How does a fast-seeding become a rogue?

It seems impossible to regain the new life, it was China's best and most users of the largest video playback software, but can not do big without falling. In the face of all the transformational opportunities, it misses the opportunity again and again.

No sign of the seizure. April 22, a large number of police into the fast-broadcast headquarters in Shenzhen, the seizure of all computers, this scene quickly spread on Weibo, many people have to accept a hard to believe that the fact that the fast-seeding really came to an end. Before that day, fast broadcast is one of the largest video-on-demand tools, even if there is the threat of QQ audio and video and storm, it still with unique peer-to-peer technology control of the Web page video on demand 80% of the share, to feed tens of thousands of personal webmaster, but for a while, it became a rogue software, one months later, The fast seeding was awarded a fine of 260 million yuan. A star enterprise falls, only need a paper file pressure.

It used to be one of the best video playback software in China.

Wang, who was 23 years old in 2003, lived in a rented house in Shanghai and was a member of the "Grand box" research and development team. The project, which took up a lot of energy from Chen Tianqiao, did not make a difference in the market, and Wang decided to find another place, just like other young people with technology, he embarked on the road of entrepreneurship. Wang has founded two companies, in the industry are small well-known, and the reputation is not commensurate with the company in business as has been small, famous without money. In 2007, Wang founded his third company in Shenzhen, and he started with 3 also from the "Grand Box" project partners, several people have confidence in their technical capabilities, decided to their own video playback software qvod Chinese name as "fast Seeding", the name contains their expectations of the product- -"Fast seeding" can break the bottleneck, not only the fastest, but also the playback of High-definition TV, when the bandwidth limit allows many video software to fall into the speed barrier.

After the player is finished, Wang put it on the company's forum, hoping someone will send it to the download. He believes that his player's technical ability is the best in the country, the wine is not afraid of the alley deep, on the other hand, even his several partners are to do the technical background, not good at promoting propaganda, had to put hope in the user's Word-of-mouth legend. This is the last resort to the promotion of the way received unexpected results. Cheng, the marketing manager who was in charge of the promotion, recalls that he was recruited at the end of 2007, when the company had fewer than 20 employees, and he had no idea what the fast seeding was until he saw the job posting. "I went to the interview before asked some friends, in the end what is the fast seeding, the results found that every acquaintance of the computer installed the software, I think I want to go is not a leather company." ”

The popularity of the fast-seeding has benefited from its Peer-to-peer technology, which now seems to be nothing, but at the time, the fast-seeding was uniquely suited to its use. In short, Peer-to-peer technology's biggest contribution is making it easier to download movies and games, while users watch movies online while they are quietly downloading them to their hard drives. This flattering feature makes many users feel satisfied. Cheng is also confident that the fast will become a domestic video player technology benchmark: "We often joked that, if a little low-key, we are the best video player in the country, but in the heart, everyone feels ' one ' two words can be removed." ”

All the technical bottlenecks in the fast-seeding seems to have been resolved, after continuous improvement, users can directly use the fast broadcast BT and thunder seed files. Click to play, only a short buffer time, high-definition quality movies appear on the screen. The user experience is the part that Wang wanted to implement from the beginning of the production, and he decided to add the video clip to his player when all kinds of video sites became more and more popular. Fool type of clip is undoubtedly the most favored, pull the progress bar, cut their favorite pieces, the film into a collection or a MV, these features for today's users are accustomed to, but the rapid broadcast in 2008 let a lot of people realize their own "director Dream."

At the beginning of 2008, Wang to his more than 10 employees promised, if the end of the year, the number of users can reach 5 million, take everyone to sea play, the result of May, he was on the yacht to achieve his promise. At the end of the year, because the number of users in a single day exceeded 15 million, he rented another yacht. Cheng also believes that his then market work did not encounter too big obstacles: "Because we share a large, all advertisers are willing to cooperate." Network Video player Advertising has its own innate advantages, if it is a local video player, users will hate to insert ads in the middle. But network video has a buffer time, in this period of time to access ads, users are acceptable. "In 2009, Cheng and other employees took a two-time yacht, because tens of millions of ads have been signed by the company, he said, at that time, every employee is confident of the future, that the company will be listed in the United States, anyone can not expect, 5 years later, it became the target of policy liquidation.

From the day of the line, the rapid broadcast with the infringement of the copyright of Film and television works of nature.

"I don't know if I'm lucky now," he said. "Zhouyuan said. He is Shenzhen Huaqiang North mobile Phone, a member of the army, now doing a variety of low-end Android phones, in 2008, he was still struggling to think how and Nokia hundreds of yuan low-end machine confrontation. Zhouyuan rented an office, just above the fast-seeding office, and he quickly noticed that the most common player he used to watch movies on the internet came from downstairs. "I have talked to Wang 6 times, said to invest, the price from 3 million yuan has been added to 8 million yuan, he refused." "Zhouyuan said.

Zhouyuan is not the only rejected investors, Cheng that at that time, the rapid seeding has been a few angel funds to intervene, enough to cope with the day-to-day expenses, and the fast-seeding office in which there are several venture companies, one after the Wang declined, because the fast seeding is not lack of money. "It's about the same reason that other companies are refusing to venture, and we think the wind will bring in operational pressure." Investors are short-sighted, to cater to them to do a lot of damage to the user experience, in fact, we can make money in the market, but the time will be more than the expectations of the late, at that time did not worry about the money things. "But now it seems that the rejection of VCs may be the beginning of the demise of the fast sowing, and Cheng often wonder, if the VC is accepted, what is the status of the fast seeding today?" At least they will not be seized, VCs are more sensitive to national policies, they will tell you what to do and what not. ”

The rejection of the wind is not a direct flaw, the fastest broadcast another more important fatal factor is that it from the day on the line has violated the copyright of Film and television works of nature, other video playback software and platforms have similar problems, but the fast-seeding performance is most prominent. Both potatoes and Youku have been subject to copyright lawsuits, but on their platforms, at least a portion of the video is legally copyrighted, and the fast seeding does not have its own platform, it is just a simple player, and it cannot confirm whether the video it is playing is legitimate.

2008 to 2014, China's film site has always been maintained in the number of 10,000, most of them by personal owners, as long as a large enough bandwidth and capacity of the server, the film into the inside, can be based on flow fees and advertising fees to earn income. Almost none of the film and television works on this site are copyrighted, and they are grey sites that cannot be put on the table. In negotiating investment, Zhouyuan once asked Wang the risk, Wang to him the answer is that since the country is not expressly prohibited, that is allowed. In fact, Wang has been to the personal webmaster vigorously promote the fast-seeding, not only that, he also put the core technology to open up the fast, hope that other players can use their own technology developers. Zhou Yuan that the idea of Wang is easy to understand, only the number of people involved, the market will be more cake to do the bigger. "The idea is not wrong, when almost all video sites have pirated content and soft pornographic content, everyone has played a ball, Wang problem is that he walked in front of others, go too far, to later transition has been very difficult." ”

Wang arrested, Cheng once wanted to visit him, but was refused by the Public Security Bureau, in his view, fast-seeding is still an excellent tool, it fell, just because its users are too large, in the net operation, the relevant departments need to be knocked out of it to Shajijinghou. But on the other side, the fast seeding did have a chance to change, but missed it.

Lei and Ma Yun now do products, Wang had done a few years ago, unfortunately, the rapid seeding did not seize the opportunity for transformation.

"2009 years ago, we made a set-top box that could deliver high-definition movies on the network directly to the TV." This thing is now the millet box, music video box, Ali Magic Box. Lei and Ma Yun now do products, Wang a few years ago has been made. "Cheng recalls that the fast-sowing box once to invest in volume production, for this reason, Wang also specifically with products to Shanghai, in a few neighborhoods to set up a show, experienced people are very optimistic about this product. However, because of the case of the Grand box, plus SARFT unwilling to let private companies into the field of set-top box, Wang finally reluctantly dispelled the idea of the box. Now recall this scene, like the Ministry of Profound tragedy, Wang foresee the development of technology and the trend of people's life style change, unfortunately, he foresaw too early, when the time is not mature to make a product can not see the sun, this, he and the former boss Chen is very similar, but he is still not Chen flyover, Unlike the latter, which had the resources and the clout to revive the mountains, he could only go black in the video.

The box plan died out, the worse situation appeared, Sohu and Tencent have joined the video scuffle, copyright-this has long been neglected legal terminology suddenly received attention, large sites are beginning to pay a large price to buy film and television works copyright, at the same time, the hot rise of American drama, Users have gradually developed the habit of appreciating American dramas on legitimate websites, and the number of fast-growing users is beginning to stagnate. For the fast sowing, the bad news is not finished, the hot and fast rise of the British drama, people can see on the potatoes "Sherlock Holmes", personal site resources become dispensable. Into the 2012, the High-definition network film and television as another technical indicator, in the bandwidth conditions are getting better and cheaper computers, users can endure a few hours to download a 1080p movie, fast-sowing technology again good, also unable to buffer a capacity of up to 10G of high-definition movies, Its once advantage has been greatly weakened. Cheng said: "Another impact is the webcast, like some of the Hong Kong opera, you can directly on the Internet to see the Emerald Taiwan Live, but also with the fast sowing to do?" In order to maintain market share, Wang began to take risks, he put some pornographic video directly in the fast-seeding server for users to watch.

Strictly speaking, Wang does not directly provide pornographic video, these content is originally on the personal site, put in the fast-seeding server just to save the buffer time, let the user save the waiting process. Wang This behavior as "site-provided content, fast-seeding technology", in his view, the fast-seeding itself is still clean. Cheng realized the hidden dangers, after persuading Wang ineffective, April 2013, he decided to resign. One year after his resignation, Wang was arrested and jailed.

"Pornography in fact every software that touches the video is more or less touched. "Cheng said, among those who use the Thunderbolt, a large part of the use of it to download pornography, and the reason for the Thunderbolt survived is that it is not a simple video download tool, but a game and all kinds of small applications in a comprehensive software," it looks as if the fast sowing so conspicuous, it has made a correction, There's no way to download pornographic videos anymore. "And the fast seeding is not so lucky, in the face of huge fines, this" rogue software "has lost the opportunity to turn over, it is still alive, but has no VOD function, completely reduced to local playback software. Cheng still insists that the tragedy of the fast sowing is not in the yellow and copyright infringement, but in the lack of the background of its genius founder, so that it is unable to catch the best transformation opportunities, it was China's best online video-on-demand software, not one.