America 1982-Chapter 98 - 16: Entrepreneurial Thinking (Fourth Update)

In the linear algebra class, Jason and Tommy sat discreetly in the back row, yet they still couldn’t avoid becoming the most noticeable figures in the large classroom that accommodated over ninety students.

Students occasionally turned their heads and laughed as they looked them over.

"Thank you, Jason, for giving me such an intimate understanding of Spanish cuisine," Tommy said at the moment, dressed in the bulky mascot costume from a Spanish restaurant, making himself look like a Spanish ham. He stared at the podium and said despairingly to Jason, who was dressed as a fried cheese roll, "I told you to stay sober."

Knowing he was in the wrong, Jason could only comfort Tommy, saying, "Look on the bright side, Boss. Wearing these two costumes to class might convince the restaurant owner to pay us a small advertising fee, and at least we don’t get mistaken for cross-dressers like those other jerks."

After missing out on women’s clothing, Jason finally thought of another way to get clothes; he said the Spanish restaurant he worked part-time at had placed two advertising mascot models outside the teaching building. So, in the end, he and Tommy wrapped themselves in blankets, ran outside the teaching building, stripped the clothes off the models, and put them on themselves. This was why they were the most eye-catching presence in the classroom.

The reason they attended class on time in such outfits, rather than going back to the dormitory to change clothes, was mainly that Stanford University valued students’ attendance and homework completion rates. These would ultimately be factored into your overall grade. Every instance of tardiness, each absentee class, and every homework not completed on time silently dragged down your total score. Then, when your grade fell to a certain threshold, you would receive a university notice advising you to leave because your performance was no longer deemed good enough to deserve an education there.

Time was spent enduring this torment—not because SSD had devised many ways to torture people deliberately, but as a freshman, you had to attend classes on time, complete the professors’ vast amounts of homework, review in advance for exams, and stay busy until eleven o’clock or even later each day. At the same time, you also had to find time to flip through the Fraternity’s pledge manual, memorizing the Greek letters, rules, and such in their entirety because the Fraternity would test the pledges weekly. If you couldn’t remember those rules, it meant you weren’t taking the Fraternity seriously. Fail the test twice, and you could say goodbye to the brotherhood.

So compared to the pressure of academics and the tedium of rote learning, those nonsensical, foolish tasks seemed more like activities designed to prevent them from going crazy with stress.

Like wearing a roomy knit sweater and then attaching a loose thread to a deer before it’s released. Okay, now you need to frantically chase the deer to untangle the thread or to keep your distance to prevent the only sweater you have from unravelling and leaving you stark naked as the thread stretches further and further.

Or unwittingly consuming laxatives and then having nine pledges forcibly taken a kilometer away from the nearest restroom, ready to sprint for the toilet. Only when they desperately reached it, holding back the urge to go, did they find there were only five stalls, leaving the last four arrivals to howl in despair.

In the midst of constant pranking and teasing, the older members began to warm up to the pledges. After all, a Fraternity is just a student association that concocts various methods and rituals to make itself seem more ancient and mysterious. When they saw the pledges striving to join, they were not stingy with kindness and willing to offer various forms of help.

For instance, when Jason received a professor’s warning for having a 50% similarity rate in an assignment with a classmate, a few senior members took hours to teach him how to write an appeal letter to the school, explaining to the professor that Jason had not committed plagiarism; instead, someone had copied from him without his knowledge, successfully getting the professor to retract the warning.

They would also provide technical support when a pledge needed it. For example, Tommy left just one computer at home and moved the other four to the Fraternity house. He presented his desired approach, asked everyone for technical support, and listened to their feedback.

"Tommy, I think your idea is as crappy as Shit, no innovation at all," Eric, sitting in front of the computer, stopped what he was doing, and lit a cigarette. He then threw the cigarette pack towards Tommy, who was focused on coding next to him, saying, "You’re just copying the functions of those existing softwares. We already have those softwares on the market, so what’s the point?"

Tommy lit a cigarette and replied, "What I aim to do is not just to copy, but also to enhance the user experience on top of these softwares. For instance, with this software currently named SSD-2, my plan is to remove the chart drawing and database management features of Louts1-2-3, keeping only the core spreadsheet function and improve upon it, adding features like automatic calculations and fill-ins. Then, take the word processing capabilities of WordStar and similarly enhance them, adding convenient features like word search, automatic paragraphing, and footnote insertion. Basically, I’m ripping them off, but the product I come up with will be easier to use and faster."

"The word search feature sounds good; WordStar doesn’t seem to have that." Upon hearing Tommy’s words, Eric paused then said, "Every time I want to check for errors in a word from my homework on the computer, I have to squint and search line by line. Honestly, just for that feature alone, I’m quite expectant of the crap you’re working on."

These features that brightened Eric’s eyes, were all concluded by Tommy Hawk after he used most of the office softwares available on the market, and through recalling the basic functions of mature software like Word and Excel from his previous life. At this current time, word processing and spreadsheet softwares were aplenty but still rudimentary in functionality. Generally, updates to such office software relied on user feedback to decide which new or adjusted features to implement. As a transmigrator, Tommy’s only chance to leapfrog the competition was that he had used very sophisticated counterparts in the past, knowing the many practical functions these software currently lacked.

Some functions could be implemented right away, while others were hindered by the current state of technological development, but the convenient features he had just proposed were all possible with existing technology.

He never planned to develop a brand-new software, but instead hoped to create one that was simpler than other office software on the market, with a lower barrier to entry, and capable of compatibility with existing files from similar softwares, successfully running on the cheapest and best-selling personal computers.

"Do you know how much a white-collar who knows how to use Louts1-2-3 earns per week? With over six hundred keyboard shortcuts memorized, they can get nearly three hundred dollars in weekly salary, treated like computer geniuses by their bosses. Even the developers of these office softwares intentionally emphasize this point, showcasing their software’s professionalism as if operating their software would make one an elite. I plan to tear off their masks; these things are not technically demanding to use. I’ll try to keep the user manual within ten pages, so that a housewife could memorize it and perform the same work as those elites using this software. We will also ensure compatibility with files from those softwares," said Tommy, eyes fixed on his computer screen as he spoke to Eric.

"This would clearly show capitalists that the work they thought required a genius earning three hundred a week could be done by a high school graduate housewife with a bit of training using our software. Whether it’s simple tabulation or typing, it’s not technically demanding at all. It’s harder for a housewife to prepare dinner for two kids than doing this job."

Eric went back to his computer, picked up the notebook that Tommy was using to record various test data, glanced at the dense text, and said, "So this is the selling point you plan to pitch to those big companies once the software is developed? An improved version of Louts and WordStar?"

"No, I never thought of relying on professional computer magazines to advertise and sell to big companies. Instead, I’m thinking of setting a suitable price and tricking those housewives eager to make some money, telling them they can earn a white-collar elite’s weekly salary. Just purchase and learn our relatively simple software, master it, then, when looking for a job, there’s no need to settle for being a waitress at a fast-food restaurant. They could wear a proper dress and go to various companies for interviews, maybe help a law firm process all sorts of contract documents, or help an accounting firm manage financial statements – decent work. Yes, just these two functions, document and spreadsheet processing. One less than Louts1-2-3. Last Saturday, I visited ten alumni companies in Silicon Valley to survey and found a total of three hundred and twenty office computers, 87% of which primarily used these two types of office software. Each company needed people to process a large amount of documents and spreadsheets," Tommy said to Eric.

"You just asked me what’s the purpose of doing this? My goal is to demystify this seemingly high-end job into a common skill that everyone can master, and by the way, make some money out of it. But first, I need your help to realize these functions."

"No, you first need to help us win the newcomer contest tonight, maggot Tommy." The newcomer manager appeared at Eric’s door, having heard Tommy’s last sentence, he then interjected, "You claim to be pretty good at ping pong, right? So I’ve signed you up for ping pong vodka."