Shut Up! 住口!

作者: 安迪·赫茨菲尔德 日期: 1981年7月 人物: 安迪·赫茨菲尔德、巴德·特里布尔、史蒂夫·乔布斯、比尔·盖茨、查尔斯·西蒙尼 主题: 3rd 方开发商、微软、原型 概括: 关于苹果第一代Macintosh的开发以及制造它的人的轶事: 我们第一次向 Microsoft 演示 Macintosh

Apple already knew that it was good to have many third-party software companies making programs for its Apple II computer. When a small company called Software Arts made a program called Visicalc, it became very popular among businesses, and Apple II sales went up by more than ten times. Apple wanted to make the new Macintosh computer popular too, and that’s why it was important to get third-party developers working on programs for it right away.

苹果公司已经知道,有许多第三方软件公司为其Apple II 计算机制作程序是件好事。
当一家名为 Software Arts 的小公司制作了一款名为 Visicalc 的程序后,它在企业中非常受欢迎,Apple II 的销量增长了十倍以上。
苹果公司也想让新的麦金塔电脑变得流行,这就是为什么让第三方开发人员立即为其开发程序很重要。

We chose to talk to Microsoft first because it was one of the earliest companies in the computer industry. Microsoft and Apple, another early company, already worked together. Apple used Microsoft’s computer programming language, called Applesoft Basic, for their Apple II computers. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the founders of these companies, were both born the same year and shared a big dream for computers. They both thought they were better than each other, but Steve usually treated Bill like he was a little less important. Bill thought less of Steve because he couldn’t write computer code himself.

我们选择首先与微软交谈,因为它是计算机行业最早的公司之一。微软和另一家早期公司苹果公司已经合作。
Apple 在 Apple II 计算机中使用了 Microsoft 的计算机编程语言 Applesoft Basic。
这些公司的创始人比尔·盖茨和史蒂夫·乔布斯同年出生,并且对计算机有着共同的远大梦想。
他们都认为自己比对方更好,但史蒂夫通常对待比尔就好像他不那么重要一样。
比尔不太看重史蒂夫,因为他自己不会编写计算机代码。

Steve mentioned the Macintosh project to Bill at a meeting in April. He told him some exciting ideas about making many Macintosh computers in a factory. Bill was interested and they had another meeting in Seattle in June. Steve showed Bill some pictures of what the machines would look like. Bill’s company, Microsoft, would make special computer programs that would work well with the Macintosh. They decided to meet again in July to show Bill a real working Macintosh computer. The meeting in July went well and they made plans for the future.

史蒂夫在四月份的一次会议上向比尔提到了麦金塔项目。他告诉他一些关于在工厂制造许多麦金塔电脑的令人兴奋的想法。
比尔很感兴趣,他们于六月在西雅图举行了另一次会议。史蒂夫向比尔展示了一些机器外观的图片。
比尔的公司微软将开发能够在麦金塔电脑上良好运行的特殊计算机程序。
他们决定在 7 月份再次见面,向比尔展示一台真正可以工作的 Macintosh 电脑。
7月的会议进行得很顺利,他们为未来制定了计划。

There was a small problem. We were using the Lisa computer to develop software for the Macintosh. But the Macintosh wasn’t ready to work on its own yet. It needed to be connected to the Lisa to get software from it. However, the team working on the Lisa didn’t want Microsoft to see the Lisa. They asked us to promise that we wouldn’t show the Lisa to Microsoft.

有一个小问题。我们使用 Lisa 计算机为 Macintosh 开发软件。
但麦金塔电脑还没有准备好独立工作。
它需要连接到 Lisa 才能从中获取软件。
然而,Lisa 的开发团队不希望微软看到 Lisa。
他们要求我们保证不会向微软展示 Lisa。

We found a way to solve the problem. We would use a long cable, 25 feet long, and keep the Lisa computer in a room that the Microsoft team wasn’t allowed to enter. I would turn on the programs on the Lisa computer in the other room, and Bud Tribble would work on the Macintosh computer. Then, I would go to the main room to see the Microsoft team’s reaction.

我们找到了解决问题的方法。我们会使用一根 25 英尺长的长电缆,并将 Lisa 计算机放在 Microsoft 团队不允许进入的房间内。
我会打开另一个房间的 Lisa 计算机上的程序,而 Bud Tribble 将在 Macintosh 计算机上运行。
然后,我会去主房间看看微软团队的反应。

Bill Gates came to our meeting with three other people from Microsoft: Charles, Jeff, and Mark. Charles just started working with Microsoft and came from a place called Xerox PARC. Jeff will be in charge of creating the Macintosh computer. Mark will help with the technical parts of the project. They saw the early version of the Macintosh computer, and we showed them how it worked. Steve talked a lot about it.

比尔·盖茨 (Bill Gates) 与微软的另外三位员工一起参加了我们的会议:查尔斯 (Charles)、杰夫 (Jeff) 和马克 (Mark)。
Charles 刚刚开始在 Microsoft 工作,来自一个叫 Xerox PARC 的地方。
杰夫将负责创建麦金塔电脑。马克将帮助解决该项目的技术部分。
他们看到了麦金塔计算机的早期版本,我们向他们展示了它的工作原理。史蒂夫对此谈了很多。

Bill Gates didn’t listen well. He didn’t like it when someone explained something to him, step by step. He wanted to skip ahead and try to figure it out himself, even if he wasn’t really sure.

比尔·盖茨没有好好听。
他不喜欢有人一步步向他解释某件事。他想跳过并尝试自己弄清楚,即使他不太确定。

We showed him how the mouse cursor on the Macintosh computer moved smoothly and didn’t blink or flicker.

我们向他展示了麦金塔电脑上的鼠标光标如何平滑移动并且不闪烁。

“What technology do you use to make the cursor”, he asked.

“你们用什么技术来制造光标”,他问道。

The Macintosh computer didn’t need any special parts to make it work. Instead, it used its software to do everything, which made it more flexible. This was important because it helped to remove any flickering on the screen. In fact, I and a person named Burrell had just made a mouse work well on an Apple II computer using a similar technique.

麦金塔计算机不需要任何特殊部件即可工作。相反,它使用自己的软件来做所有事情,这使得它更加灵活。
这很重要,因为它有助于消除屏幕上的闪烁。
事实上,我和一个名叫 Burrell 的人刚刚使用类似的技术使鼠标在 Apple II 计算机上运行良好。

“I don’t have any special equipment for that!” I said quickly, probably with a slight smile on my face. “But what I can tell you is that… we were able to make it work on an old Apple computer called the Apple II, which is much slower than the newer Macintosh computer.”

“我没有任何特殊设备!”我连忙说道,脸上大概还带着浅浅的微笑。 “但我可以告诉你的是……我们能够让它在一台名为 Apple II 的旧苹果电脑上运行,它比较新的 Macintosh 电脑慢得多。”

“Be quiet!”, he shouted loudly, looking right at me. He shouted it again, trying to cover up what I was going to say. But I understood what he meant, so I changed what I was going to say. Instead, I said, “Actually, doing it in software is better.”

“安静!”他直视着我,大声喊道。他又喊了一声,试图掩盖我要说的话。
但我明白他的意思,所以我改变了我要说的话。相反,我说:“实际上,用软件来做更好。”

The rest of the demo went well, and both teams were very excited about what the Macintosh computer could do. We went out to a nice dinner in Los Gatos to celebrate. We agreed to work together on a project and decided to give the other company a special Mac computer to work with in the fall. We were very happy to be working with another company that understood and liked what we were doing.

演示的其余部分进展顺利,两个团队都对 Macintosh 计算机的功能感到非常兴奋。
我们去洛斯加托斯吃了一顿丰盛的晚餐来庆祝。
我们同意合作开展一个项目,并决定在秋季为另一家公司提供一台特殊的 Mac 电脑供其使用。
我们很高兴与另一家理解并喜欢我们所做的事情的公司合作。
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