The climax of Jobs's August 1997 Macworld appearance was a bombshell announcement, 1997年8月，乔布斯在Macworld大会上演讲的高潮部分，是一个出人意料的公告，

　　one that made the cover of both Time and Newsweek. 并同时登上了《时代》和《新闻周刊》的封面。

　　Near the end of his speech, he paused for a sip of water and began to talk in more subdued tones. 在演讲即将结束时，他停顿了一下，喝了口水，用平缓些的语气说：

　　"Apple lives in an ecosystem," he said. "It needs help from other partners. “苹果生存在一个生态系统里。它需要其他伙伴的帮助。

　　Relationships that are destructive don't help anybody in this industry." 在这个行业里，破坏性的关系对谁都没有好处。”

　　For dramatic effect, he paused again, and then explained: 为了渲染效果，他又停顿了一下，然后解释道：

　　"I'd like to announce one of our first new partnerships today, a very meaningful one, and that is one with Microsoft." “我要宣布我们今天新的合作伙伴之一，是一个意义重大的合作伙伴，它就是微软。”

　　The Microsoft and Apple logos appeared together on the screen as people gasped. 微软和苹果的标志同时出现在屏幕上，观众惊呆了。

　　Apple and Microsoft had been at war for a decade over a variety of copyright and patent issues, 苹果和微软已经在各种版杈和专利问题上争斗了10年，

　　most notably whether Microsoft had stolen the look and feel of Apple's graphical user interface. 最令人瞩目的就是微软是否剽窃了苹果图形用户界面的外观和感觉。

　　Just as Jobs was being eased out of Apple in 1985, John Sculley had struck a surrender deal: 1985年乔布斯刚被苹果解职，约翰·斯卡利就签订了一个投降条约：

　　Microsoft could license the Apple GUI for Windows 1.0, and in return it would make Excel exclusive to the Mac for up to two years. 微软可以在Windows1.0上使用苹果的图形用户界面，作为回报，微软保证两年内Excel只用于Mac。

　　In 1988, after Microsoft came out with Windows 2.0, Apple sued. 1988年，微软推出Windows2.0之后，苹果提起诉讼。

　　Sculley contended that the 1985 deal did not apply to Windows 2.0 and that further refinements to Windows 斯卡利主张1985年的合约不适用于Windows2.0，而且后来微软对Windows所作的改进

　　such as copying Bill Atkinson's trick of "clipping" overlapping windows -- had made the infringement more blatant. 例如抄袭比尔·阿特金森发明的把重叠的窗口“别起来”的方法--更是赤裸裸的侵权。

　　By 1997 Apple had lost the case and various appeals, but remnants of the litigation and threats of new suits lingered. 到1997年，苹果已经输掉了那场官司及若干上诉，但是旧诉讼的余波和新诉讼的威胁一直存在。

　　In addition, President Clinton's Justice Department was preparing a massive antitrust case against Microsoft. 另外，克林顿总统的司法部也正准备对微软发起大规模的反垄断诉讼。

　　Jobs invited the lead prosecutor, Joel Klein, to Palo Alto. 乔布斯把首席检察官乔尔·克莱因请到帕洛奥图。

　　Don't worry about extracting a huge remedy against Microsoft, Jobs told him over coffee. 喝咖啡的时候，乔布斯告诉他，不要急着从微软收取巨额罚款。

　　Instead simply keep them tied up in litigation. 只要让他们陷在官司里就行。

　　That would allow Apple the opportunity, Jobs explained, to "make an end run" around Microsoft and start offering competing products. 那样就会给苹果一个机会绕过微软“迂回进攻”，开始提供有竞争力的产品，乔布斯解释说。