My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 673 - 422: Reinventing the Wheel

Chapter 673: Chapter 422: Reinventing the Wheel

Baiyeji.

"Tang Xiaoqi? A master’s student in software engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?"

Hu Yifei looked at the resume in his hand with a somewhat odd expression.

"Yes, but I passed the school defense last month, and if everything goes well, I should be able to graduate next month.

So, to be precise, you can remove the ’current student’ part."

"Alright... then why do you want to join our company?"

Hearing this, Tang Xiaoqi’s expression seemed even stranger than Hu Yifei’s.

"So... you only thought to ask this question after deciding to recruit me?"

"Cough! Although I am the general manager, I’m not in charge of the recruitment for the technical department.

This question is purely out of personal curiosity."

Honestly, he was skeptical about Demon Hunter recruiting a student from across the ocean.

Though Baiyeji offered a salary nearly double the market rate, with Tang Xiaoqi’s credentials, almost any major company could offer better conditions.

Baiyeji was, after all, a newly established small company.

Anything produced by Demon Hunter had to be of premium quality!

The new smart ERP system "Tianshu" had already become, in his view, following "Star Array," the next product inevitably destined to be a hit.

But unlike "AI Go" which was a relatively small market worth several billion RMB, just the domestic market size for ERP software was over 30 billion, with the global market reaching over 300 billion.

The greater the stakes, the more complex the social interactions involved, and the easier it becomes for betrayal...

The machine room at Baiyeji had now become the most heavily guarded area of the company, and Hu Yifei wished he could subject even the daily cleaning staff to the strictest political screening.

Not to mention the technical department, where employees could access the company’s core secrets.

However...

"Because your company’s products are really interesting!"

Tang Xiaoqi didn’t hesitate to express her true thoughts.

Having deeply engaged with "Tianshu" for several days as a connected person, this expert’s appraisal of it improved daily.

The deeper she understood it, the more she realized this software was a treasure!

In the eyes of an ordinary person, it might seem just an office management aid.

But to her, "Tianshu" not only had an incredibly advanced level of intelligence but definitely also incorporated cutting-edge IoT concepts!

Mobile phones, pads, PCs, printers, production line equipment...

In terms of interconnectivity among various electronic devices, it performed much better than similar products on the market.

Precisely because of this, it could truly act like a "hub," reaching almost every phase of information, production, and sales!

It undoubtedly utilized a unique set of networking protocols.

That was where the true limitless potential of the system lay!

Moreover... they had such interesting AI...

"Interesting?"

Hearing this answer made Hu Yifei pause, then he shook his head with a chuckle.

Well, these AI researchers have unusual thought processes, which is normal.

Since Demon Hunter dared to recruit them, there should be no major issue...

"Alright, on behalf of Baiyeji, I welcome you aboard.

Currently, the company has three development projects: a cloud-based ERP system, an autonomous driving system, and an intelligent voice assistant.

The cloud-based ERP system is already a mature product in the promotional stage, needing technical staff for bidding and customer service.

The autonomous driving system and the intelligent voice assistant are still in the testing phase and need some testing support staff.

You can choose to join one of these project teams."

Tang Xiaoqi’s eyes lit up.

Goodness, all three are the hottest fields right now.

Normally, people focus on one direction, but you’re trying to cover all the bases at once?

The company may be small, but its ambition is big... I like that!

"I choose the cloud-based ERP system and the intelligent voice assistant!"

"Uh... what I meant was, choose one."

"But I find both of them very interesting."

"You... never mind, start working in both departments for a while, and the specific arrangements will depend on the senior management’s decision."

Hu Yifei rubbed his temples.

Who would have thought you were recruited by Demon Hunter?

Well, it’s understandable for talents to have some personality...

...

"This is your workstation, you just need to register with your personal information, and the company’s ERP system will automatically provide you with an internal employee account and assign the appropriate browsing permissions.

However, your technical department is a bit special, as the manager works remotely.

Thus, everything including regulations, learning materials, and work assignments are posted on your department’s intranet, just log into the office system to check."

HR just mentioned a few things to note and then left directly.

"Uh..."

Is that it? At least give me a work badge or something, right?

And what’s this about remote working?

Though this work mode is not uncommon for some internet professionals, a department head working remotely... it’s her first time encountering this!

I feel like my career is starting off a bit hastily...

With a hint of oddness in her mindset, Tang Xiaoqi looked at the monitor in front of her, only to find it was a "cloud computer."

That is, it had no mainframe, and all server and storage resources were in the cloud.

Thus, what she was seeing in front of her was merely a dumb terminal that only sent and received requests...

Tang Xiaoqi frowned.

Honestly, she didn’t quite like this mode of working.

While cloud-based offices allowed employees to access the company’s office systems from any device, providing mobility, data security, resource conservation, and enhanced management among other benefits...

Many large companies had also gradually begun to try this work model.

But it wasn’t very friendly in terms of employee privacy.

After all, almost everything you did throughout the day, even if it was just sweeping for mines, was under the boss’s scrutiny.

This was also the reason many companies were hesitant to try it, and comparatively, it was even more difficult to promote it abroad.

On one hand, she was worried about being caught slacking off at work.

On the other hand, the way others did it was clearly for technological protection, guessing that as a new employee, she wouldn’t see anything valuable...

After turning on the computer, a cloud desktop login interface appeared.

As the HR lady had said, she input her personal information, set a password, did a facial recognition, and finally, she was asked to set a security question.

It took a few minutes to register her internal account.

[Name: Tang Xiaoqi

Department: Technology Department

Current Rank: Level 2

Current Permissions: Level 2]

Rank and permissions? The company’s internal employee management system seemed quite robust.

Another prompt popped up on the cloud desktop.

[Please choose your operating system]

[Windows, Linux, macOS, Chrome OS, Qilin System, Tongxin UOS...]

Hmm... The mainstream operating systems from both domestic and international markets were basically all available.

This was the strength of cloud computing—overwhelming traditional computers in terms of flexibility in allocation based on user needs, completely customizable to individual preferences.

She chose the most familiar one to her, Windows, and the desktop entered the familiar operating interface.

Unsurprisingly, the "Tianshu" ERP was already installed on the desktop. Just as Tang Xiaoqi was about to open it, she suddenly thought of something.

She exited the current system and chose the Qilin operating system, but the "Tianshu" ERP was still there on the desktop.

"Hmm?" Tang Xiaoqi was momentarily stunned.

Then she chose several other operating systems and found that they all had this ERP software, and it could be used normally after opening...

"This..."

Tang Xiaoqi was somewhat surprised.

You have to know that between different computer operating systems, in terms of functionality, it’s not necessarily a matter of one being much stronger than the others—mainly, Windows’ accumulated software ecosystem really dominates other smaller-scale user operating systems.

The toughest part for other operating systems is the lack of a huge pool of software to support the user experience.

Even the Linux system, which is touted to have more potential, while having a higher ceiling, also has a high barrier to entry, and is not something ordinary users can adapt to.

Expect to replace ms store with apt-get install?

Expect to replace one-click installation with how to install opencv 3.4 & how to solve cmake bugs & how to install nvidia software?

Expect to compile successfully according to the official documentation?

Even if Artificial Girl can run on linux, less than one in ten thousand users could install it smoothly.

Windows apps only fail to install under very rare conditions, whereas Linux only has one or two installation methods that could make the program run correctly...

This is the gap!

This is like comparing amusement parks that all have decent basic facilities, but some parks have complete facilities—ferris wheels, roller coasters, pirate ships, carousels, you name it.

And some parks only have seesaws and slides...

Which one users choose to play at, isn’t that obvious?

Because of these huge software ecosystem barriers, Microsoft was able to dominate alone.

In this scenario, breaking the monopoly was almost impossible.

For instance, if a business spent ten million to develop a competitive Windows product, but to convert it to be compatible with Linux might cost an additional five million.

This kind of "reinventing the wheel" cost is simply not something ordinary companies could afford; they usually could only choose to focus on the largest user market and profit streams to enhance user experience.

As they say, many hands make light work. This also leads to the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker.

However, this ERP... was compatible with all operating systems...

She finally understood why Baiyeji’s company facade was so unassuming...

All the funding must have been invested in software development and system compatibility!

What she didn’t know, however, was that for the miraculous department "head," developing the "Tianshu" ERP based on Web3.0 technology was almost zero cost.

And converting a Windows App to an Others App—a simple task of "reinventing the wheel"—was an area "it" excelled in the most...

...

Meanwhile, in a related enterprise subsidiary in Su Province.

"Leader, the final results of our ERP system tender have come out," one said.

"Hmm, how is it? No surprises, right?"

"This... There has been a surprise..."

"Hmm? What happened? Did someone submit a lower bid?"

Hearing the leader’s furrowed brows and a slightly dissatisfied voice, the staff member spoke cautiously.

"It’s not that. In the price evaluation, their bid was higher than your brother-in-law’s... cough! Higher than the second position enterprise, they only scored nine.

And in the business evaluation, we only gave them the lowest score, one..."

"Then how did a surprise still happen?"

"That... their technical evaluation scored 62 points, a total score of 82 points, a full 40 points above the second position..."

"What?" The man exploded with anger.

"That’s outrageous, who did the technical evaluation? Does he still want his job? How could such an absurd evaluation result be produced?

Call him over immediately, and then thoroughly investigate whether there is any collusion or hidden deals behind this, find out and show no mercy!"

"Cough! Leader, I’ve asked, the scoring is correct, this is the score, even after I instructed to push it as low as possible..."

Leader: "..."

"Then investigate this company’s qualifications and paperwork!"

The staff member, clearly understanding the leader’s intent, pointed upward and coughed softly.

"Cough! Leader, this company is recommended by Secretary Li from Su City... there seems to be no problem with their background or qualifications..."

"..."