

"This theory sounds fine; the University of California, Berkeley has been practicing it for a long time, and their Berkeley Software Distribution and Berkeley Software Distribution License are typical examples, having cultivated many excellent programmers."

"It is feasible academically, but not necessarily commercially; the United States has had the internet for a long time, and the Free Software Movement has always been Open Source, yet after so many years, nothing much has come of it."

"If you add up all the software companies in our country, their annual revenue doesn't even amount to a fraction of a single company like Microsoft. If we go head-to-head, we definitely won't win, so it's better to try the Open Source path, follow the mass line, and perhaps we'll find a glimmer of hope."

Di Ye was not surprised by the arguments and doubts of the professors, because domestic universities would not have their first large-scale contact with Open Source software until after CERNET was built at the end of 1995.

CERNET, also commonly known as the Education Network, used a lot of Open Source software during its construction process, so after it was completed, the South China University of Technology founded SunSite, the first internet software mirror site in the country, which allowed Linux, Apache, and other excellent Open Source software to spread among major universities.

By March 1995, Linux had already gained momentum and had quite a few commercial applications, but the country was completely unaware of it, because Linux did not enter China via the internet for the first time, but was brought back from Finland on floppy disks in the summer of 1994 by a Ph. D. student named Gong Min; it only circulated among a few research institutions in Beijing, and universities in the south were unaware of it.

However, even if the professors at Jinling University knew about Linux, Di Ye did not intend to use it to prove his point, because at this very moment, Linux was Free Software, not Open Source software.

Therefore, if he wanted to make the Open Source philosophy take root and distinguish it from Free Software, he had to have an iconic product of his own as a model, and Di Ye had long since prepared this product: a Browser. Thus, before coming to Jinling, he ignored the temptations of Fangfei and stayed up all night typing to rush his manuscript, writing forward-looking treatises on technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, hoping to use this to entice Jinling University to send students to join his R&D team.

"Teachers, as I just said, Open Source and the internet are mutually reinforcing; one cannot do without the other, and the bridge that fuses the two is the Browser, so I have written an Open Source browser myself..."

Di Ye spent an entire afternoon fully explaining the browser he had written and his future R&D plan, successfully capturing the attention of the professors; Professor Xu Jiafu even wrung his hands in regret, saying that if he were two years younger, he would personally go to Yun University to snatch Di Ye away—according to the regulations on the retirement of senior experts promulgated in 1983, professors over 70 could only do research and writing work and could no longer supervise Graduate Students.

"Di Ye, you applied to our school but aren't coming to study for your master's; it's a letdown for us, and that's not right!"

"Professor Xu, it is hard to leave one's homeland; I am very regretful and very sorry that I cannot come to Jinling University for my master's."

Di Ye said a few polite words, then took out a Bank Card and said: "To express my apologies, I have decided to donate 200,000 to Jinling University as research funding."

The professors looked at each other, their expressions even more spectacular than when they had seen the browser earlier.

In the mid-90s, Jinling University had fruitful academic results and was ranked third by the Ministry of Education, second only to Tsinghua and Peking University, but it was in an extremely distressed state economically and was almost dragged into bankruptcy by the new campus in Pukou.

The old campus of Jinling University was located in the Gulou District in the city center, with an area of only 700-plus mu, which could not accommodate the increasingly large scale of teaching, so they began building a new campus in Pukou in 1987. Because government funding was slow to arrive, it led to a severe shortage of research funds; at its worst, they owed a large amount of construction debt and couldn't even pay the teachers' salaries.

Now that Di Ye had given 200,000 the moment they met, the professors were naturally overjoyed; they barely declined and immediately called to report it to the school's top leadership.

A timely gift is always welcome, and everything went smoothly; Di Ye subsequently enjoyed super-standard treatment, not only receiving a personal audience with the University President but also getting exactly what he wanted—the Jinling University School of Computer Science would select 5 excellent graduating students to go to Pengcheng to participate in the R&D of the browser.

When he returned to the hotel in the evening, Di Ye stood in front of the suite's glass window, looking at the dotted night lights, and muttered with great ambition: "After I make a big fortune in a few months, I'll set up an Open Source education foundation, throw money around everywhere, and enjoy the happiness of being a sugar daddy harvesting talent."