鲍尔默访谈录：微软与苹果和谷歌的竞争

微软CEO鲍尔默在周四Windows 7正式发布时观看演示。

　　Steve Ballmer has presided over some tough times at Microsoft Corp. On Thursday, the 53-year-old CEO got a chance to relish in some good news: the launch of the Windows 7 operating system.
　　史蒂夫·鲍尔默(Steve Ballmer)曾率领微软(Microsoft Corp.)走过了一些艰难时期。周四，这位53岁的首席执行长终于有了享受一下好消息的机会：Windows 7操作系统的推出。

　　The new software comes at a crucial time. Flaws in the last version of the product, Windows Vista, battered Microsoft's reputation. Then the recession crushed spending on technology and triggered Microsoft's first ever decline in annual revenue and its first big layoffs.
　　新的操作系统来的恰是时候。上一代的Windows Vista操作系统存在的缺陷损害了微软的声誉。然后是衰退打击了科技支出，引发微软年收入首度下降，并首次进行了大规模的裁员。

　　The world's biggest software company reports quarterly results Friday, and analysts aren't expecting a recovery yet: Revenue is expected to drop about 18% from a year ago.
　　这家全球最大的软件公司周五将发布季度业绩，分析师预计还不会出现复苏：收入预计将比去年同期下降约18%。

　　But Mr. Ballmer, who took Microsoft's helm from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000, can now point to improvements in key products. Windows 7 has gotten favorable reviews, and the Bing search engine is creeping up in market share, though Google Inc. still overshadows it.
　　但2000年从创始人之一比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)手中接过帅印的鲍尔默现在终于看到了关键产品的改进。Windows 7好评如潮，必应(Bing)搜索引擎的市场份额不断爬升，尽管在谷歌(Google Inc.)面前仍相形见绌。

　　In an interview Thursday, Mr. Ballmer discussed the economy, competing with Apple Inc. and the appetite for Windows 7 among businesses. Excerpts:
　　鲍尔默周四接受《华尔街日报》采访，谈到了经济、与苹果(Apple Inc.)的竞争以及企业对Windows 7的接受程度。以下为采访摘录：

　　WSJ: How do you think Windows 7 will sell? Will it help the industry more broadly this holiday season?
　　《华尔街日报》：你认为Windows 7的销售情况将会怎样？是否会在这个假期更广泛地改善业界的境况？

　　Mr. Ballmer: The bulk of all Windows sales will always come with new machines. So, we'll sell a bunch of upgrades. I don't know how many, we're not making specific forecasts. But the real question is, when innovation meets a tough economy, who is going to win? And I'm hoping it's the innovation. But we'll see.
　　鲍尔默：Windows的绝大部分销售仍将随新电脑进行。因此，我们将出售一批升级版。我不知道有多少，我们没有做过具体的预测。但真正的问题是，当创新遭遇艰难的经济时，谁将胜出？我希望会是创新。但我们将拭目以待。

　　WSJ: What's your feeling about the business reception for this product? A lot of companies skipped Windows Vista.
　　《华尔街日报》：你觉得企业对这款产品的接受程度如何？很多公司都没有使用Windows Vista。

　　Mr. Ballmer: We see a lot of enthusiasm. Again, we'll have to wait and see what the customers really do. A lot of the machines in the installed base are getting a little older, and people are noticing that.
　　鲍尔默：我们看到热情高涨。我们也将观望客户的真正意图。使用微软系统的许多电脑已有些陈旧了，人们注意到了这点。

　　I think we have pretty good evidence that it's between $50 to $100 cheaper for an IT department to operate a machine and maintain a machine that runs Windows 7 . . . that will help the corporations make these decisions.
　　我认为我们有充分的证据表明，IT部门运行和维护装有Windows 7的电脑每台可节省50至100美元，这将有助于企业做出决策。

　　WSJ: What are your feelings on the economy? When do you expect to see a recovery in your business?
　　《华尔街日报》：你对经济持何看法？你预计微软的业务何时复苏？

　　Mr. Ballmer: Hard for me to forecast. We took actions as a business to make sure we had our cost structure right-sized. And hopefully with a recovery, we're right-sized. If things meander along, we're right-sized. And both of those are possible, and maybe other things not as positive are possible.
　　鲍尔默：我很难预测。作为一家企业，我们采取了行动以确保我们成本结构的规模是合理的。希望随着复苏的到来，我们处在一个合理的规模。如果复苏之路坎坷不平，我们也有一个合理的规模。两种情况都有可能，也许其他不那么积极的情景也会出现。

　　I'm hopeful that we're going to build from this base, and that innovation, whether it's innovations like Windows 7 or innovations in other businesses, can help propel some growth.
　　我希望我们能从这样一个基础做起，而创新，无论是像Windows 7这样的还是在其他业务上的创新，都能帮助推动一些增长。

　　WSJ: What have you done right during this economic downturn in terms of managing the company?
　　《华尔街日报》：在经济衰退期间，你在公司管理方面做了哪些有益的工作？

　　Mr. Ballmer: I think we got on top of it really very quickly. You see that just in the amount of money we spent last year compared with what we had told investors we were going to spend last year.
　　鲍尔默：我认为我们很快就妥善应对了这个问题。只要看看我们去年的支出和我们此前告诉投资者我们去年计划支出的金额就清楚了。

　　As early as July-August [2008], things were apparent to us and we started putting the brakes on spending . . . By September, we right-sized the cost structure.
　　早在2008年7、8月间，对我们来说形势就很明显了，我们开始控制支出。到9月时，我们确立了有着合理规模的成本结构。

　　WSJ: What would you do differently?
　　《华尔街日报》：假如再给你次机会，你会采取什么不同的做法？

　　Mr. Ballmer: I might get out a little earlier and message with our employees, because until you've been through a once-in-a-lifetime reset, you've never been through a once-in-a-lifetime reset. But from an economy perspective, I feel reasonably okay with what we did.
　　鲍尔默：我可能会早一点出面，和员工们进行沟通，因为有些事情只有经历过了才会明白。不过从经济角度来看，我感觉我们当时的做法是合理的。

　　WSJ: You're still investing heavily in R&D. How do you balance that in this economic environment?
　　《华尔街日报》：你们在研发上的投入依然很大。在眼下这样的经济环境下，你如何平衡这个问题？

　　Mr. Ballmer: We basically have shut down new spending. Because we still want to invest more in certain projects, it means we've either right-sized, or eliminated some projects.
　　鲍尔默：我们基本上停止了新的支出。因为我们仍想在某些项目上投入更多，这就意味着我们要么调整规模，要么取消一些项目。

　　We've had to make a bunch of tough calls in R&D, and sales and marketing. And yet we still have the ability to do the things that I think are really fundamental for Microsoft.
　　我们不得不在研发、销售和营销方面做出一些艰难的抉择。不过，我们仍有能力做我认为对微软来说确实重要的事情。

　　WSJ: In your Windows business, you're competing against a vibrant Apple. Google has Chrome that they are working on. How does the competitive landscape right now feel?
　　《华尔街日报》：在你们的Windows操作系统业务中，你们正在和一个充满活力的苹果公司竞争。谷歌正在开发Chrome操作系统。你如何看待目前的竞争格局？

　　Mr. Ballmer: Our business has been competitive for a long, long time, and it's competitive today. We had a lot of competition at one time from [IBM's] OS2, competition from Netscape, competition from Linux.
　　鲍尔默：我们的业务很久、很久以来都是有竞争力的，现在也一样。我们曾遇到过来自IBM OS2、网景(Netscape)和Linux的激烈竞争。

　　Apple is Apple. They're still 3-1/2% market share. They're doing great in phones, and some other categories.
　　苹果就是苹果。他们仍占有3.5%的市场份额。他们在手机和其他一些领域表现得非常好。

　　Yet, 96 times out of 100, people choose a Windows PC instead of a Macintosh. I'm proud of that fact, and I think it speaks a lot to the basic business model, and the quality of work that we do.
　　不过，100个人中会有96个都选择Windows电脑而不是Macintosh电脑。我对这个事实引以为荣，我认为这在很大程度上体现了我们的基本商业模式和工作的质量。

　　WSJ: Wednesday Microsoft announced a search deal with Twitter, and Google quickly announced a deal right afterwards. How long can you sustain any advantages you have in search?
　　《华尔街日报》：微软周三宣布与Twitter达成了一项搜索协议，之后谷歌马上也宣布了一项交易。你们在搜索领域的优势可以保持多长时间？

　　Mr. Ballmer: We've got three things we've got to get done in search.
　　鲍尔默：我们在搜索领域需要做三件事。

　　Number one, Google is the market leader, they're very good at certain things, like relevance. We're going to have to keep running pretty fast, and they're going to be good at that.
　　首先，谷歌是市场领头羊，他们在某些方面非常在行，比如搜索的相关性上。我们都需要要跑步前进，他们对此很擅长。

　　Number two, tactically we're going to differentiate. We're going to do things that surprise them, and they're going to hustle to catch back up and copy us, which is kind of I think what they're doing on this Twitter stuff.
　　其次，从战术角度讲，我们会另辟蹊径。我们会做些让他们大吃一惊的事，而他们会努力追赶并模仿我们。我认为他们对Twitter这件事的做法就是这样。

　　Number three, we're also trying to radically innovate and reinvent the category. That's what you see us doing with the fundamentally different user interface approach that Bing has, compared with Google. That's what you see us doing with things like our cash-back [product search] system.
　　第三，我们也在努力大力创新和彻底改造这个领域。我们在必应的用户界面上就采取了和谷歌完全不同的方法。我们的现金回馈（产品搜索）系统也是如此。

　　We're going to have to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Get ahead and know that some of those things they'll catch back up. But we also have to radically reinvent the category and we're trying to do that, too.
　　我们必须灵活起来翩若蝴蝶而出击时又像蜂刺般锋利。往前走，明白有些事情他们会重新追上来。不过我们也必须彻底改造这个领域，我们也在努力这样做。

　　WSJ: Is there any plan to offer a Microsoft-made mobile phone?
　　《华尔街日报》：微软有没有计划推出自己生产的手机？

　　Mr. Ballmer: No plan. We think the best way to get diversity and interesting phones in the market is to work with the hardware community.
　　鲍尔默：没有。我们认为使业务多样化、在市场上推出有趣手机的最佳途径是与硬件业合作。

　　WSJ: What can you tell me about Pink [the code-name for a mobile phone Microsoft has been designing that will likely be manufactured by another company]?
　　《华尔街日报》：你能谈谈Pink吗？（Pink是微软正在设计的一款手机的代号，很可能将由另外一家公司生产。）

　　Mr. Ballmer: We have a lot of different ways in which we partner with hardware vendors, and you may see some interesting cases in the course of the next year.
　　鲍尔默：我们与硬件供应商有很多不同的合作方式，你可能会在明年看到一些有趣的情况。
　　
　　Nick Wingfield