乔布斯传 第541期:微软公司(4)

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Jobs always wanted Apple to create its own unified¹ utopia,

乔布斯一直希望苹果公司能建立起独立统一的乌托邦，

a magical walled garden where hardware and software and peripheral² devices worked well together to create a great experience,

在这个神奇的围墙花园里，硬件、件和外围设备完美结合，创造一种绝妙的体验，

and where the success of one product drove sales of all the companions.

某一个产品的成功也能促进所有关联产品的销售。

Now he was facing pressure to have his hottest new product work with Windows machines, and it went against his nature.

然而现在，他正面临一个压力--让他最热门的新产品和Windows计算机配置在一起，这显然违背了他的天性。

"It was a really big argument for months," Jobs recalled, "me against everyone else."

乔布斯回忆道：“这场拉锯战持续了好几个月。所有人都站在我的对立面。”

At one point he declared that Windows users would get to use iPods "over my dead body."

有一次，他甚至宣称Windows用户只能等他死了才可以使用iPod。

But still his team kept pushing. "This needs to get to the PC," said Fadell.

但是他的团队仍在竭力推动这个建议。法德尔说：“iPod的确需要打入个人电脑市场。”

Finally Jobs declared, "Until you can prove to me that it will make business sense, I'm not going to do it."

最终，乔布斯决定：“除非你们可以证明给我看这具有商业价值，否则我不会同意的。”

That was actually his way of backing down.

这其实是他让步的方式。

If you put aside emotion and dogma, it was easy to prove that it made business sense to allow Windows users to buy iPods.

其实拋开情感和教条来说，很容易证明Windows用户购买iPod所体现的商业价值。

Experts were called in, sales scenarios³ developed, and everyone concluded this would bring in more profits.

他们请来了专家，分析了很多种销售情况，结果每种情况都证明这样做能带来更多利润。

"We developed a spreadsheet," said Schiller.

席勒说：“我们制作了一张数据表。

"Under all scenarios, there was no amount of cannibalization of Mac sales that would outweigh⁴ the sales of iPods."

在任何一种情况下，无论将各种苹果电脑如何搭配，它们的销量都无法超过iPod的销量。”

Jobs was sometimes willing to surrender, despite his reputation,

有时乔布斯愿意放下身段作出妥协，

but he never won any awards for gracious concession⁵ speeches.

但他在让步这个问题上从来都没有好名声。

"Screw it," he said at one meeting where they showed him the analysis.

一次会议上，他们向他展示了分析结果。他说：“去他的！

"I'm sick of listening to you assholes. Go do whatever the hell you want."

我已经厌烦了听你们这群混蛋说话。你们爱怎么做就怎么做吧。”

1 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

2 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

3 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

5 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。