The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 14 Free is the most expensive
Hu Zhengming was very surprised. The point of surprise was that the thesis written by the other party was similar to that written by a doctor who had undergone long-term academic training.

Even if Zhang Zhongbo were to write this paper, it would not be better than Zhou Xin's.

Generally, even if there are a large number of papers for reference, the mistakes that some newcomers should make are still unavoidable.

"Very good, I can't find any faults, I'll name it and submit it to IEEE's Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

I also published this magazine about the MOSFET model before. "

Zhou Xin nodded and said, "Okay."

Hu Zhengming has always known that Zhou Xin's talent is very high, but the other party's talent is so high that it is beyond his expectations.

Exams, essay writing, scientific research ability, these points are impeccable.

The only questionable thing is the hands-on ability, that is, the ability to do experiments.

In the field of integrated circuits, experiments must be done.

Hu Zhengming was not in a hurry, the other party had about four months to graduate from his undergraduate degree, and he would make corresponding demands on the other party after Zhou Xin came to study for his doctorate.

"Go to Microsoft and do a good job. Of course, we have to agree first. If Microsoft wants to keep you, even if Microsoft is willing to give you a work visa, you can't agree. You have to come to my doctorate."

Of course, what Hu Zhengming is most afraid of is getting the qualification to become a full-time employee after an internship at Microsoft and because of his outstanding performance.

Needless to say, Microsoft's treatment, what if Zhou Xin couldn't resist the temptation and gave him up?
It is not easy to recruit a Ph.D., and it is even more difficult to recruit such a talented Ph.D.

And based on his understanding of Zhou Xin's abilities, it would not be difficult for him to stay at Microsoft.

This is the Hu Zhengming he is familiar with, Zhou Xin smiled: "Professor, don't worry, it won't happen.

The Internet is work, and integrated circuits are life. "

Hu Zhengming can't understand this stalk at all, let alone how integrated circuits are life.

Zhou Xin further explained: "My interest in integrated circuits is far greater than my interest in the Internet."

This is the truth. There was nothing in Internet products in 1998 that could give Zhou Xin a sense of freshness.

"I'm sure we will succeed!" Stephen waved his hand vigorously.

"I think so too, the game is really fun, it's special.

If Fallout was my favorite game before, it is now. "Ashish was equally excited.

At this time, it has been two months since Zhou Xin came to Microsoft for an internship.

During these two months, Zhou Xin got to know Stephen and Ashish, who are programmers and UI designers respectively.

Both of them are typical technical nerds. Apart from work, they play games, and they have always hoped to make a game by themselves.

So under Zhou Xin's intentional befriending, the three quickly formed a three-person team that was inseparable at Microsoft.

In the end, after a discussion, they planned to start an entrepreneurial journey in their spare time.

The idea that Zhou Xin came up with was Angry Birds.

A game that is too complicated cannot be handled by three people.

Things like Angry Birds are perfect for this era.

The development difficulty is not high.

Silicon Valley has always had a tradition of entrepreneurship, and workshop entrepreneurship is especially popular.

It’s just that I don’t know if I don’t do it myself, and I’m dumbfounded once I do it. The monthly rent for a garage in Silicon Valley is about 2000 US dollars.

When Google was founded in 1998, Sergey Brin and Page rented a garage in Menlo Park for $1700.

You must know that Menlo Park is a remote county in southern California with a population of about 3.

In such a place, a garage could be rented for $1998 a month in 1700.

Zhou Xin, Ashish, and Stephen were able to rent a garage for $2000 a month because of Stephen's personal relationship.

They rented Stephen's father's garage.

This price is very expensive for Zhou Xin, after all, his internship salary at Microsoft is only [-] US dollars a month.

The intern salary of Microsoft American in 2015 was US$3.5k per month. Based on the conversion of American’s per capita GDP, it is estimated that the intern salary of Microsoft in 1998 was 2k per month.

Because the status of Microsoft in 98 has basically remained the same as in 2015.

(It is impossible to find specific data for 1998, so we can only rely on estimates.)
As for Ashish and Stephen, it would be no problem for them to pay all of the two thousand.

The rent is shared among the three people, and then the computer at home is moved in. Zhou Xin uses an IBM ThinkPad 560X from the second-hand market.

Thinkpads of that era already had little red dots.

Under Zhou Xin's plan, it took them two months to complete the first ten or so levels.

Zhou Xin nodded and said, "This is just the first step for RIOT!"

Yes, Zhou Xin used the name of Riot directly. If Blizzard had not been established as early as 1991, Zhou Xin would have snatched the name of Blizzard.

Registering a company in American is much simpler than registering a patent.

Riot Games, also known as Fist Games, holds 70.00% of the company's weekly shares, and Ashish and Stephen each hold 15.00%.

The main reason why Zhou Xin can take the lead is that he is a game producer.

Yes, the concept of game producers has a long history, as early as 1982, there was already this concept.

By 1998, game companies fully realized that an excellent game producer is the key to the survival of game companies.

As video game aficionados, Ashish and Stephen are well aware of this.

Of course, the two of them also want to be game producers, but in the usual conversation, Zhou Xin is far ahead of them in terms of the concept of the game.

Therefore, the two may have opinions on the proportion of shares, but they both accepted this proportion in the end.

After the first draft of Angry Birds came out, the two had no opinion on the equity allocation.

"We now need to discuss how the game will be released.

I think we need a little skill!
Instead of going to game publishers, we should let game publishers come to us! "

Stephen seemed not very confident: "Newman, I know this game is very good.

We can also see this from the trial play.

But Riot Games is just a startup after all.

We don't have the capital to communicate with the channel yet.

I think we still need to take the demo to the game publisher. "

Ashley nodded: "Yes, and more importantly, we need to perfect it.

There are still too few checkpoints.

There are only 10 levels. For a puzzle game, it cannot support a complete release game. "

"Is there a possibility that we don't have to make money through the game itself?"

The free ones are the most expensive. As a player who has experienced the baptism of the goose factory, Zhou Xin has a deep understanding of this sentence.

"you mean?"

"We can build our own official website, and then put it on the official website for everyone to play for free."

(End of this chapter)