Forever Yours
20
Search Me
“SO, HOW MANY total testers are there?” Lisa asked Henry as they worked on the UI for his optimization software.
“We have seventy agreements on file, but not all of them have downloaded the latest version. I included a test suite with the latest version so we should automatically see the results of use on any computer it’s installed on. These builds have a timeout on them and uninstall themselves after twenty-one days.”
“But it doesn’t return the computer to its previous state, does it?”
“No. Not unless the tester requests a reversion to a backup. Then there is still only so much we can return. Once a hard drive is optimized, it’s almost impossible to deconstruct the consolidated files and break them up into different sectors again. Besides, any work that is done after the optimization could affect whether the sector is even available anymore.”
“You’ve got a network install option on this version. How does that get controlled?” she asked.
“I have to get a test network to run it on. So far, all we have is our own corporate server and the five computers attached to it—which includes yours,” Henry said.
“I guess it’s okay to run a test like that, but you really need to disable the network install feature on the release.”
“What? Why?”
“This is something I learned from my father, even though it isn’t a huge issue for games. Let’s say you charge $100 for an individual install. Nice round number. The software works on exactly one device. It can only be installed on one device. Can’t hand it to your buddy and install it.”
“Right. I think we’ve got that covered with our download service.”
“Okay. Now Corporation X comes along and wants to install it on their network. A hundred machines are attached to the server. And you just sold the software for $100. Flat rate. Technically, you should receive $10,000 for a hundred installs, but you gave away $9,900.”
“Nobody’s going to pay ten grand for optimization software,” Henry protested.
“Fine. They’d still pay a thousand for a hundred licenses. At least then you’re only giving away $9,000. And wait until you’re popular and Corporation Y comes along and installs it on 10,000 company computers. You lost a boatload of money.”
“Damn. I really need a marketing person,” Henry growled. “Are you applying for that position, too?”
“No way. It’s just stuff I learned from my dad. Don’t give away a network version for the same price as an individual license. And it affects the UI as well.”
“How does it affect the UI?”
“For the individual license, you don’t want to expose any of the tricks for installing it on a network. We remove the degrees of separation feature, for example. And when you do a network license, you’ll want an opt in for people on the network. None of that should be exposed on the consumer version.”
“You’re right. I think it’s okay to test this way, but when we go to market at Christmas, we only take the consumer version. I’ll get a marketing person to manage the network version.”
“Probably better plan on another server, too,” Lisa said. “I think we’re going to be swamped with orders.”
“May it be so!”
“No matter what we decide, it’s going to sound a whole lot easier than it really is,” Luke said when he talked to Henry. “I mean, we could probably blitz the market through social media and direct advertising. We’d undoubtedly get a few hundred—maybe a few thousand—sales. But how do we fulfill them? Right now, you’re managing downloads of software off our company server. But can you handle payments? Licenses? We don’t have a site to handle ecommerce.”
“I figured I’d be sitting behind the computer 24/7 sending the software out,” Henry sighed.
“Talk about crippling our company right out of the gate! Man, you are developing new software applications. The optimization software is great. If we can move forward with computer protection software, we’ll win big time. But I know that’s only the tip of what you can come up with. Like, you’re making a quantum improvement over what is out there, but from the moment we release, our improvements will barely be incremental. I know this isn’t the only thing you’re dreaming of. We need you completely disconnected from the sales and fulfillment,” Luke said.
“All right! You’ve got me convinced. What do we do?” Henry asked. He looked at his friend and business partner’s image on his computer screen. Conferencing software was probably another area they could make an impact on if he put his mind to it. Just not today.
“I might not be working around the clock like you are, but I am putting in a lot more than our projected ten hours a week for start-up,” Luke laughed. “I’ve found two platforms that will handle the licensing and ecommerce for us—for a fee, of course.”
“Of course.”
“I’ve got a preference, but it’s not set in concrete. EMEE is a website that handles licensing of software. They only handle computers, not mobile devices. That’s why we can’t just go to an app store and sell the stuff there. We’re not making this available for mobile devices.”
“What a nightmare that would be. I doubt the principles would even be the same if we tried to move to that platform. It’s bad enough handling the three big operating systems,” Henry said.
“Right. Well, this company, EMEE, manages the entire sales and licensing process. They’re especially interested in us expanding to network platforms. Bulk licenses are a real money-maker, I guess.”
“What would we need to provide?”
“The locked software that they can license, and managed updates if there are any,” Luke said. “They will feature the software on their website, but that doesn’t completely cover marketing. We’ll have to talk about that later. Different company. EMEE will handle the money, maintaining the registry of licenses, and prosecuting piracy. They’ll provide the download site and filter for people who download more than once. They’ll prevent multiple downloads from being installed on other machines. The license will be registered to a single device.”
“That’s always been a concern. I don’t need to build that into the software itself?” Henry asked.
“There might be a hook you need to provide, but they have some pretty capable programmers on their site who do this stuff all the time. You’ll be able to tell them exactly what we want.”
“You said there was more than one. What sets this one up as better in your opinion?”
“The other site is more game-oriented. It’s a little cheaper, but I doubt their ability to expand to the corporate environment when the time comes. EMEE wants to get into that market with our software. I think if we went with the other, we’d end up migrating to a different vendor in a few months.”
“That’s a compelling argument. Let’s set it up. Do we need Isobel and Chastity to vote on that?”
“I’ll give them the skinny and make sure they’re on board. As long as it doesn’t cost anything, Isobel will be fine. It will be a lot harder to get an ad agency on board that she doesn’t throw a fit about.”
“I’ll let you handle that,” Henry laughed. “Thanks for keeping her over there in Philly most of the time. Say, that reminds me. You guys coming into town for Thanksgiving?”
“We hadn’t made a plan yet.”
“I’m thinking of having a dinner here at the apartment. Just some of our friends and maybe a few guys at school who can’t get home for the holiday.”
“I’m up for that. We’ll have to spend time with our own parental units, but having a relaxed dinner with people our own age would be cool.”
“I’ll plan on it,” Henry said. “Talk to you soon.”
Henry broached the idea with his parents and they were happy with it.
“I won’t need to cook!” Sylvia said with glee.
“This might be a good time for a little retreat,” Ryan said. “Just the two of us, say in Florida?”
“I’ll put in for the time off. I have enough seniority they should let me off for this holiday, though it means I’ll probably have to be on duty over Christmas,” Sylvia said.
His parents got caught up in making plans for their own holiday and Henry excused himself. He started spreading the word among his friends, starting with Lisa and Chastity.
“I thought I might just go over to the campus and participate in the ‘orphans’ dinner’ at the Student Union,” Lisa said. “This sounds like much more fun. I can help in the kitchen if you like.”
“As long as you’ll still take me out for my birthday on Saturday,” Chastity said. “As to helping in the kitchen, you’d be better off asking your girlfriend.”
“Hey, if he isn’t available Saturday, I’ll take you out,” Lisa said. “He’s tied up to this lady golfer most weekends.”
“I’ll reserve the time,” Henry said. “And if Chastity wants to invite you along, that’s up to her.”
Josh and Simon were both enthused about joining the group, but Leonard and Dan had other plans. There was just one more person to convince, and Henry had a date with her Saturday night.
Henry chose an evening at the country club for their date. It was getting late in the season for doing a whole round of golf, but they both enjoyed spending an hour on the driving range. Then they went inside for a nice dinner.
“So, I’m thinking I’ll have some people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Would you like to come?”
“Oh, my! Is this my big ‘meet the parents’ invitation?” Kaitlyn asked.
“No, afraid not. My parents are going to Florida. This would all be people our own age. My three partners, my housemate, a couple of guys from my program at the U. If you wanted to extend the invitation to another golfer, that would be cool,” Henry said.
“I guess that’s okay,” Kaitlyn said. “We’ll have all weekend together!”
“Oh. Not quite. One of my business partners has a birthday on Saturday. We have a tradition of going out to celebrate together. You and I will have to go out on Friday instead of Saturday,” Henry said.
“This partner is a guy?” Kaitlyn asked.
“No. My other two partners will also be in town. You’ll get to meet all three of them at dinner. But it’s Chastity’s birthday.”
“I don’t know if I like that. You only ever see me on Saturdays.”
“Like I said, it’s a holiday weekend, so we can go out on Friday that week. Sunday, too, if you want,” Henry said.
“I don’t think you should be seeing another woman,” Kaitlyn pouted.
“Don’t even suggest that I not take Chastity out for her birthday,” Henry said sternly. “I won’t be giving up any of my friends, any more than I’d expect you to stop seeing George on the golf team.”
“What?”
“I know you’re friends with George and you often go to events—especially sporting events. That’s fine.”
“We don’t do anything! Not like that.”
“Neither do you and I, Kaitlyn. It doesn’t make a difference.”
It was the closest to a real argument they’d had since they started dating. The meal was quiet for a few minutes after that, but they recovered without either of them admitting they were wrong. After dessert, they went for a drive out in the country, just holding hands as they talked. Eventually, Henry arrived back at her door, without her having suggested they pull over anyplace to make out.
“Maybe we should change that,” Kaitlyn said.
“Change what?” Henry asked.
“The part about us not doing anything like that. Um… Want to come in?”
“You know I like you a lot and you turn me on, right? I’m not making any real long-term commitments here.”
“Shut up. Come in and fuck me.”
Ninety minutes earlier, Henry was on the verge of telling Kaitlyn he didn’t think things were working out between them. Now he had his face buried between her legs, licking for all he was worth. She was responsive as far as moans, groans, thrust hips, and lubrication were concerned, but she seemed no nearer to a climax than when they’d started.
“Just come up here and put it in me,” she moaned, pulling at his ears.
Henry had put a condom on earlier, when he thought oral was only going to take a couple of minutes. He hadn’t flagged during his tongue work, so he moved over the top of Kaitlyn and slid smoothly but slowly into her.
“Oh, my God! Take it easy! I have an Asian vagina. It doesn’t stretch that much!”
“I’ll pull back,” Henry said, sliding away. It hadn’t really felt that tight.
“No! Just give me a chance to adjust. You have a huge white dick. Try again.”
Henry was amused. He’d heard stories about Asian women being smaller than Caucasians, and he’d been told he was generously proportioned, though he rather doubted the exclamations his partners had made in the past. He just hadn’t encountered any resistance or tightness as he entered Kaitlyn. Perhaps it was just her way of talking dirty to him.
He slid in again and this time, Kaitlyn took him all the way without effort. She redoubled her moaning and thrusting. Henry latched onto one of her big nipples with his lips and began sucking and chewing gently on it. That seemed to accelerate her activity.
“Yes! Oh, God, yes! I’m coming! I’m coming! Come in me, Henry!”
He was already getting tired from the effort and it didn’t take long for him to reach his own peak and fill the condom. He moaned a little as he came, mostly from relief.
“That was so good!” Kaitlyn said. “I need the bathroom.”
Henry pulled out and rolled away so she could run to the bathroom. He pulled the condom off and looked for a wastebasket, finally finding one under the kitchen sink. Kaitlyn’s little efficiency apartment was even smaller than Chastity’s. While she was in the bathroom, he looked around and found his hastily discarded underwear and clothing. He hadn’t really been invited to spend the night. Perhaps Kaitlyn was the same about that as Chas. The only times Henry had spent the entire night with Chastity were after the prom and the night before freshman orientation at the university. Neither of them counted the latter because he woke up before her and was out of her apartment in ten minutes to pick up his parents.
By the time he was fully dressed, he heard the bathroom door open. Kaitlyn was in pajamas and a robe.
“I’d uh… invite you to stay, but my period just started. No reason to stick around for that. I have a tampon in,” she said.
“No problem,” he said. “I suppose I should get home and do some studying. I have a huge resource text on computer vision to read.”
“Yeah. Well, thank you for a great time. I’ll see you next weekend. This was fun.”
Henry kissed her and left. He wasn’t as confident as she was that it had all been fun. In fact, it was the first time in his life that he was pretty certain his sex partner had faked her orgasm. His jaw still ached as well.
He hoped he could talk her into telling him what he’d done wrong, or if he could increase her pleasure in some way.
It was three weeks until Thanksgiving and final exams were two weeks after that. Henry had been serious about the amount of reading he needed to do. He’d spent his fall break working on the counterattack software and had fallen behind on his classwork. Taking the course load he was might not have been the wisest decision, but he was surviving. He might not ace every class this term. He’d been spending a lot of his time on the class work for Human AI Interaction.
The class had spent a lot of time analyzing conversations with various chat bots. At some point, it seemed the human began considering the AI to be a real person. They even developed ‘friendships.’
There were companies that advertised their chats as ‘online friends.’ The bots used more natural language, and some seemed to really care about the people they were chatting with. Understanding the principles of AI, of course, Henry could see the pattern of responses of the chat bot. The bots were notorious liars! They didn’t really differentiate between kinds of information found on the internet.
His own private search engine used several principles of AI development to make his results more robust. By using his own search tool, he could eliminate the advertising and artificial SEO coding that often brought up false results. He’d posed a question regarding how many people considered themselves wealthy. Standard search engines retrieved over thirteen million results. The first ten pages of results were about American millionaires who didn’t consider themselves wealthy. His own search engine returned a few thousand results, but on the first few pages, he found information on what was considered wealthy in different countries and a worldwide percentage of people who considered themselves wealthy. It was much better than the biased commercial results.
He hadn’t yet addressed the search engine prospects with his partners. It had started as a project to simply help him get better search results. But it was the same underlying AI that had enabled his counterattack software to trace the attacks on his server, even through various proxies.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share his development with his partners, but he was missing a critical element in everything he developed. Other than a few class projects, none of his material had been code-reviewed by a competent engineer. He felt like he wrote good clean code, but it really needed to have a professional review.
The non-AI version of optimization software they’d licensed early on had been taken over by the licensee. They built on what he’d created and had plenty of engineers to streamline the code and integrate it into their security suite. The one time he’d managed to talk to their development lead after the licensing, he was merely told that it was a good job and they’d be able to really use the work. Whatever that meant. At least it got them over a million dollars in investment capital to start the corporation.
And there were so many other projects he wanted to get started on. He really needed at least one more developer. He’d use Lisa for code reviews, too, once the UI for this project was finished. They were getting close.
He sat at his computer and did a search for software developer resumes. It seemed hopeless.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
