California, San Francisco Bay Area.
In front of a one-bedroom apartment.
Lin Lixin rang the doorbell and waited for the other party to open the door.
This is Linus's home in California.
Logically speaking, with the salary offered by Gamenova, he could easily move to a more luxurious and upscale place.
But I don't know if it's just his personality, or if he genuinely doesn't care about this aspect.
He actually rented an apartment near the company to live in.
"They've arrived."
Linus's voice came from inside the house.
"The pizza is just sitting on the counter by the door... oh, Mr. Lin."
"I've come to check on the Linux development progress. You know, the fifth generation needs a reliable system."
"Of course, please come in." Linus immediately understood and busied himself leading Lin Lixin into the house.
Although he is a typical geek.
But the house wasn't like a garbage dump as I had imagined.
Lin Lixin had expected to see a horrible, filthy garden like Ben Gorcy's garage.
Surprisingly, the place was very clean.
Besides the sofa, coffee table, and television, the living room was filled with documents and magazines.
Some of them have noticeable coffee stains, which are among the few blemishes here.
Only one NX TV was connected to the television.
This is indeed quite unconventional compared to others.
Linus wasn't particularly fond of video games.
Although there are many types of video games, they cover all kinds of groups.
However, it must be admitted that there is indeed a group of people in this world who are completely uninterested in it. Only Gamenova's previous releases, Screeps and * Zork Idle *, are more to their liking.
Otherwise, we probably wouldn't even have this NX.
There is a single bed in the bedroom.
The bedding was very clean, or rather, too clean; it looked like it had never been slept on.
The wardrobe was full of stereotypical plaid shirts and casual clothes.
With a single glance, Lin Lixin instantly identified the main activity area in the apartment that was actually responsible for production—the study.
Compared to the other rooms, which were so tidy they looked like no one lived there, the study was much more practical.
A huge desk was placed against the wall.
The boards and frame are very sturdy; you can tell that this guy spends a significant portion of his salary on these productivity tools that have been with him for years.
On the table are two CRT televisions, one Trinitron and the other United States product.
They are clearly used for different purposes.
There was even a vector monitor piled on the floor, I have no idea what it was for. The PC was a genuine IBM-compatible machine, sourced from Dell, with reliable specifications.
The standard IBM mechanical keyboard is comparable to modern products.
The first-generation ADSL modem for connecting to the Internet, various sizes of CD and floppy disk drives, and even the disk drive itself are collectible items.
The bookshelf behind the chair was filled to the brim with all kinds of books.
These weren't brought from Helsinki; they were clearly purchased gradually after he arrived in the Bay Area.
From Unix manuals to all sorts of strange and wonderful materials, it had everything; it was as if the entire computer section of the library had been packed up and brought back.
"Uh... sorry, please have a seat."
Linus noticed that there was only one place to sit in the room, so he quickly invited Lin Lixin to sit down, and then pulled a stool from the living room into the room.
"Now I know where you've spent all the money."
Lin Lixin chuckled, carefully examined the hardware in the room, and then moved closer to the computer.
Is this Unix?
Computers were completely terminal-based; there was no GUI (Graphical User Interface) at all. This isn't the 1980s anymore.
With the increasing popularity of graphical operating systems from various manufacturers, especially the Wintel lineup led by Microsoft's Win3, graphical operating systems have long been a common sight in households.
It's easier to use and cheaper.
People like him who still use pure terminal devices are either geeks or retro enthusiasts.
"I guess so. This is Minix, which is simpler and cleaner than Unix. I was inspired by it to decide to develop Linux."
Linus's eyes light up whenever Linux is mentioned.
This period was indeed the happiest time of his life.
They said they'd let him roam freely, and they really did let him roam completely free.
Aside from periodically checking on the Linux development progress, I don't even call him once.
A direct visit like today is practically a miracle.
Sometimes, Linus even wished that Lin Lixin could come more often.
After all, having a master guide you can make Linux development even better.
He already strongly believed in the necessity of collaborative development.
"I haven't really used it much. Back then, we all used Commodore's C64."
Lin Lixin sat down at the computer with great interest and casually typed a few commands.
This extremely streamlined kernel can run on most low-end computers.
In the PC field, Europe are actually more... professional than United States?
The main battleground for PC games is Europe.
In contrast, the main business in the United States was arcade games for a long time, and the transition to video game consoles is only a matter of a few years.
Japan, on the other hand, favors budget-friendly home consoles, primarily from Nintendo.
There are various reasons for the formation of this market structure, and it is difficult to give a definitive conclusion.
But this alone shows that Europe are indeed more deeply involved in PC gaming than those in the United States.
Just like Ubisoft, a subsidiary of Gamenova, which is the Europe branch, it actually started by selling PC games. Various game studios in Europe also started with PC games.
"Okay, back to the main topic, I heard there have been a lot of cyberattacks targeting Gamenova lately?"
"Eh, right, I intercepted at least thirteen remote attacks today attempting to implant worm viruses."
Linus nodded.
Since the " Morris Worm " incident in 1988, cybersecurity has gradually come into the Volkswagen eye.
Robert Morris, a graduate student at Cornell University, created the " Morris Worm " using only 99 lines of code.
In just 12 hours, they hacked into more than 6,200 computers running Unix or Sun operating systems.
The direct or indirect economic losses amounted to nearly $100 million.
This made Morris the first hacker on Earth to be convicted of creating a computer virus.
Because New York State had no precedent for this type of issue, he could only be charged with "hooliganism."
He was sentenced to three years of probation, a $10,000 fine, and 400 hours of community service.
Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag. However, the social impact of this incident is extremely far-reaching.
From that moment on, the name "hacker" became inextricably linked with computer attacks.
A group of mysterious, dangerous individuals hidden in the online world, lawless madmen who are not bound by ordinary ethics or laws.
"It's really lively..."
Lin Lixin sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.
This is what they call "the tallest tree catches the most wind."
Given Gamenova's current size and reputation in the entertainment industry, countless eyes are watching them closely.
In this situation, it would be strange if it didn't suffer from cyberattacks.
It's fortunate that the Nexus team is well-trained and has a large group of super experts under their command.
Otherwise, if it were any other company, it would truly give me the creeps.
"Getting back to the point, the reason I'm here is because I have a new game idea that might solve our cybersecurity problem."
Lin Lixin looked at the screen again, "Have you ever thought about... turning hacking into a game? I mean... a hacking simulation game?"
Linus glanced at Lin Lixin, puzzled.
"That's illegal, sir."
If they really do that, Gamenova will be thrust into the spotlight immediately.
"No, no, no, like I said, it's just a simulation game, but we'll try our best to recreate real-world hacking techniques."
"Uh... a simulated hacker?"
"Yes, a hacker simulator based on a Unix terminal, or more precisely... a hacker simulator based on Linux."
Lin Lixin grinned; this was a great opportunity.
Hermes has accumulated technical experience in mobile development, while Next Workstation focuses on small servers.
Lin Lixin's goal was actually very simple: to capture the most lucrative piece of the server market. They had absolutely no need to engage in a head-on war of attrition with Microsoft —a foolish move indeed.
With Linux at his disposal, he could easily overtake the competition and secure a significant share of the future server market and the Android system.
This opportunity also serves as a debut for Linux, allowing it to gradually enter the vision of geeks.
Compared to Next-Step, Linux is definitely a more modern choice.
"We can design an interesting main storyline and integrate it into hacking techniques. For example... the protagonist receives a timed email from a hacker who died under mysterious circumstances. Following the instructions in the email, the protagonist gradually hacks into other people's computers and uncovers the truth behind the incident."
Voyeurism, a ghost that has haunted human Civilization throughout its history.
A hacker simulation game was designed specifically to exploit this weakness in humans.
In fact, throughout the history of gaming, hacking has always been a popular theme.
Just like the well-known open-world game series Watch Dogs.
Although Watch Dogs leans more towards traditional social engineering, it still offers a glimpse into the subject.
The film industry actually has no shortage of this kind of subject matter.
There might even be masterpieces like "Who Am I? There Is No Absolutely Safe System." This is due to its inherent barrier to entry, its mystique, and its touch of science fiction.
In the Volkswagen eye, this has always been a very cool thing.
Of course, this excludes Jiahao has a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) and uses the cmd command line on the class computer.
However, this time Lin Lixin is not planning to make any big-budget works based on the hacker theme, such as " Watch Dogs ".
It is a true "hacker simulator".
Hacknet