America 1982-Chapter 101 - 18: Don’t Rush to Consider Social Responsibility (Second Update)
"Hey, Tommy, there are four important features you tagged that can’t be implemented on the SSD-2 yet. Everyone needs to finish their own assignments, so it might take another two or three weeks before they can spare time to help you sort it out. But congrats anyway... this software has already received unanimous praise from the gang here. The auto-segmentation, text search, and those subtle innovations like footnote annotations have turned the indispensable WordStar into crap in their mouths," Eric said loudly as he walked into Tommy and Jason’s dorm room, then saw Jason frantically sitting in front of the computer dealing with two girls:
"No one told me you guys are now living in a co-ed dorm."
"Ladies, I assure you I’ll resolve the issues you’re encountering by tonight, even if it means no sleep. I can handle it, one at a time. What was your issue again, miss?" Jason asked the first girl, not bothering to greet Eric.
The girl pushed up her glasses: "The cursor control keys, I hope it could be a combination of letter key sequences and the Ctrl key. This software chose to use the four-key diamond formation of 8, 2, 4, 6 to control the cursor’s movement, which is very unfamiliar for those dependent on WordStar and who have formed muscle memory. I keep instinctively pressing the previous key positions by mistake, so I hope it could be changed to the same shortcuts as WordStar."
"The purpose of developing this software is to make cursor control no longer as complicated as WordStar, where you had to remember sixteen combinations just to move the cursor a bit. To move the cursor in WordStar, you have to press Ctrl+Q first to enter the cursor moving state, then press Ctrl and a bunch of other messy keys, right? Now it’s simple, just remember these four digits plus Ctrl, no need for a prep command, instant operation," Jason exhaled, flipping through Tommy’s notebook and explaining to the girl:
"We’re driving technological progress, but miss, you’re suggesting we go backwards, so sorry, we won’t consider your valuable suggestion. Next, miss, what’s your concern?"
The second girl gave another piece of feedback. While using the document function of SSD-2 for writing, she found it very convenient, but the only shortcoming was having to relearn some operations. Therefore, she suggested adding a call command to display the simple and different formatting codes from WordStar directly onscreen with a combination of keys to facilitate writing without having to flip through the operation guide Tommy distributed. This would allow her to glance at the commands and continue working without increasing the software’s size.
"OK, thanks for your valuable input. May I have your name, if we update the program, you’ll be the first to receive the latest test version," Jason took her feedback seriously, jotting it down, and then spoke to the girl in a way that mimicked Tommy’s previous reprehensible style.
"Jessica Perls, majoring in Social Science," the girl said, then she and her companion left E-66 dorm together.
After noting down her name, Jason operated the computer as the girl had described, and then turned to Eric: "Boss, are you here for an inspection?"
Once the girls left, Eric closed the door, lit a cigarette, and asked Jason: "Where’s that guy Tommy? I thought this thing was just undergoing small-scale testing within SSD."
"Don’t know, maybe he went to some other dorm to help install the software. Aside from attending classes, part-time work, and doing homework, he’s spending all his remaining time trying to get fellow students to try out this SSD-2 and give him feedback. What did you want to congratulate him on? Finally got him in charge of designing this week’s party? I suggest not going that route, because he will definitely skimp on it," Jason got up, grabbed two cans of Coke from the fridge, handed one to Eric, and started to chatter like someone who’d found a sympathetic ear:
"Ever since that guy got busy with the software, there hasn’t been any alcohol in the fridge for a long time. If anyone from Stanford’s freshman class manages to get the 3S title by graduation, it will definitely be that idiot Tommy. Living with someone like him puts too much pressure on you, seeing them work hard while you slack off easily leads to feelings of guilt about wasting time. Let me put it this way, self-teaching computer-related courses has kept me from reading magazines for two weeks. If it weren’t for the weekends when I could still go back to SSD to party and chat with girls, I’d have already jumped off the rooftop."
Eric took the Coke: "No, I wanted to congratulate him. The night before last, I was out drinking with Charles and some others, along with a few SSD alumni working at the Silicon Valley Software Company. We talked about Tommy and you rookies, heard that Tommy’s software is very practical, and one of the alumni wants to meet Tommy to see if it’s possible to coax his boss into buying it, so Tommy can make a fortune. Charles and I are very happy, it means that at least Tommy can make tens of thousands, and we’ll have him splurge on a big celebration. But in the end, it’s up to Tommy himself to decide, so I came to see him."
"What did I just say?" Jason asked Eric after hearing his purpose, first stunned and then questioning.
Eric shook his head slightly: "You said living with Tommy is too stressful, you’re ready to jump off the rooftop."
"That guy is about to have tens of thousands, now as his roommate, my biggest pressure is how to help him spend that money!" Jason stared at Eric, asking loudly, "But are you sure, someone is ready to spend tens of thousands on a piece of copied software? Tens of thousands?"
