Digital Revolution
“Ah, I saw your impressive work in the United States. Truly remarkable.”
“You flatter me, sir. None of it would have been possible without the full support of the President and the government.”
“Haha, clever as always. And don’t forget that. Plenty of businessmen turn into frogs and conveniently forget their tadpole days. Make sure you never become one of them, Jae-won.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yoo Jae-won answered politely, but a sigh escaped inside him. It was the first time he had heard someone so blatantly suggest he should line their pockets. Still, the directness was almost refreshing. Far better than someone who smiled and offered empty praise while secretly holding a grudge and later striking with unexpected disadvantages. This blunt style was easier for him to handle.
“That aside, I’ve been reviewing the projects Oh Myung set in motion since taking this seat. Some are excellent. Others… not so much.”
Finally, they were getting to the point. The casual way the minister referred to the former minister by name was distasteful, but Yoo Jae-won was in no position to comment. He simply nodded.
“One project that caught my eye is the ISDN rollout.”
Oh no. Please leave ISDN alone. The connection between ID Technology’s Silicon Valley office and Korea had improved dramatically thanks to ISDN. Most company business now flowed through ID Talk. Sending document files via ID Talk was far faster and more accurate than relying on low-quality, slow international faxes.
“Oh Myung planned to launch commercial ISDN service as quickly as possible. The problem is there’s nothing to actually use on that ISDN line. When I asked Department Head Kim Won-jung, he said you’re the best person in the industry for solving this kind of issue.”
Kim Won-jung? Like Oh Myung, he was someone in the Ministry of Communications who had shown favor toward Yoo Jae-won. So what exactly had Kim told Hong Byung-do? Jae-won could guess, but his exhausted mind felt like it was grinding through sand.
“There are many ways to utilize ISDN. For ordinary users, however, nothing beats a PC communication service. It’s also easy to monetize.”
In the end, Yoo Jae-won gave the safest possible answer.
“I knew you’d see it the same way. Kim Won-jung also said PC communication would be the most suitable commercial service for ISDN.”
It was fortunate he hadn’t pushed ahead too far. If he had mentioned something like the internet instead of PC communication, this ignorant man wouldn’t have understood anyway.
“The real problem is that Korea still has no commercially operated PC communication service. According to Kim, the largest one is something called KETEL run by a small newspaper company, but they have no intention of running it commercially and are losing so much money they’ll probably shut it down soon.”
What? KETEL was closing? Then where was the internet supposed to connect?
“So here’s my thought. Right now, the most advanced high-tech company in Korea is your ID Technology. What do you think about ID Technology acquiring KETEL and turning it into a proper commercial service?”
Acquire KETEL. That was a business move he had never considered. His roadmap had been to focus on the United States and Japan until 1995, then drive hard once the domestic internet era began. Still… acquiring KETEL might not be such a burden after all. The cost of maintaining servers and communication lines was already well within ID Technology’s current revenue. More importantly, taking over KETEL under the pretext of operating a national communication service could give him a foothold in the national backbone network. It would also make participation in the Pacific optical cable project for securing U.S. communication lines much smoother.
PC communication companies in the original timeline had all failed to adapt when the internet arrived, but Yoo Jae-won, who could see the future clearly, was different. He was confident he could run it far better than Korea Telecom, which had acquired KETEL and rebranded it as Hitel in the original history.
“That’s an excellent suggestion. Since we’re already operating a small private PC communication site in the United States, acquiring KETEL shouldn’t be too difficult. The only concern is scale—the U.S. operation is small, so costs are low. I’m not sure how expensive KETEL will be to run.”
“Oh? You’re already operating one in America? As expected, you have foresight. If you’re already running a service, then no one is better suited to acquire KETEL than you.”
This man only heard what he wanted to hear. Calculating the actual cost of supporting both ISDN and modem access for a full commercial KETEL service would take time! They would need to set appropriate fees based on those costs and projected user numbers. There would be initial losses, but the deficit wouldn’t continue. A PC communication boom was coming in the early 1990s, and subscriber numbers would explode. Even with a low monthly fee around 20,000 won like Hitel, they wouldn’t lose much money.
“If you could arrange meetings with the people who have decision-making authority over the KETEL sale, I’ll handle the rest.”
“Good. I’ll make the arrangements right away.”
Hong Byung-do seemed to think he had successfully offloaded a troublesome project. His attitude toward Yoo Jae-won became noticeably more generous than at the start of the meeting. Jae-won didn’t particularly like the man, but since he was a powerful figure close to the President, he responded appropriately and worked to build rapport before leaving the Ministry of Communications.
The KETEL acquisition moved forward at full speed. The Korea Economic Daily, which had been operating KETEL, had been increasingly burdened by mounting losses that grew in proportion to the rising number of users. When the Ministry of Communications introduced a buyer, they moved with lightning speed to close the deal.
ID Technology began due diligence on KETEL’s systems and operational staff while negotiating the acquisition price.
Perhaps because the current owner was a newspaper company, articles began appearing as though the acquisition were already finalized, even though nothing had been confirmed. It was a transparent attempt to create public pressure that would force the sale while driving up the price. Since all acquisition decisions had been entrusted to Chief of Staff Choi Kang-wook and Robert Halley, however, Yoo Jae-won remained unaffected by the articles.
What truly occupied his attention was the first patch for Android Alpha and the upcoming trial against Microsoft. Because of these matters, his school life as the second semester of sixth grade drew to a close had become strangely detached. No one at school complained. After all, in the three exams held since the semester began, he had scored perfect 100s in every subject. Though his attendance was somewhat irregular, his relationships with teachers and classmates remained excellent. There was simply no issue for the school to address. If anything, the real concern was how to fill the void once Yoo Jae-won graduated the following year.
November 20th. Two days before the patch release, and two days before the trial began. Yoo Jae-won sat in front of his Egg PC as usual, reviewing the first patch for Android Alpha. He had already obtained confirmation from the U.S. Federal District Court that there would be no problem with distributing the patch. The court had ruled that while distributing Android Alpha itself was prohibited, providing support for an already-distributed version was acceptable.
The signs were favorable. It felt as though ID Technology had scored the first point before the official trial even started. Because a good mood was no excuse to be careless with the most important patch, Yoo Jae-won focused intently on reviewing the completed work. The Silicon Valley development team had already been conducting extensive internal testing long before submitting the final version to him. They had also distributed the patch to volunteer testers among existing Android Alpha users for closed testing. Fortunately, no major issues had surfaced, allowing the team to report to Yoo Jae-won with confidence.
“If we’ve improved the file manager to this level, it’s a success.”
The feature that had received the most attention in this patch was the file manager for searching and managing files and directories. The original file manager had only allowed basic operations such as moving, deleting, and copying files. This patch added low-level formatting, standard formatting, the ability to divide a single physical disk into multiple logical disks, and disk copying functions. These advanced options appeared when right-clicking on a disk. Basic functions like formatting were visible immediately, while advanced options such as low-level formatting or disk partitioning were hidden under an “expert mode” to prevent novice users from accidentally damaging their computers.
There were also improvements for general users. Icon functionality had been enhanced. Icons in the file manager now changed according to file extensions. The icons themselves used the full 256-color palette and were designed to be bright and sophisticated. Directories and regular files were clearly distinguished. For image files in particular, the icon was replaced with a thumbnail preview. This made it far more efficient to identify content than relying on filenames alone.
The preview feature required significant processing power, so it was somewhat heavy on 386 machines. On a 486, however, there was no noticeable lag. Once a preview was generated, it was saved as a thumbnail file, making subsequent operations much faster. A lightweight image file viewer had also been created and bundled with the patch.
Finally, mouse-based operations had been added. Users could now drag and drop to copy or move files. Every one of these new features was being patented. Even if someone later tried to create an operating system similar to Android, they would find it impossible to avoid the patents. If ID Technology continued filing patents with every version update, the company would soon become the industry’s leading patent holder.
“Advertising features can’t be left out either.”
The first round of advertisements was ending, and the second round was about to begin. Despite the ongoing dispute with Microsoft, the ads had sold well. As time passed, the effectiveness of the advertising became increasingly evident, proving its value. A single slot had risen to $52,000, and some companies purchased multiple slots. Starting with the second round, clicking an advertisement would open a related document. If this were the internet, users would be hyperlinked directly to the advertiser’s site, but for now, a document would have to suffice. When the ad promoted a product, a text file containing detailed specifications and purchasing information would open, sometimes accompanied by a large image file.
Everything was satisfactory.
“Approved with pleasure!”
After affixing his signature and seal to the document approving the first patch, Yoo Jae-won sent it via fax. On the 22nd, the first version-up patch for Android Alpha was distributed through FTP, PC communication services, and offline retail stores. At the same time, the historic trial between ID Technology and Microsoft began at the Federal District Court in San Francisco.
Time passed quickly. The patch that ID Technology’s development team and Yoo Jae-won had worked so hard on received favorable reviews. Advertisers who had paid premium rates were satisfied with the results, just as expected. Most importantly, user reactions—the metric Yoo Jae-won valued most—were also positive. Many users frequently relied on the file manager, and the new version made managing their computers significantly more convenient. The prevailing opinion was that the operating system’s completeness had reached an entirely new level.
Additionally, users who had previously avoided mice began purchasing them. While many had viewed mouse usage as something only beginners did, in a graphical interface operating system, the mouse proved far more convenient than keyboard shortcuts. The perception that both keyboard and mouse were essential peripherals gradually spread.
The trial, however, dragged on exactly as Yoo Jae-won had predicted. Microsoft submitted an enormous amount of dubious evidence to support their dubious claims, and ID Technology countered with the materials they had meticulously prepared. Furthermore, Microsoft denied all allegations of illegal activity and demanded that ID Technology produce evidence. The media, which had initially covered the trial as the lawsuit of the century, gradually lost interest. Instead, as December arrived, numerous articles discussed the still-unbroken ID Office Security Challenge.
The tedious stalemate did not last long. Once the court finished reviewing the submitted materials and moved on to determining which evidence would be admitted, Ellen, the head of the legal team, recognized that the moment was right and requested a witness. The witness was James Augustine, the former head of Microsoft’s Alpha Lab.