As soon as the international version of ICQ was announced, instant messaging technology immediately became a hot topic.

The ICQ beta version had been teased online for a month, so almost all software tools targeting ICQ, a real-time interactive platform, quickly topped the download charts.

Virtual network communication was still an unexplored field in this era. The emergence of ICQ symbolized that the Internet age had entered the next stage!

"Boss, ICQ has reached over 100,000 downloads in just one day, and it's already number one on the software download charts." Annie walked into the office excitedly, holding the report.

Data is especially important for technology companies like theirs.

"How's the server?" Chen Dong asked with concern. "Can it hold up?"

"If that's not possible, have the engineering department add a few more servers."

Upon hearing this, Wang An quickly replied, "Don't worry, boss, we've already made preparations for this."

They encountered similar problems when launching new products on Amazon, so now the engineering department is much more savvy. Before the release of ICQ, they rented several servers from other technology companies to ensure that ICQ would not lag during its first month of operation.

"Anything else that needs adjusting, you can discuss it yourselves in the engineering and product departments," Chen Dong said, looking at Wang An. "Anyway, the technology we have now is already the most advanced in the field of internet virtual network communication."

"Other tech companies, even if they wanted to copy it, probably couldn't catch up."

With ICQ now online, Longteng Electronics can relax a bit.

The previous copyright dispute led countless netizens to denigrate Longteng to the point of being worse than garbage. Now that the new product is launched, they must be envious.

"Where's Chris?" Chen Dong asked.

Wang An thought for a moment, then hesitated before replying, "He's been very quiet ever since you told him to temporarily refrain from posting on online communities."

"Chris didn't do it on purpose that time. He had been sharing resources in online communities before. It's just that he happened to be in the midst of a wave of protests against copyright infringement and advocacy for respect for copyright, which is why he was attacked."

Chris is a new employee in the engineering department and the youngest technician in the department. He had already interned at a technology company in Silicon Valley while he was in school. Wang An was very satisfied with this resume.

So after Chris made a mistake, he and the engineering department tried their best to make amends, hoping to minimize the impact of the incident on Chris.

After all, Wang An really couldn't bear to miss out on such a promising talent.

"Let him come back." Chen Dong had the ICQ international version interface open on his computer. Looking at the stiff font, he felt both familiar and strange.

"Chris represents the majority of young people today, and only young people like him can discover the fun aspects of this kind of real-time interactive tool."

“The engineering department can appoint him as the plaza administrator for the international version of ICQ. The software has just been launched, and the engineering department needs to allocate manpower for maintenance. If no one is watching over the plaza, I'm afraid the order will be disrupted.”

Judging from the boss's tone, he was willing to give Chris a chance to redeem himself, so Wang An quickly said, "I understand!"

“When I get back, I’ll put Chris in charge of the plaza. That kid loves to hang out with his friends online, he’ll definitely love this job.”

Chen Dong laughed, thinking to himself, what kind of job is this? It's just about finding someone who understands the technology and the project, and keeping an eye on things so that ICQ users don't start arguing in the public square.

In short, since ICQ was launched, the calls for copyright protection have become increasingly weak, and more people have started trying to make friends on ICQ Square.

The media company was puzzled. Why were these people so fickle? They hadn't even reached a conclusion on such a hot topic before they all left.

Three days after the international version of ICQ was launched, the domestic version followed suit. Within a few days, the software was downloaded and copied like a virus.

Since Chen Dong announced that the software would be permanently free to use, everyone could download and use ICQ without any burden.

The International Square connects users of the international and domestic versions, allowing people from Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia to leave messages online.

Ji Qing, the owner of "Core Electronics," runs an electronics room that rents out iPods and other products such as computers, cameras, recorders, video recorders, game cards, and memory cards.

When copyright disputes arose in Europe and America, iPod sales plummeted. However, this had little impact on the Chinese market, so Chen Dong has temporarily shifted the focus of MP3 sales to the domestic market.

Nowadays, MP3 brands, whether it's Dragon or Sony, have started using discounts to attract consumers, and the owner of the electronics store bought several units at once.

Electronics stores like "Core Electronics" are becoming increasingly common and are springing up everywhere in major cities.

Jiqing is just a microcosm of Huaxia Electronics Room. Many business owners in first-tier cities have their eyes on the short-term rental consumption model of electronic products.

A well-equipped electronics room encompasses all the major brands of electronic products on the market. Customers can get the chance to experience the latest electronic products from around the world for just a few cents.

Later, the short-term rental service was upgraded, and even the electronic rooms now offer drinks and snacks, making it easy to organize group activities.

Even though the profit is small, it's still a piece of cake.

The boss himself is very interested in international news and is also an electronics enthusiast.

So, as soon as the domestic version of ICQ was launched, he immediately downloaded it.

After experiencing it, they described their experience in detail and prepared feedback to send to the administrator through the feedback window.

A customer saw the boss typing away on the ICQ interface and came over to ask, "Boss, what are you typing?"

"Write suggestions to the official ICQ team." The boss didn't even look up. "By the way, what opinions do people have after using ICQ? I'll write them down as well."

One customer volunteered, "Boss, write this down, tell them to run the domestic version better. The domestic version lags as soon as it goes online."

"Oh right, right! In the public chat room, I saw people swearing as soon as I logged on, and nobody did anything about it."

People actively participated in the discussion, saying things like, "The file transfer is too slow, and the Chinese fonts aren't very nice."

As Ji Qing wrote on the feedback board, he unexpectedly collected more than a dozen comments. He didn't know if these comments would be useful, but he sent them all up anyway.

A day later, Chris, who was now the manager of International Plaza, received the message and replied excitedly:

Hello, I am the administrator of ICQ International Plaza. I have received your feedback message. I will compile your valuable suggestions and upload them to the company's engineering and product departments.

Thank you for maintaining the ICQ community.

......