An H-1B work visa is actually very difficult to obtain for someone like Linus, who is still a college student and hasn't officially graduated.
Especially when it comes to working in the US and his Finland citizenship, the related paperwork is incredibly complicated.
His original plan was to try applying for a J-1 exchange visitor visa or even an F-1 student visa to transfer to California, at least to see how things went.
But GAMENOVA clearly didn't like these formalities.
Perhaps it's because Battlefield 1991 has been generating so much buzz lately that, with a little effort on the part of higher-ups, the embassy readily gave it the green light.
With a guarantee from GAMENOVA and proof of his performance during his studies, his H-1B visa was processed quickly.
Even with GAMENOVA covering all travel expenses, this trip would still be quite a hassle for Linus.
Starting from Helsinki, the journey continued through Copenhagen, before finally reaching Brittany, France.
After completing the necessary procedures and basic checks with Ubisoft, I boarded a plane and flew all the way to New York United States. Then I took a domestic flight across the entire North America continent before finally landing in California.
Before we'd even gotten anything done, a week had already passed.
"Call
He almost greedily inhaled the surrounding air, feeling the solid ground beneath his feet.
I've finally rediscovered that long-lost feeling of being grounded.
After all, he was a talent specially authorized by Lin Lixin to go directly to headquarters to report for duty. Unlike others, he did not need to go to Los Angeles International Airport first to familiarize himself with the work in the Southern California studio complex.
Instead, he went directly to the San Francisco Bay Area.
While Silicon Valley is not yet as fully mature as it will be in the future, it has long been a hub for semiconductor and software companies.
Apple, Sun Microsystems, SGI, Intel, Zilog, Hewlett-Packard, Gamenova----
It's a veritable galaxy of stars, a pilgrimage site for all tech enthusiasts.
Linus adjusted his glasses, a hint of reserved shyness in his expression.
He's not a particularly good social guy.
On the contrary, like all other geeks, he was highly closed off and xenophobic.
Just like when Lin Lixin first found Carmack.
An autistic, mad genius.
Frankly, if GAMENOVA had offered him a direct job through campus recruitment like a normal company would, Linus would probably have struggled with the decision for a month before ultimately rejecting it.
He is not someone who particularly values fame and fortune.
With Linus's skills, he could easily get anything he wanted, anywhere.
For him, going to the United States, or even joining Gamenova, was a disruption to the tranquility of his life.
Attracting funding, high-society parties, and entering business social circles held absolutely no appeal for him.
A liberal pope, what he truly sought was only complete freedom, freedom of the soul.
To be free to write the code you want, to engage in technical debates with other enthusiasts, and to quietly do what you want in your own little apartment.
These are the true ways to enjoy life.
Instead of sitting in a luxury car eating overly salty caviar and greasy foie gras.
But Gamenova is different.
In Linus's memory, every encounter with GAMENOVA shattered his preconceived notions.
From beginning to end, this seems to have been an exceptionally rebellious company.
He's even more punk than I am.
Zork Idle and Screeps are two extremely niche games that he absolutely adores.
Not to mention that Screeps is a game that truly requires serious coding skills to master; it's essentially an arena for geeks to exchange and hone their skills.
Even Zork Idle has become a game he's bound to fail at now.
Even today, he enjoys playing this game whenever he has a spare moment.
For Linus, it was even more fun than the so-called Battlefield 1991.
He was extremely anxious because he couldn't leave the game running for a whole week.
To be honest, the idea of developing my own operating system was actually influenced by Zork Idle.
It would be much more convenient if an idle game could run in the background on your PC instead of requiring a dedicated console.
But DOS's single-task design is so incredibly stupid that it simply can't do this kind of thing.
Coupled with its terrible memory management, it's enough to make you want to bang your head against a wall.
It might fool ordinary people, but those who are seriously doing research probably wouldn't use it.
Even if they can't afford UNIX, they'll settle for Mini as a second choice.
So, although Linus himself has never changed his attitude of "not liking to play games," his connection with GAMENOVA has long been linked through video games.
Of course, what truly made him decide was Lin Lixin's outrageous way of offering offers.
What normal person would silently hack into the University of Helsinki's server network, find their PC, and then secretly view all their projects?
If that's the case, then he'll just have to accept it, even if he has to hold his nose.
But Lin Lixin, that guy, sent a completely optimized, more concise and elegant version of the plan directly to his email address.
This is blatant provocation.
No matter how hard Linus looked, he couldn't find any flaws.
It was as if Lin Lixin had completely understood what he was going to write and directly provided a solution that was far more mature than the idea in his mind.
So Linus decided to go directly to California to see for himself.
This will also give us a chance to see what this Legend game company is really like.
To say I wasn't curious would be a lie.
"Let's go, Lin is already waiting."
Carmack nodded at him and got into the driver's seat first.
Due to the special circumstances, Lin Lixin did not arrange for Sam to pick him up at the airport; instead, Carmack was sent instead.
He just got his driver's license this year and bought a Chevrolet Corvette outright.
Given his personality, this kind of car, which is both punk and high-performance and represents the pinnacle of United States automotive technology, is very much to his liking.
But for a pragmatist like Linus, sitting in such a performance monster was truly uncomfortable.
Carmack glanced at Linus, who was silently fastening his seatbelt, and casually started the engine.
Once the car was on the road, he finally spoke, "So----you're 'The Finland Guy' from 'Screeps'?"
Carmack had a vague impression of this introverted guy.
Technically, he has always held the attitude of not respecting anyone except Lin Lixin.
Even if Lin came, he would have to argue his case before he would behave.
But this guy who caused him a lot of trouble in "Screeps" does have some technical skills.
"Sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about, but I do play Screeps a lot."
That's it.
Carmack nodded slightly. "Lin said you're developing your own operating system kernel? That's really cool."
"Yes—I don't know how he did it. When I saw the message he left me, I was really shocked."
Even now, recalling that day, he still feels lingering fear. "However, Lin left me some security strategies in the email and helped me optimize the backdoor."
His pronunciation had a slight accent, but it was much better than that of the Japan.
"I talked to Lin about this, but he thought I wasn't suitable for this project, at least not for the architecture layer."
Carmack's tone carried a hint of resentment and bitterness, "So—"
The car slowly came to a stop on the side of the road.
Carmack's eyes met Linus's, and his previous casual, lighthearted manner vanished, replaced by intense hostility.
What makes you think you're qualified for this job?
Linus frowned, somewhat annoyed by the sudden questioning.
The long journey had already exhausted him both physically and mentally, and now he was being questioned by a guy who was about his own age.
Geniuses always have their own pride.
Carmack persisted, pressing further. "I've also looked at your source code, and frankly—the performance isn't good. Many parts are too redundant and ugly. If I were to rewrite it, many more features of the i386 could be unlocked."
"Although I've never met Mr. Lin, now I know why he said you weren't suitable for this job."
Linus didn't rush to answer him directly, but instead retorted sarcastically, "The key isn't making the CPU perform better, the key is sufficient reliability. What I want is an environment that can allow countless programs and hardware to work stably for a long time."
Was there anything wrong with Carmack's ideas?
Strictly speaking, there's nothing wrong with it. This engine enthusiast has always advocated for performance above all else. In order to squeeze every transistor in the hardware to its limit, Carmack would even completely abandon those redundancies and cut off all seemingly unnecessary redundant designs.
Directly control the hardware and perform extreme optimization from the hardware perspective.
Simple, brutal, green-skinned, but effective, and highly efficient.
"Let me guess, if you were doing this, you would directly control the hardware at the system level, eliminating all intermediate layers, instead of abstracting the hardware like I do. You would also design a file system that you consider extremely efficient for different resources, mapping things into memory, instead of my 'everything is a file' model."
"But it will indeed be more efficient; both access speed and CPU performance will be more efficient."
"Then why don't you just use UNIX? Or continue using NeXT-STEP; they're good enough already."
Linus shrugged.
This question was directed at Carmack, and also at himself.
If before this, he only intended to have technical exchanges and learn here...
Now the situation is completely different.
Lin Lixin seemed to see things very clearly.
He truly knew the essence of the operating system he was developing.