IBM

IBM

Jobs came up with a brilliant jujitsu maneuver against Gates, one that could have changed the balance of power in the computer industry forever. It required Jobs to do two things that were against his nature: licensing out his software to another hardware maker and getting into bed with IBM. He had a pragmatic streak, albeit a tiny one, so he was able to overcome his reluctance. But his heart was never fully in it, which is why the alliance would turn out to be short-lived.

乔布斯想出了一记漂亮的柔术招式来对抗盖茨，这一招可能永远改变计算机产业的权力制衡。这需要乔布斯违背自己的本性做两件事：授权自己的软件给另一个硬件制造商，并和IBM合作。乔布斯的个性有几分务实，虽然不多，因此他能够克服自己的不情愿。但是他从来没有全心投入于此，这也就是为什么他同其他公司的联盟会如此短暂。

It began at a party, a truly memorable one, for the seventieth birthday of the Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in June 1987 in Washington. Six hundred guests attended, including President Ronald Reagan. Jobs flew in from California and IBM’s chairman John Akers from New York. It was the first time they had met. Jobs took the opportunity to bad-mouth Microsoft and attempt to wean IBM from using its Windows operating system. “I couldn’t resist telling him I thought IBM was taking a giant gamble betting its entire software strategy on Microsoft, because I didn’t think its software was very good,” Jobs recalled.

一切始于一次聚会，一次令人难忘的聚会。1987年6月，《华盛顿邮报》发行人凯瑟琳·格雷厄姆举办了她的70岁生日聚会，共有600位嘉宾出席，其中包括美国前总统罗纳德·里根。乔布斯从加利福尼亚州赶来，IBM董事长约翰·埃克斯从纽约州过来。这是两人第一次见面。乔布斯借此机会唱衰微软，并试图让IBM放弃微软的Windows操作系统。“我忍不住告诉他，IBM将整个软件战略都压在微软身上，这太冒险了，因为我不觉得微软的软件有多好。”乔布斯回忆说。

To Jobs’s delight, Akers replied, “How would you like to help us?” Within a few weeks Jobs showed up at IBM’s Armonk, New York, headquarters with his software engineer Bud Tribble. They put on a demo of NeXT, which impressed the IBM engineers. Of particular significance was NeXTSTEP, the machine’s object-oriented operating system. “NeXTSTEP took care of a lot of trivial programming chores that slow down the software development process,” said Andrew Heller, the general manager of IBM’s workstation unit, who was so impressed by Jobs that he named his newborn son Steve.

令乔布斯髙兴的是，埃克斯回应道：“你打算如何帮助我们呢？”没过几周，乔布斯就和软件工程师巴德·特里布尔出现在IBM位于纽约州阿蒙克市的总部。他们演示了NeXT，令IBM的工程师难以忘怀。尤为意义重大的是，NeXT电脑面向对象的操作系统NeXTSTEP受到了格外关注。“NeXTSTEP会处理很多导致软件开发过程迟缓的琐碎的编程问题。”IBM智能终端部门的总经理安德鲁·海勒（AndrewHeller）表示，他非常欣赏乔布斯，以至于也给自己的儿子起名为史蒂夫。

The negotiations lasted into 1988, with Jobs becoming prickly over tiny details. He would stalk out of meetings over disagreements about colors or design, only to be calmed down by Tribble or Lewin. He didn’t seem to know which frightened him more, IBM or Microsoft. In April Perot decided to play host for a mediating session at his Dallas headquarters, and a deal was struck: IBM would license the current version of the NeXTSTEP software, and if the managers liked it, they would use it on some of their workstations. IBM sent to Palo Alto a 125-page contract. Jobs tossed it down without reading it. “You don’t get it,” he said as he walked out of the room. He demanded a simpler contract of only a few pages, which he got within a week.

双方的谈判一直持续到1988年，其间乔布斯对于微小的细节频频发怒。在颜色和设计问题上出现分歧时，他会在会议中途禽席，只有特里布尔或丹·卢因才能令他平静下来。他不知道IBM还是微软哪一个令自己更害怕。4月，佩罗决定在自己的达拉斯总部举办调停会议，一个令人震惊的交易就此诞生了——IBM将获得授权使用NeXTSTEP软件的目前版本，如果IBM喜欢这款软件，将会用在自己的一些工作站上。IBM给NeXT发送了一份125页的合同。乔布斯读都没读就扔掉了。“别来这一套。”他边说边走出办公室。他要一份只有几页的合同，不到一周，他所要求的合同就送到了。

Jobs wanted to keep the arrangement secret from Bill Gates until the big unveiling of the NeXT computer, scheduled for October. But IBM insisted on being forthcoming. Gates was furious. He realized this could wean IBM off its dependence on Microsoft operating systems. “NeXTSTEP isn’t compatible with anything,” he raged to IBM executives.

乔布斯希望直到10月份NeXT电脑隆重推出之前，都不让比尔·盖茨知道他与IBM的合作。但是，IBM坚持立即宣布。盖茨得知后怒不可遏。他很清楚，这可能会让IBM失去对微软操作系统的依赖。“NeXTSTEP和任何东西都不兼容。”他愤怒地对IBM的高管说。

At first Jobs seemed to have pulled off Gates’s worst nightmare. Other computer makers that were beholden to Microsoft’s operating systems, most notably Compaq and Dell, came to ask Jobs for the right to clone NeXT and license NeXTSTEP. There were even offers to pay a lot more if NeXT would get out of the hardware business altogether.

起初，乔布斯似乎成了盖茨最可怕的噩梦。其他依赖于微软操作系统的电脑制造商也找到乔布斯，让其授权复制NeXT和使用NeXTSTEP，其中最著名的是康柏公司和戴尔公司。甚至有公司表示如果NeXT放弃硬件业务，愿意付更高的价钱。

That was too much for Jobs, at least for the time being. He cut off the clone discussions. And he began to cool toward IBM. The chill became reciprocal. When the person who made the deal at IBM moved on, Jobs went to Armonk to meet his replacement, Jim Cannavino. They cleared the room and talked one-on-one. Jobs demanded more money to keep the relationship going and to license newer versions of NeXTSTEP to IBM. Cannavino made no commitments, and he subsequently stopped returning Jobs’s phone calls. The deal lapsed. NeXT got a bit of money for a licensing fee, but it never got the chance to change the world.

这对乔布斯来说太多了，至少在当时是。他停止了复制NeXT的讨论，对IBM的态度也开始冷淡，这慢慢发展为相互的冷淡。当IBM发起该项合作的人离职后，乔布斯来到阿蒙克会见其继任者吉姆·坎纳维诺（JimCannavino）。两人进行了一对一的谈话。乔布斯提出，IBM需要支付更多的钱才能继续双方的合作并得到NeXTSTEP更新版本的授权。坎纳维诺没有作出任何承诺，他随后也拒绝回复乔布斯的来电。于是，之前的合同中止了。NeXT公司得到了一笔授权费，但始终没有得到改变世界的机会。