allonlinenovel Chapter 297 Freebies Can't Save Plagiarists
Chapter 297 Freebies Can't Save Plagiarists
Five o'clock in the afternoon.
A new post has appeared on Reddit titled "ICQ vs Star Language: Why even free services can't save plagiarists".
The post is quite long and consists of seven parts:
1. The Fate of Plagiarism: Always One Step Behind
2. The user experience gap: smooth vs. laggy
3. The cost of migrating social relationships: Where your friends are, you are.
4. The psychological value of paying: Free things seem cheaper.
5. Brand Perception: Innovator vs. Follower
6. The choice of young people: not wanting to be looked down upon.
7. Conclusion: ICQ lost this time, not because of its features, but because of the loss of customer loyalty.
Three hours after the post was published, it received over 800 replies and was featured on the Reddit homepage.
One of the top-rated replies said: "I'm a long-time ICQ user. I tried the new features today and then uninstalled ICQ. It wasn't because the features were bad, but because I suddenly realized that ICQ has always been waiting for others to innovate, and then copying them. I don't want to use such a product."
Another comment: "It took me a month to accumulate the Star Language level and outfits I have now. ICQ just gives you the level directly, so what's the point of my month?"
Another point: "ICQ thinks users care about features, but what users really care about is the feeling—feeling that they are in a place that is constantly improving, feeling that they are respected, and feeling that their time and money are well spent."
Six o'clock in the afternoon.
The Wall Street Journal website has updated with a second report.
The article, authored by Michael Ross, is titled "ICQ New Features Launch Day 1: User Growth and Technical Issues Coexist."
The article acknowledges the existence of the bug, but glosses over it as a "common problem in the new version." It focuses on the analysis that "a free strategy may change the market landscape," quoting an "analyst" as saying, "If ICQ can quickly fix the problems and continue to iterate, it still has a chance to regain market share."
At the end of the article, Ross added: "The lawsuit filed by Star Technology against this newspaper is still ongoing."
Someone on Reddit shared this article with the caption: "How much did The Wall Street Journal get from Microsoft?"
It has been forwarded over 300 times, but there has been no official response.
7 PM, ICQ War Room.
Meyer was still sitting at the control panel, and the data curves on the screen had stabilized. The number of online users remained stable at around 900,000, higher than usual, but lower than today's peak.
There are still eleven bugs left, and there's work to be done tomorrow.
He picked up the now-cold coffee and took a sip.
He remembered something, opened a window, and typed "New Star Language Feature".
There was nothing new in the search results, Xingyu's official website remained unchanged, and there were no rumors of new features on the forum. When someone asked, "What new features will Xingyu release next?", the replies were all "I don't know" or "Hopefully it will be released soon."
Meyer stared at the screen for a long time, wondering what Ling Yun was thinking.
But he knew that Lingyun must be working on something new, a new feature that would keep ICQ busy.
8 PM.
The lights were still on in the development and testing area on the third floor of Xingchen Technology's office building.
Ling Yun sat at his workstation by the window, with two monitors in front of him. On the left was a code editor, the cursor hovering over a line. On the right was Xingyu's test environment interface, exactly the same as the official version.
David stood behind him, holding the flip notebook. On the open page were six sketches, each mostly crossed out in red pen, leaving only a few lines in the corner.
Catherine sat in the corner, the computer screen in front of her displaying the backend of a user survey, showing twenty names—U1 to U20. Each name was followed by a green "Confirmed" mark.
Eric was crouching on the ground, the toolbox beside his knees. The waveforms on the oscilloscope screen were smooth, with the occasional spike.
No one speaks.
Lingyun moved the mouse and clicked on a gray icon. The interface redirected, the loading animation circled three times, and then a blank page appeared with only a settings button in the center.
He clicked on settings, and a pop-up window appeared:
The feature is not yet activated. Do you want to enter developer mode?
He clicked "Yes".
The page refreshes, and seventeen adjustable parameters appear on the screen: sliders, drop-down menus, switches, and input boxes. There are no explanatory text, only technical codes.
He dragged the first slider from "0" to "3", but the page didn't change.
He switched the second switch to "ON", the page refreshed, and a blank list frame appeared on the left and an empty settings panel on the right.
He dragged the third slider to "75", and the page refreshed. A new default entry appeared in the left-hand list frame, titled "Unnamed 1". The right-hand settings panel showed a placeholder avatar, a text input box, and a member count of 0.
He moved the mouse over the default entry and clicked, but the page did not respond.
He double-clicked. The page refreshed. A new option appeared in the settings panel on the right—"Crop Type." The drop-down menu had two options: Default and Default 2.
He moved the mouse over "Crop Type" and clicked. The menu expanded, showing only two options.
He selected "Default 2". The page refreshed. The default item title on the left changed from "Unnamed 1" to "Unnamed 1-2".
He changed the fourth dropdown menu from "FIFO" to "LIFO". The page didn't change. He refreshed it, but still nothing.
He switched the fifth switch to "OFF" and then back to "ON". The page froze for a moment, then reloaded—this time, the left-hand list frame had three more default items, titled "Unnamed 1", "Unnamed 2", and "Unnamed 3".
He moved the mouse over "Unnamed 2", clicked, and dragged it over "Unnamed 1". The page refreshed. The list order changed.
He moved the mouse over "Unnamed 3" and right-clicked. A pop-up menu appeared. There was only one option: "Delete".
He clicked "Delete". The page refreshed. "Unnamed 3" disappeared. Only two entries remained in the list.
He dragged the second slider from "0" to "100". The page refreshed. In the settings panel on the right, the "Member Count" changed to "100/100".
He dragged the first slider back from "3" to "0". The page refreshed. The left list frame remained, but the settings panel on the right disappeared.
He dragged the first slider to "1". The page refreshed. The settings panel on the right reappeared, but the layout had changed—the avatar placeholder was on the left, the text input box was at the bottom, the member count was in the upper right corner, and a new line of text appeared below: "Current members: 100/100".
He closed the test page and returned to the main interface of Xingyu.
The main interface is the same as usual: chat list, friend status, and personal space entry. There are no new feature entries or pop-up notifications.
He looked at it for five seconds, then turned off the monitor.
Ling Yun stood up and picked up the coat draped over the back of the chair.
"We'll be online tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. to give our followers a new goal to pursue," he said.
Catherine nodded.
Ling Yun took out his phone and saw an unread text message from Jiang Feng:
Arriving Wednesday afternoon, flight number UA889, landing time 14:35.
He looked at it for three seconds, then put his phone away.
The elevator doors opened. The parking lot was empty and quiet, and Zhao Hu had already driven his car to the elevator doors.
As Ling Yun got into the car, he suddenly remembered the interesting comments he had seen online that day.
"The fate of plagiarism is death."
"Free things are often cheaper."
"Innovators vs. Followers"
And the top-rated reply in that Reddit post:
"ICQ thought users cared about the features, but actually users care about the experience."