Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 351: Otto OS
Bao Xu was panicking. For no clear reason, a sense of crisis had crept up on him.
He hurriedly sent a message to Chen Kangtuo.
"Why didn't you come to work today?"
Before Chen Kangtuo replied, countless possibilities had already flashed through Bao Xu's mind.
Fired?
Impossible. President Pei had never fired a single employee.
Resigned on his own?
Even more impossible. Where else could he find a company with better benefits than Tengda?
Don't tell me he was abducted by aliens?
Since all of those options were ruled out, there was only one possibility left…
Chen Kangtuo replied:
"Brother Bao, you might not believe this, but… I've been transferred to a new project."
"President Pei said the company is planning to invest in a haunted house project and assigned me as the person in charge."
"The work arrangements were very rushed, and I left in a hurry too. We'll have to schedule the farewell dinner another time…"
"Tell everyone not to worry, I just switched departments…"
Bao Xu: "Huh? A haunted house? You're the one in charge?"
Chen Kangtuo: "Brother Bao, I'm confused too. I was still working overtime last weekend revising the GOG design plan, and now I'm already scouting locations for a haunted house…"
"[Image]"
"[Image]"
Bao Xu looked at the photos Chen Kangtuo had sent. They showed a rather remote old industrial district—desolate, sparsely populated, overgrown with weeds, exuding a strange sense of decay and bleakness.
One could easily imagine how Chen Kangtuo was feeling at that moment.
After a brief silence, Bao Xu typed:
"Why did President Pei choose you?"
Chen Kangtuo replied:
"How would I know… President Pei just told me that he's very optimistic about my potential and hopes I can showcase my talent on a bigger stage…"
Bao Xu fell into deep thought.
As expected, this was yet another "President Pei–style promotion."
Whether it was Huang Sibo, Lu Mingliang, or Li Yada, every promotion had seemed extremely casual on the surface.
They weren't the most senior members of their teams, nor were they the strongest or most outstanding.
Before being promoted, they were all somewhat unremarkable.
But after their promotions, they quickly adapted to their new positions and unleashed astonishing potential.
Clearly, President Pei had a sharp eye for talent. When selecting people, he could see the limitless possibilities hidden within them.
This promotion of Chen Kangtuo was no different.
As a member of the design team, Bao Xu often reviewed design documents and frequently chatted with Li Yada about the team's situation.
He knew very well that although Chen Kangtuo appeared low-key on the surface, he actually possessed a strong drive to improve himself.
During the overtime work last weekend, the number of slots was limited, so Li Yada only reported overtime for a few colleagues who were more senior or held more important positions.
There was no choice, overtime slots were scarce. Even if you wanted to work overtime, you had to compete for it.
Although Chen Kangtuo didn't get an overtime slot, he still voluntarily came in to work, revising the plan he was responsible for.
That alone showed how demanding he was of himself.
At this thought, Bao Xu suddenly froze.
Could it be that President Pei had a clear grasp of everyone's work status, potential, and fighting spirit?
And that President Pei was able to select and assign people accordingly—sending more motivated, more pioneering employees to new projects?
Combined with that earlier feeling that "something was in the air"…
Bao Xu's heart sank as a very dangerous thought crossed his mind.
If he hadn't deliberately hidden his normal work performance during this period, would he now be scouting haunted house locations together with Chen Kangtuo?
Bao Xu didn't want to work on a haunted house.
Bao Xu only wanted to be an ordinary designer in Tengda's game division, writing documents when there were development tasks, tweaking game details, and revising design proposals.
Other than that, he just wanted to play games. He didn't want to go out, and he definitely didn't want to be transferred to other projects.
'This is too dangerous.'
'President Pei may not come to the office often, but he's constantly paying attention to what's going on in the company. Anyone who truly has ability and makes outstanding contributions can't escape his notice!'
'That kind of insight… it's terrifying!'
'The fact that I haven't been discovered yet is just luck.'
'I can't take risks anymore, at least I need to endure until the next Best Employee Selection Process!'
Bao Xu quietly saved the revised document, closed it, and buried his head in playing games.
He made up his mind: this time, he would wholeheartedly commit to being a slacker!
…
Afternoon.
Chang You arrived at the Tengda Group carrying a test device.
It was a flagship smartphone from another brand, with OTTO Technology's latest R&D achievement installed on it—a customized system made specifically for smartphones.
Its name was otto os.
Recently, Chang You had been busy with two main things. On one hand, he was finalizing the phone's specifications with the OEM factories and securing supply channels. On the other hand, he was leading the team in developing otto os.
In the age of smartphones, increasing homogeneity among phones was an inevitable trend.
Before the smartphone era, phones came in all kinds of shapes—bar phones, clamshells, sliders, full keyboards, and many other designs.
But with the arrival of the smartphone era, phone designs became more and more uniform. As screen-to-body ratios kept increasing, only a few physical buttons were retained.
Even though several different solutions for irregular full-screen designs had appeared at one point, they quickly converged into a unified standard.
As phones became more highly integrated, there was less and less room for differentiation in terms of physical appearance.
Under these circumstances, aside from stacking components and competing on hardware, the operating system became the key factor distinguishing different phone brands.
When consumers consider buying a phone, if two brands are similar in hardware and close in price, they will prioritize the one with the better user experience at the system level.
Chang You understood this very well. That was why, ever since OTTO Technology was founded, he had been pushing forward the development of a mobile operating system.
With the exception of Pineapple phones, most other phone brands relied on optimizing the Aizhuo system.
Although the stock Aizhuo system was clean and lightweight, it lacked features and didn't quite align with the usage habits of mainstream domestic users.
As a result, most domestic phone manufacturers were working hard to make their own systems more feature-rich and convenient, hoping to win over consumers' favor.
Naturally, Chang You was no exception.
On the way over, he had already briefly tested some of otto os's basic functions, and there were no major issues.
What he planned to showcase this time mainly included the following aspects:
Interface style—such as system fonts and themes—primarily to show off the system's visual appeal.
Detail optimizations—like the design of the minus-one screen and improvements to certain system functions.
Special features—such as built-in mini-programs, including the data migration function that President Pei had specifically requested.
Although this was the first version, it couldn't really be considered developed from scratch.
First, the system was customized based on the stock Aizhuo system. Second, Chang You's team already had experience developing operating systems.
Because of this, Chang You was full of confidence in this system.
Even if there were bugs, there wouldn't be many.
System development was a long-term endeavor, because consumer demands for mobile operating systems could never truly be satisfied.
Every system update inevitably came with a pile of bugs. However, since this system was built on top of an existing one and initially focused on relatively mature features, there weren't many bugs this time, and its stability was quite good.
Chang You arrived at the door of Pei Qian's office and gently knocked.
"President Pei, this is the first version of otto os. Please try it out briefly."
"If there's anything you're not satisfied with, feel free to point it out. We'll fix it right away."
Chang You handed the phone to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian reached out to take it. Seeing the confidence on Chang You's face, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Sigh… President Chang, you're still too confident.
If this were being tested over at OTTO Technology, sure—there might really be no bugs.
But here… well…
A minute of silence for President Chang.
Pei Qian began testing the basic functions of otto os.
His first impression was that the system was largely similar to many domestic smartphone operating systems. While there were some stylistic changes, the overall user experience didn't feel drastically different.
Compared to more mature systems—like Shenhua's mobile OS—it was obviously still far behind in every aspect.
But…
It worked.
That alone already shocked Pei Qian.
After casually fiddling with it for five minutes, Pei Qian's face was filled with confusion.
There really wasn't a single bug!
This made absolutely no sense!
Pei Qian had already confirmed that Tang Yishu was still outside and hadn't left, so the aura effect should still be in full force.
Sure, there were some minor flaws, but those were completely understandable. There was nothing like the total system collapse that had happened yesterday when Ye Zhizhou demonstrated the game demo.
Pei Qian was genuinely stunned.
Chang You's team was actually this reliable when it came to developing a mobile operating system?
That didn't seem right. Wouldn't that completely shatter Hongcheng Technology's so-called dream team?
Pei Qian was puzzled, but soon he had a realization.
Chang You's team must have developed similar phone systems back when they were at Hongcheng Technology. They were already familiar with the process and had stepped on all the necessary landmines before.
So now, developing the initial version of otto os was naturally much easier and more efficient.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian let out a small sigh of relief.
Phew. Just a false alarm.
This was basically Chang You's team retaking an exam they'd already done before. Even if they scored highly, it didn't really prove that much.
Still, no matter what, the system's level of completeness had exceeded Pei Qian's expectations.
Chang You then began outlining the future development plans for the system.
"President Pei, don't worry. Although the current system is still quite bare-bones, its stability is absolutely not an issue!"
"I've always believed that a phone's operating system is crucial to the user experience."
"So in the next phase, we should follow the lead of the major phone manufacturers and develop more fast and convenient features."
"For example: one-tap game mode, multi-screen interaction, high-speed data transfer, quick payments, power-saving mode, and so on."
"Additionally, I suggest opening a forum where users can freely submit their opinions and suggestions about otto os. That way, through direct interaction with users, we can continuously optimize and improve otto os, giving our phones even stronger competitiveness!"
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