In 04, the Internet once again stood in front of the wind.

No matter what the field, competition has always been the main theme, and this is especially true of the Internet.

In today's instant messaging field in China, in addition to Tencent QQ, which has just taken back the domain name, there are also Microsoft's MSN, the American Times Online's ICQ, UC Langma, Sohu's SoQ, Alibaba's Tradelink, Sina's, NetEase Bubble, and 263's E-Call......

Chen Qiaoshan knows that there are more than 30 kinds of chat software alone, and this is just a microcosm of the Internet, and competition is everywhere.

Relatively speaking, community software is still a blank slate.

According to the data released by CNNIC, the current domestic websites, all kinds of BBS forums occupy half of the country.

The so-called white ground, it does not mean that there is no community software, on the contrary, there are not a few software like Discuz, but there are few large-scale ones, and they are basically small fights.

As far as Chen Qiaoshan knows, PHPind, which will compete with Discuz in the future, has not seen any shadow at all, and the rest of the software is not in the climate.

Nowadays, no one has taken community software as his main business for research and development like Dai Zhikang.

It takes luck to engage in the Internet,This is the truth,Until 03年6月,Tencent has been insisting on paid registration,Under the siege of all walks of life,It's a fluke that no one has been killed。

Dai Zhikang was lucky, he found the right direction, and Chen Qiaoshan felt even more fortunate to be able to insert a foot at this time.

An agreement was reached, both parties were satisfied, and the atmosphere at the table was much more relaxed.

Dai Zhikang was in high spirits, and he kept chatting about his plans for Discuz's future.

Chen Qiaoshan just listened carefully, he didn't know anything about technology, but Dai Zhikang's explanation was very detailed, and he could probably understand what the other party meant.

"When I settle down this time, I'm going to find a few experts in information security to upgrade the key, I don't know much about this, I do it myself, there is piracy on the Internet, otherwise Kangsheng is not as big as it is now. ”

"Brother Wang is engaged in network information security, you can ask him for help. Chen Qiaoshan mentioned casually.

"Really?" Dai Zhikang was surprised.

Chen Qiaoshan was a little strange, and couldn't help but gossip: "Don't you often get together together, haven't you talked about it?"

Dai Zhikang was a little embarrassed, "No, there are pirated copies on the market, so we must speed up the update and keep improving the functions of soft armor, otherwise there will be no sales." ”

Chen Qiaoshan knew in his heart that this was the market's selection mechanism at work.

Chen Qiaoshan sighed in his heart, he knew that Dai Zhikang's method of dealing with piracy was only a temporary expedient measure.

Although the software cannot be perfect, the speed of development obviously cannot catch up with the speed of piracy.

After thinking about it, Chen Qiaoshan simply asked, "Are you going to rely on upgrading to resist piracy?"

Dai Zhikang was a little puzzled, he said: "What else can I do if I don't do this, only by constantly improving the function, the software will have buyers, otherwise sooner or later it will die." ”

Chen Qiaoshan shook his head, and Xu Xiaoyu asked, "What, Dashan, do you have a different opinion?"

Chen Qiaoshan said directly: "I see it this way, relying on system upgrades to resist piracy will not work. ”

"Why?" asked the two people on the other side at the same time.

Chen Qiaoshan didn't hide his secrets, and explained directly: "Today's community software has not been taken seriously by the market, so it's okay for me to say so, right?"

Dai Zhikang nodded, agreeing with his point of view.

"If Kangsheng wants to become bigger, it must defeat piracy, do you think that once the market grows, can you upgrade at a speed that can catch up with the speed of piracy?"

Hearing Chen Qiaoshan say this, Dai Zhikang couldn't help but be a little frustrated, he is a software maker, he knows too well the current piracy environment in China, even Microsoft is helpless against piracy, what can he do?

Xu Xiaoyu saw something else, since he knew the harm of piracy to software, and was not optimistic about the domestic genuine software industry, why did Chen Qiaoshan insist on investing in Kangsheng?

She felt that Chen Qiaoshan should know something, and couldn't help asking, "Dashan, do you have any good ideas?"

Dai Zhikang was stunned, and the little chagrin in his heart was quickly put aside by him, and he couldn't help but look at Chen Qiaoshan with hope, hoping to find some confidence from him.

Chen Qiaoshan was noncommittal, thought for a while, and asked, "How much is the price of Discuz, and how much can it be sold in a month?"

Xu Xiaoyu said: "At the beginning, it was originally 500 sets, but it was never sold, Zhikang was very angry at the time, and after upgrading a few versions, he set the price at 3000, and the result slowly improved again, when the sales were good, more than ten sets could be sold, and at worst there could be seven or eight sets." ”

Chen Qiaoshan was a little surprised, this Dai Zhikang's luck is really not ordinarily good, and it is strange that the business is done like this.

Xu Xiaoyu didn't stop there, she continued: "We actually make some hard money, and while selling software, we also have to provide all kinds of services for buyers for free......

After listening to it for a while, Chen Qiaoshan understood that selling software is also about after-sales, no wonder there can still be sales under the crackdown of piracy.

Dai Zhikang couldn't help but ask, "Dashan, what do you think?"

Chen Qiaoshan hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Have you ever thought about open source software?"

"Open source?" Dai Zhikang was stunned, "Then how do you make money?"

"Brother Dai, if you sell twenty sets a month, do you still have time to update the software?"

Dai Zhikang and Xu Xiaoyu both fell into deep thought, selling software is not so simple.

Once the community software is sold, it is necessary to help customers complete the construction of the forum, and later maintenance has to be carried out, especially when the software is upgraded, various problems are often encountered, which requires a lot of energy.

Dai Zhikang understands that, as Chen Qiaoshan said, unless a large number of people are recruited, Kangsheng will definitely not be able to sustain it, and if it recruits, how much profit can it make?

If the software is open source, how can you make money?

Dai Zhikang is a little confused, he is a software person, and he doesn't know anything about business problems, and the more he thinks about it, the more headaches he gets.

"Dashan, tell me in detail!"

Chen Qiaoshan didn't sell it anymore, "I think so, instead of being pirated, it is better for us to open source ourselves." ”

"There are a lot of online forums, but after all, there are a few popular sites, and it is these people who are willing to spend money on maintenance, am I right?"

Dai Zhikang nodded, BBS with no traffic will naturally not bother to upgrade.

"There are very few professional communities now, Kangsheng is just one of them, I heard Brother Wang say that Discuz is currently the most stable software with the largest number of people, we can work hard in this regard. ”

"For low-popularity forums, the ordinary version is enough to bear, just as a horse race, for high-popularity forums, we rely on customized service charges, we can carry out targeted optimization, such as strengthening the security and stability of the forum, improving its load capacity......"

Chen Qiaoshan said a few words briefly about what he knew, and of course, he also had reservations in his words.

In his opinion, forums with low traffic are not necessarily worthless.

On the contrary, Chen Qiaoshan feels that Kangsheng's future is pinned on these small websites, and the number of popular forums is limited after all, and it may not be profitable to achieve the extreme.

Kangsheng in the previous life survived until the end and failed to go public, which is very revealing.

Chen Qiaoshan gradually had a set of plans, but he didn't say much at this time.

Dai Zhikang was not immediately convinced, and Chen Qiaoshan did not expect the tiger body to be able to subdue in all directions with a shock.

At the end of the day, no one wants to live with money.

It is obviously difficult for people to accept that they do not take 20,000 or 30,000 yuan a month, open source the software, and look forward to an illusory future.

Now, 30,000 a month is worth the monthly salary of 15 civil servants in Yanjing.

Giving up such a generous treatment, it is normal for Dai Zhikang to pay attention to it.

"Dashan, I have to think about it. ”

"It's okay, let's come to Japan for a long time, don't worry. ”

Chen Qiaoshan didn't say anything more, he also knew in his heart that this decision was difficult to make, and if it was himself, without the experience of later generations, it was estimated that nine out of ten would refuse.