Development process of natural code Chinese character input method
1986, Zhou Zhinong met Fu, and he first put forward the idea of "Pinyin Plus". Zhou Zhinong and He determined the coding scheme and realized it on the computer, named it Gold Award Smart Code.
In order to promote the smart code of gold medal, Zhou Zhinong and Fu set up an entity, which belongs to an invention and creation department. However, the cooperation between the two only lasted for more than a year, because there are great differences in the key positions of the double spelling and compression of the input method. At that time, the compressed pinyin of CCDOS was very popular, but Fu insisted on his own double spelling compression scheme and refused to learn CCDOS before CCDOS. Zhou Zhinong insisted on changing the double spelling compression key of the gold medal smart code to be the same as CCDOS. Fu Shuo, if you want to change yourself, Zhou Zhinong went out and began to change himself.
1988 10, natural code 1.0, linked to Beijing Dongcheng District Association for Science and Technology, sold by the Software Service Center of China Software Company, and Zhou Zhinong paid dividends.
1989 In the reorganization of ChinaSoft, Zhou Zhinong was transferred to Beijing Electronic Technology Consulting Service Center to keep accounts independently, with a certain management fee. At this time, Zhou Zhinong rented his first office in the basement of a building in Huang Zhuang, Zhongguancun. Zhou Zhinong spent three or four months in the dark basement, sending letters and publicity pages every day according to the complete works of national units.
Natural code gradually became famous, and began to spend 1000 yuan to advertise in the computer world, with good results. Zhou Zhinong's earliest promotion method was to hold a small exhibition, where users could go back and try out the software for free with their ID cards and work permits.
With a little income, Zhou Zhi employed seven or eight part-time jobs and went out to demonstrate natural codes to people in large units every day. If users are interested, they will leave the trial version and contact them later. At this time, Zhou Zhinong's entity earned more than 40,000 yuan a month, but did not dare to accumulate it, because the state-owned units affiliated at this time began to slump, and it became increasingly difficult to take out the money.
At that time, Zhou Zhinong wanted to register a company, but he didn't know the relationship because of his lack of social experience. After reading the Regulations on Running a Company, Zhou Zhinong was asked to have so much registered capital and so many registered members. Many members should have professional titles and full-time accountants. He was shocked. It was from Singapore that Zhou Zhinong made up his mind to run a company. Zhou Zhinong found his initial confidence in Singapore. A businessman in Singapore is willing to pay to start a company and let Zhou Zhinong go in and do it. Zhou Zhinong doesn't want to turn the natural code into a product in Singapore and then enjoy one for himself. At this time, Zhou Zhinong met his eager partner. 1991June, Zhou Zhinong, He, discussed the establishment of the company in national hotel. Hehe was mainly engaged in hardware business at that time, and could sell thousands of 1600K printers every month. Therefore, at the beginning of the company's establishment, the division of labor was He, responsible for hardware sales, and Zhou Zhinong was responsible for software. Everyone forms a company in partnership in order to "depend on each other and benefit".
At that time, the company was not named Natural Code because it had hardware business to do in Zhao Guang and Li Pei. The company was named Chaoxiang because it wanted to take advantage of Lenovo's popularity.
At first, because there was no interest, everyone was fighting for the goal, so everyone cooperated happily. "Everyone is happy."
After half a year, Chaoxiang's printer sales began to decline, and the company's original division of labor plan could not be maintained. When I went out to independently set up Hong Kong Five Olympic Ring Company to do cash register business, why did I start to set foot in the natural code business? At that time, Zhou Zhinong did not resolutely oppose how to help make natural code, because at that time, Zhou Zhinong did not know how much income the software of natural code could have and how promising it could be. "Since everyone is willing to do it together, there is nothing wrong with it."
The registration of Chaoyue was completed by Li Pei, who found a certificate from Zhongguancun Associated Press and registered the company. Later, the lawsuit went to court, and Chaoyue legally became the exclusive investment registration company of Zhongguancun Associated Press, although the Associated Press did not invest a penny in Chaoyue at that time.
The reason why Zhou Zhinong is not beyond the legal representative is that the file is in the original unit, so it is not convenient to practice, so he didn't do it.
He's idea is that since the division of labor in Chaoxiang has changed, the shareholding relationship should be redistributed. However, Li Pei disagreed with the incident and dragged it down. However, Chaoxiang's publicity, sales and product development can't stop until the shares are clarified, so Chaoxiang moves forward with problems.
At that time, Zhou Zhinong was not in a hurry to sign the sharing agreement, because he had always firmly grasped the natural code, and all the products were encrypted at home. After the disk was encrypted, he got a copy of the company. Zhou Zhinong naively thought that if he didn't do it, or didn't get his commission, the company couldn't go on.
The business of natural code and thinking about CXDOS is getting better and better, and the program is getting bigger and bigger, which makes Zhou Zhinong really busy, so Qiu Jinsong and Zhao Quanxin joined in, and Lei Jun also came to help.
1992, Chaoxiang Company earned more than 400,000 yuan, with a profit of1000 million yuan, and Zhou Zhinong got 50,000 yuan. Zhou Zhinong is very satisfied with this distribution. During the period of 1993, Chaoxiang Company developed at a high speed and its enterprises were thriving. The annual technical income is more than 2 million yuan and the profit is about 600,000 yuan. I want to become a well-known software brand in China, and I have the conditions and opportunities to step onto a new level.
1in the spring of 994, the Chinese DOS platform war began, and strong rivals such as UCDOS, loong and Tianhui joined the competition, eager to face a turning point. At this moment, Zhou Zhinong wants to clarify the issue of shares and software copyright.
At this time, Zhou Zhinong had enough confidence in natural code and super-thinking CXDOS, so he asked to change the legal representative, or the development department and the company were relatively independent, like Beijing Jinshan Company at that time, and what percentage of gross profit went to the development department. "When the money goes to the development department, I will distribute it and not mix with the company." I really want to feel that I can't do this. Because Zhou Zhinong could not get economic rights, he was not allowed to participate in the distribution later. The company's development cost has dropped from 10% of sales to 5% and then to 3%, and it has repeatedly complained that the development cost is too high.
Zhou Zhinong was reduced from the status of shareholder to the status of director of the technical department. "He is still the director of the technical department and has no real power."
Zhou Zhinong was excluded from the natural code and Chinese character system. Even if Zhou Zhinong talked about the project, "the final decision will be made by them." I am eager to decide to engage in financial software and teaching software. Zhou Zhinong thinks it is impossible to succeed. "Because the financial software is heavily invested, they are eager to do it. They insist on doing it because only doing natural code and thinking about CXDOS can't eliminate the influence of egotism. "
At this time, Zhou Zhinong began to regret that many things had not been settled. "Everything is subtle and changes slowly. I didn't pursue it at first, but now I have gradually formed a formula. If you want to change it, it is equivalent to depriving others of their vested interests, and there will definitely be a big rebound. "
However, Zhou Zhinong still discussed with several technicians to "fight back" and asked the company to disclose its accounts and explain clearly how much profit it earned and how it was distributed. The company refused to disclose its accounts, saying it was unprofitable. Zhou Zhinong stopped the product and wanted the company to start out of stock.
After such a stalemate for some time, Zhou Zhinong wanted to talk about a compromise, but the company refused. He tried to get Zhou Zhinong's men to hand over the program source code. Zhou Zhinong got angry and didn't go to work. Someone called Chaoxiang Company to find Zhou Zhinong, and the company said that Zhou Zhinong was on a business trip. With the source program, the products can still be sold, and the company can still operate without Zhou Zhinong. Therefore, Zhou Zhinong was so excited at 1994 computer exhibition.
Zhou Zhinong has been attached to the Great Wall Business Promotion Center since he wanted to leave. Zhou Zhinong improved the software and popularized a version of "Natural Code 5.6 1", "Natural Code ForWin" and "Natural Code Chinese Integrated Environment". Chaoxiang sued the Great Wall Business Promotion Center on the grounds that "natural code ForWin" and "natural code Chinese integrated environment" belong to service inventions. At the same time, Zhou Zhinong also sued Chaoxiang Company, demanding shares and property rights of Chaoxiang Company, arguing that there was no employment relationship between himself and Chaoxiang, so there was no problem of service invention.
Since Chaoxiang was the property right of Zhongguancun Associated Press in the original documents kept by the industrial and commercial department when the company was established, the court found that Zhou Zhinong and others contracted Chaoxiang from the Associated Press, and Zhou Zhinong was only one of the contractors. Since he is a contractor, Zhou Zhinong's share rights and product rights cannot be supported. Zhou Zhinong argued in the subsequent lawsuit that since the court found that Chaoxiang Company was contracted, it was still not an employment relationship. Therefore, "natural code ForWin" and "natural code Chinese integrated environment" cannot be simply identified as service inventions.
Although the lawsuit is time-consuming, "this lawsuit can't be fought. If I don't play, I may lose the ForWindows part of the natural code copyright. " Zhou Zhinong believes that without the copyright of natural password ForWin, the foundation will be lost.
Learn from Zhu Chongjun
Zhou Zhinong and Zhu Chongjun have a good personal relationship. Zhou Zhinong failed to cooperate with others, and Zhu Chongjun made CCED independently from beginning to end and achieved great success.
Different roads, different results, Zhou Zhinong thinks that the difference between himself and Zhu Chongjun is that Zhu Chongjun has rich social experience. He grew up in an intellectual family and knew nothing about society, nor did he know that people would have many ideas. "I always feel that if I help you, you will help me, and everyone will be together." And "Zhu Chongjun refused to cooperate, so he didn't go the wrong way. Although he is slow, he can get up slowly without falling. "
There are many people in Zhongguancun who are in the same boat as Zhou Zhinong. The experiences of Wang Zhidong, Liao Hengyi and Wu Xiaojun made Zhou Zhinong deeply feel that "the cooperation between programmers and managers depends on opportunities. If investors or partners choose well, the chances of success are relatively high. If they choose badly, they may be excluded when they succeed. "
Zhou Zhinong doesn't want to give his fate to others or opportunities. He decided that he could no longer cooperate with others just as a technician. Although it is easy to find a partner when working with others as a technician, "in that case, it will bring repeated problems."
"The cooperation I want is vague. I don't know what my value is. In this case, it is difficult for others to promise how many shares. " And "it will be more cautious to find someone to cooperate with in the future, not just to talk about it, not to consider anything and not to ask for anything."
Cooperation in the name of the company, accepting investment in the name of the company, there is no way without certain strength. Therefore, you must lay a good foundation yourself at the beginning, which is the same as making bags first and then selling them.
After thinking so much, Zhou Zhinong's experience in running a cooperative company is:
First of all, we should cooperate with others, but we should not rely too much on others. In cooperation, we should see clearly our own strength and what reservations we have. "In the super want to, I'm not saying that there is no appointment. But the company is developing so fast that I can't control it. The monthly output of products is so large that I can't finish it at home alone. Development is not something I can do alone, but I have to cooperate with others. "
Second, both partners should be basically the same in product direction. If there are big differences, it is best not to do it together at the beginning, because "the more you do it, the more contradictions you have."
Third, decide as early as possible where differences are easy to think of in advance, and don't wait until differences have emerged before debating.
Fourth, technicians should be the top leaders. "The strength of Zhongguancun technicians is generally too weak and completely controlled by operators, which makes the development of technology a distorted development."