乔布斯传 第166期:盖茨与乔布斯(4)

 Despite their mutual¹ wariness²,

尽管两队人马互有戒心，

both teams were excited by the prospect³ that Microsoft would create graphical software for the Macintosh that would take personal computing⁴ into a new realm,

但想到微软为麦金塔电脑制作图形界面软件，能将个人电脑带入一个新境界，双方都非常兴奋，

and they went to dinner at a fancy restaurant to celebrate.

他们前往一家豪华餐厅吃饭庆祝。

Microsoft soon dedicated⁵ a large team to the task.

微软很快组建了一个型团队负责这个项目。

"We had more people working on the Mac than he did," Gates said.

“我们在Mac项目上的人比苹果公司的还多”，盖茨说道，

"He had about fourteen or fifteen people. We had like twenty people. We really bet our life on it."

“他们有大约十四五个人，我们有将近二十人。我们真的把命都押在这上面了。”

And even though Jobs thought that they didn't exhibit much taste, the Microsoft programmers were persistent⁶.

尽管乔布斯觉得他们没什么品位，但微软的程序员们非常坚持不懈。

"They came out with applications that were terrible," Jobs recalled, "but they kept at it and they made them better."

“他们一开始做出的应用程序很糟糕，”乔布斯回忆说，“但是他们坚持努力，越做越好。”

乔布斯传 比尔盖茨

Eventually Jobs became so enamored of Excel that he made a secret bargain with Gates:

最后，乔布斯对Excel非常喜爱，以至于和盖茨作了个秘密协议：

If Microsoft would make Excel exclusively for the Macintosh for two years, and not make a version for IBM PCs,

如果微软在未来两年的时间里只为麦金塔做Excel，而不开发IBM个人电脑版本，

then Jobs would shut down his team working on a version of BASIC for the Macintosh

那么乔布斯就同意撤掉麦金塔电脑的BASIC团队，

and instead indefinitely license⁷ Microsoft's BASIC.

而无限期使用微软开发的BASIC程序。

Gates smartly took the deal,

盖茨精明地接受了这一提议，

which infuriated the Apple team whose project got canceled and gave Microsoft a lever in future negotiations⁸.

而此事却激怒了苹果公司遭到解散的BASIC团队，也让微软在日后的谈判中获得了优势。

For the time being, Gates and Jobs forged a bond.

盖茨和乔布斯暂时结下了良好的关系。

That summer they went to a conference hosted by the industry analyst⁹ Ben Rosen at a Playboy Club retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin,

那年夏天，他们前往威斯康星州日内瓦湖的花花公子俱乐部，参加行业析师本·罗森举办的一个会议。

where nobody knew about the graphical interfaces¹⁰ that Apple was developing.

当时没人知道苹果正在开发图形界面。

"Everybody was acting¹¹ like the IBM PC was everything, which was nice,

“当时所有人好像都觉得IBM个人电脑就是一切。这样很好。

but Steve and I were kind of smiling that, hey, we've got something," Gates recalled.

但是史蒂夫和我就暗自得意，嘿，我们也有个好东西。”盖茨回忆道。

"And he's kind of leaking, but nobody actually caught on."

“当时他也多多少少透露出我们在做什么了，但没有人真正理解。”

Gates became a regular at Apple retreats. "I went to every luau," said Gates. "I was part of the crew."

盖茨成了苹果公司的常客，他说：“每次聚餐我都去，已经成了那儿的一分子了。”

Gates enjoyed his frequent visits to Cupertino,

盖茨很喜欢频繁地造访库比蒂诺，

where he got to watch Jobs interact erratically¹² with his employees and display his obsessions¹³.

在苹果公司，他有机会观察乔布斯和雇员们古怪的交流方式以及乔布斯的执著。

"Steve was in his ultimate pied piper mode,

“史蒂夫用自己超级蛊惑人心的方式，

proclaiming how the Mac will change the world and overworking people like mad,

宣称Mac将如何改变世界，疯了似的让人们超负荷工作，

with incredible tensions and complex personal relationships."

气氛异常紧张，人际关系也很复杂。”

Sometimes Jobs would begin on a high, then lapse¹⁴ into sharing his fears with Gates.

有时，乔布斯上一秒还很兴奋，下一秒就开始与盖茨分享自己内心的恐惧。

"We'd go down Friday night, have dinner, and Steve would just be promoting that everything is great.

“我们周五晚上出去吃饭的时候，史蒂夫还在大谈一切都很好。

Then the second day, without fail, he'd be kind of, 'Oh shit, is this thing going to sell,

第二天他就一定会说，'哦，该死，我们就要卖这玩意儿？

oh God, I have to raise the price, I'm sorry I did that to you, and my team is a bunch of idiots.'"

哦，天哪，我得提高价格，抱歉这样对你，但是，我的团队都是一群白痴。'”

Gates saw Jobs's reality distortion field at play when the Xerox¹⁵ Star was launched.

施乐公司推出施乐之星电脑时，盖茨见识到了乔布斯的现实扭曲力场。

At a joint¹⁶ team dinner one Friday night, Jobs asked Gates how many Stars had been sold thus far. Gates said six hundred.

一个周五，苹果和微软团队共进晚餐，乔布斯问盖茨，施乐之星卖了多少。盖茨回答说600台。

The next day, in front of Gates and the whole team, Jobs said that three hundred Stars had been sold,

第二天，当着盖茨和整个团队的面，乔布斯说施乐之星卖了300台。

forgetting that Gates had just told everyone it was actually six hundred.

全然忘了盖茨刚刚告诉大家施乐之星售出了600台。

"So his whole team starts looking at me like, 'Are you going to tell him that he's full of shit?'" Gates recalled.

“这时，他的团队成员们开始看着我，好像在说，'你要不要告诉乔布斯他在瞎扯淡？'”盖茨回忆，

"And in that case I didn't take the bait."

“我没蹚那浑水。”

On another occasion Jobs and his team were visiting Microsoft and having dinner at the Seattle Tennis Club.

还有一次，乔布斯及其团队成员到微软参观，并在西雅图网球俱乐部吃晚餐。

Jobs launched into a sermon about how the Macintosh and its software would be so easy to use that there would be no manuals.

乔布斯开始宣扬麦金塔机器和软件将非常易于使用，根本就用不着使用手册。

"It was like anybody who ever thought that there would be a manual for any Mac application was the greatest idiot," said Gates.

“他那样子就好像在说，如果有人想过Mac应用程序要配上使用手册，那这人一定是天大的白痴，”盖茨说，

"And we were like, 'Does he really mean it? Should we not tell him that we have people who are actually working on manuals?'"

“我们这边就在想，'他是认真的吗？是不是不该告诉他我们有人正在做使用手册？'”

1 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

2 wariness   

n. 注意,小心

参考例句：

• The British public's wariness of opera is an anomaly in Europe. 英国公众对歌剧不大轻易接受的态度在欧洲来说很反常。
• There certainly is a history of wariness about using the R-word. 历史表明绝对应当谨慎使用“衰退”一词。

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 interfaces   

界面( interface的名词复数 )； 接口（连接两装置的电路，可使数据从一种代码转换成另一种代码）； 交界； 联系

参考例句：

• If the class needs to be reprogrammed, new interfaces are created. 如果class需要重新程序设计，新的interfaces创建。
• Interfaces solve this problem of evolving code. Interfaces解决了代码升级的问题。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 erratically   

adv.不规律地，不定地

参考例句：

• Police stopped him for driving erratically. 警察因其驾驶不循规则而把他拦下了。 来自辞典例句
• Magnetitite-bearing plugs are found erratically from the base of the Critical Zone. 含磁铁岩的岩栓不规则地分布于关键带的基底以上。 来自辞典例句

13 obsessions   

n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰

参考例句：

• 95% of patients know their obsessions are irrational. 95％的病人都知道他们的痴迷是不理智的。 来自辞典例句
• Too often you get caught in your own obsessions. 所以你时常会沉迷在某个电影里。 来自互联网

14 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

15 xerox   

n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印

参考例句：

• Xerox and Lucent are two more high-tech companies run by women.施乐和朗讯是另外两家由女性经营的大科技公司。
• You cannot take it home,but you can xerox it.你不能把它带回家，但可以复印。

16 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。