Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 577: Quite Innovative_1

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Quite Innovative_1

Entering Sergei’s room, it was still as chaotic as when I last saw it, with various items tossed about.

A computer sat on the desk, with two small spherical monitors arranged side by side.

Another computer was placed on the floor with the wires and power cords all tangled up, forcing one to be careful not to trip over them.

The computer’s humming sound, paired with the heat it emitted, made the room’s temperature several degrees higher than outside.

Sergei casually threw the dirty clothes from his chair onto the bed, inviting Wang Ye to sit down.

He then turned around, opened the mini-fridge in the corner, and took out two chilled beers.

Wang Ye, holding a beer, sat down and glanced at the computer screen, which, full of rows of code, he naturally couldn’t understand.

He laughed and asked, "Sergei, you’re a senior now, right? Haven’t you thought about finding an internship or something?"

Sergei, taking a large swallow of beer before responding said, "I don’t have the time to look for work. I currently maintain the school’s LAN, which I guess is a job in itself. Although the pay isn’t high, the hours are flexible and I can do what I want."

In Russia, the cost of internet was quite high. When Wang Ye had an apartment, he was paying over 180 US dollars a month for internet access!

Keep in mind, that was in 2001.

A university lecturer’s monthly salary was just about 400-500 US dollars.

Yet at school, the internet cost was relatively cheaper, one of the students’ perks I guess.

For example, at Friendship University, it was 45 US dollars per month for unlimited data, but you shouldn’t have expected high-speed internet.

Web browsing wasn’t a problem, but in that era, high-speed internet wasn’t really necessary.

In Moscow University though, it was even cheaper. It cost just 25 US dollars per month for unlimited data.

Additionally, due to many students at Moscow University, their LAN was pretty good, and they even had their own servers.

The most famous part was their LAN server’s various shared resources.

Supposedly, just the amount of adult films accessed through the LAN was up to a few hundred GBs!

Considering that back then, a single adult film was only around a hundred or two hundred MBs.

So it was common for students from other schools to come with hard drives and copy these films, Wang Ye had also done such things in his past life...

...

Being able to manage the LAN in Moscow University, a place filled with talent, it’s clear that Sergei is quite skilled.

This is no small job. It involves helping students set up internet connections, even assembling computers, as well as daily server maintenance.

You have to be proficient in both hardware and software to handle this job.

Wang Ye nodded in understanding, and then asked, "You should be graduating soon, right? Any plans after graduation? Going to work or continuing with a PhD? If you continue, are you staying at Moscow University or studying abroad?"

This question might have hit a nerve with Sergei.

He silently drank a couple of sips of beer, then idly crumpled up the nearly empty can in his hand.

It was quite some time before he finally replied with a bitter smile. "Of course I’ll continue with a PhD. There’s not much in the way of good work in Moscow. But I’m not sure whether to study overseas or stay at Moscow University...."

Wang Ye curiously asked, "You’re in computer science, right? Going overseas would naturally be better. Most of the students in your major go overseas after graduating from undergrad, don’t they?"

Sergei nodded and proudly said, "Although we don’t have many high-tech enterprises in our country, we do have many talents in computer science! For graduates of the computer science and mathematics departments of several prestigious universities in our country, it’s not hard to win scholarships from famous universities in the UK and US. But I can’t help but feel frustrated. Why can we only go to top schools overseas and work for foreign companies? Why can’t we have a few high-tech companies of our own that are world-class?"

Wang Ye gave a slight smile. "Now we also have some pretty good high-tech companies. I think that two good companies, YANDEX and MAIL.RU, have become even better after merging. They now dominate the Russian internet and will surely occupy a place in the worldwide internet industry in the future."

Sergei grimaced, apparently not too fond of the two companies Wang Ye had just mentioned.

After some hesitation, he finally explained, "These two companies are decent, but I think they lack creativity. They’re just following in the footsteps of other companies, only copying them. Their only advantage is that they are in the Russian internet market, where competition is relatively less."

Creativity?

Wang Ye, chuckling, asked, "Then what kind of enterprises do you think have creativity?"

Sergei answered without hesitation, "Yahoo, ICQ, Amazon, and perhaps Google and the Apple company."

"Apple? Isn’t that a hardware company? How can it be creative?" Wang Ye asked, smiling.

"Their online music store launched last year, paired with their hardware, has great potential," Sergei briefly explained.

Wang Ye nodded and then asked, "So, in our country, have you discovered any innovative internet enterprises?"

Sergei grinned, reached out, and turned the computer screen towards Wang Ye.

"Look, this is the website I created. It should be the most innovative in the Russian internet so far. I’m not bragging." He quickly typed and opened a webpage.

Wang Ye took a look, and immediately thought, this website is so crude...

The Russian text at the top read "All-Russian University Students’ Personal Micro-Blogs".

Below that were school names listed alphabetically in Russian. Sergei randomly clicked one and entered a university page.

The university page had categories for each major, another click leading to a blank page which apparently had no users yet...

As he was navigating through his website, Sergei explained:

"I combined the current popular alumni directory and personal blog idea, taking advantage of the best features of both, while innovating. Existing blogs commonly require long articles which require users to spend a lot of time and energy writing them. The average user is disinterested in that. So, I did away with full-length blogs and changed them to image plus brief text format..."

Wang Ye was dumbfounded, hold on...

Wasn’t this the embryo of Facebook?

However, the website Sergei created was a PC-based site, more similar to Weibo.

Of course, phones at that time couldn’t really be used for internet access. It was impossible to create a mobile app.

All internet businesses were still targeting the PC platform.