乔布斯传 第170期:图形用户界面之争(3)

 As he often did when he wanted to have a serious conversation, Jobs suggested they go on a long walk.

乔布斯提议两人一起出去好好走走，一般他想要进行严肃谈话的时候都会如此。

They trekked¹ the streets of Cupertino, back and forth² to De Anza college,

他们在库比蒂诺的街道上走了很久，在迪安扎学院来来回回，

stopping at a diner and then walking some more.

他们停下一起吃了晚饭，然后又接着往前走。

"We had to take a walk, which is not one of my management techniques," Gates said.

“我们不得不边走边说，但这并非我所擅长的，”盖茨说道，

"That was when he began saying things like,

“这时候他开始说，

'Okay, okay, but don't make it too much like what we're doing.'"

‘好吧，好吧，只是你们别搞得太像我们做的东西了。’”

As it turned out, Microsoft wasn't able to get Windows 1.0 ready for shipping³ until the fall of 1985.

事实上，微软直到1985年秋季才发布Windows 1.0操作系统。

Even then, it was a shoddy product.

即便如此，它仍然是一款劣质产品。

It lacked the elegance⁴ of the Macintosh interface⁵,

它缺乏麦金塔界面的优雅，

and it had tiled windows rather than the magical clipping of overlapping⁶ windows that Bill Atkinson had devised.

窗口平铺；相比之下，麦金塔采用的是比尔·阿特金森设计的神奇的重叠窗口。

Reviewers ridiculed⁷ it and consumers spurned⁸ it.

因此，评论家嘲笑它，消费者唾弃它。

Nevertheless, as is often the case with Microsoft products, persistence⁹ eventually made Windows better and then dominant¹⁰.

然而，就像微软的其他产品一样，Windows操作系统因为他们的不懈努力，后来主宰了整个操作系统领域。

Jobs never got over his anger.

乔布斯从未走出这场愤怒。

"They just ripped us off completely, because Gates has no shame," Jobs told me almost thirty years later.

“他们完完全全盗用了我们的东西，因为盖茨没有廉耻。”事情发生近30年后，乔布斯这样对我说。

Upon hearing this, Gates responded,

盖茨得知后，回应道：

"If he believes that, he really has entered into one of his own reality distortion fields."

“如果他觉得自己说的是事实，那么他还真是走进了自己的现实扭曲力场。”

In a legal sense, Gates was right, as courts over the years have subsequently ruled.

从法律意义上来说，盖茨没错，多年来，此案的法律裁决都判定盖茨无错。

And on a practical level, he had a strong case as well.

而在现实情况中，盖茨的说法也很合理。

Even though Apple made a deal for the right to use what it saw at Xerox¹¹ PARC,

尽管苹果公司签署了合同，有权使用自己在施乐PARC看到的东西，

it was inevitable¹² that other companies would develop similar graphical interfaces¹³.

但其他公司也必然会开发出相似的图形界面。

As Apple found out, the "look and feel" of a computer interface design is a hard thing to protect.

正如苹果公司所发现的，无论在法律上还是现实中，计算机界面设计的“外观和感觉”都很难受到保护。

And yet Jobs's dismay was understandable.

不过，乔布斯的沮丧之情也可以理解。

Apple had been more innovative¹⁴, imaginative, elegant in execution, and brilliant in design.

苹果公司一直以来在执行上更富创新，更有想象力，也更有品位，而且他们的设计也更好。

But even though Microsoft created a crudely copied series of products,

但是，虽然一开始微软只做出了一系列粗制滥造的复制品，

it would end up winning the war of operating systems.

它最终还是臝得了操作系统之争。

This exposed an aesthetic¹⁵ flaw in how the universe worked:

这一事实说明世界并非完美：

The best and most innovative products don't always win.

最好最创新的产品并非总是赢家。

A decade later, this truism caused Jobs to let loose a rant¹⁶ that was somewhat arrogant¹⁷ and over-the-top,

这也致使乔布斯在此事十年后对微软大肆批判，虽然他说的话多少有点儿夸张，

but also had a whiff of truth to it.

但也有几分道理。

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste," he said.

“微软唯一的问题就是他们没有品位，一点儿都没有，”他说，

"I don't mean that in a small way.

“并不是狭义上的没有品位，

I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas and they don't bring much culture into their product."

而是广义上的，他们没有独到的见解，也不会在产品中注入多少文化。

1 trekked   

v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水

参考例句：

• They trekked for three days along the banks of the Zambezi. 他们沿着赞比西河河岸跋涉了三天。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Six-man teams trekked through the woods, respectively for 72 to 96 hours. 6人一组的小分队，经过长途跋涉，穿过了森林，分别用72小时到96小时不等。 来自互联网

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

4 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。

5 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

6 overlapping   

adj./n.交迭（的）

参考例句：

• There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
• A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。

7 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

9 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

10 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

11 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。

12 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

13 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。

14 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

15 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

16 rant   

v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话

参考例句：

• You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好，骂也好，罚金还是得交。
• If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷，全世界都是我们的听众。

17 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。