鲍尔默旗帜鲜明地禁止员工使用iphone

　　微软公司(microsoft corp.)的员工都是科技新玩意儿的狂热使用者，不过有一件他们喜欢的科技产品让这家公司里的许多人讳莫如深：那就是iphone手机。
　　microsoft corp. employees are passionate users of the latest tech toys. but there is one gadget love that many at the company dare not name: the iphone.

　　iphone当然是由微软的宿敌苹果公司(apple inc.)制造的。这一产品的成功无时无刻不在提醒微软管理者，他们在手机业务领域的竞争在最近几年处于下风。而尤其让人感到难过的是微软的许多员工都是iphone迷。
　　the iphone is made, of course, by microsoft's longtime rival, apple inc. the device's success is a nagging reminder for microsoft executives of how the company's own efforts to compete in the mobile business have fallen short in recent years. what is especially painful is that many of microsoft's own employees are nuts for the device.

　　对于微软的员工而言，使用iphone手机的风险在去年9月份显现了出来。在美国西雅图一处体育馆里举行的全公司大会上，一个倒霉的微软员工用自己的iphone手机为微软首席执行长鲍尔默(steve ballmer)拍照。据当时在现场的人士透露，鲍尔默在数千名微软的员工面前，从这名员工的手中夺过iphone、放到地上，并装作要跺上几脚的样子。鲍尔默使用的手机来自不同的生产厂商，它们运行的都是微软的手机软件。
　　the perils of being an iphone user at microsoft were on display last september. at an all-company meeting in a seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iphone to snap photos of microsoft chief executive steve ballmer. mr. ballmer snatched the iphone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of microsoft workers, according to people present. mr. ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on microsoft's mobile phone software.

　　微软发言人拒绝置评，也拒绝让该公司管理人员就此事接受访问。
　　a microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment and declined to make executives available for this story.

　　苹果公司首席执行长乔布斯(steve jobs)将有关微软员工使用iphone的问询电邮转交该公司发言人处理，该发言人拒绝置评。
　　apple ceo steve jobs referred an email asking about iphone use at microsoft to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment.

　　尽管鲍尔默上演了这样一出戏，微软公司的iphone使用者仍是随处可见。在地处西雅图郊区的微软园区里，员工们在会议室、餐厅和大厅里摆弄着iphone的触摸屏。在微软的高层管理者中，j•阿拉德(j allard)就是一名iphone用户。他帮助微软制造出了xbox游戏机，也是娱乐和设备部门的负责人。
　　despite mr. ballmer's theatrics, iphone users are in plain sight at microsoft. at the sprawling campus here in a seattle suburb, workers peck away on their iphone touch-screens in conference rooms, cafeterias and lobbies. among the top microsoft executives who use the iphone is j allard, who helped create the xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices division.

　　去年有近一万人通过iphone手机访问了微软公司的员工电子邮件系统，两位知情者表示，他们从微软高管那里听说了这个数字。这一数字相当于微软全球员工总数的大约10%。
　　nearly 10,000 iphone users were accessing the microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior microsoft executives. that figure equals about 10% of the company's global work force.

　　而与之相反，苹果的员工似乎更加忠实于本公司的手机产品。许多在苹果公司工作或者经常和该公司员工接触的人士表示，他们在最近的记忆中想不起苹果员工除了iphone之外还使用过其他手机。
　　employees at apple, in contrast, appear to be more devoted to the company's own mobile phone. several people who work at the company or deal regularly with employees there say they can't recall seeing apple workers with mobile phones other than the iphone in recent memory.

　　苹果和微软这两大科技业巨头间的竞争涵盖从电脑操作系统到数字音乐播放器各个领域，微软员工使用iphone是其中最新出现的一段插曲。
　　iphone usage at microsoft is the latest twist in the rivalry between apple and microsoft, tech-industry titans that have mixed it up in everything from computer operating systems to digital music players.

　　对于许多微软高管来说，在办公室看到那么多的iphone有点儿像是可口可乐公司(coca-cola co.)的经理人看到下属喝起了百事可乐(pepsi)──尤其是在微软开始生产自己的手机操作系统windows phone之后。
　　for many top microsoft executives, seeing so many iphones around the office is a bit like how a coca-cola co. manager might feel seeing underlings drink pepsi -- especially since microsoft makes its own operating system, windows phone, that powers handsets.

　　微软员工使用iphone引发了微软管理层的热烈讨论。在去年3月数十名微软高层管理者在公司园区的内部活动中，有人在问答环节提出了有关员工使用iphone的问题。
　　employee iphone use has led to some spirited discussions among microsoft executives. at a retreat last march for dozens of senior microsoft executives at its corporate campus, someone asked about employee use of iphones in a question-and-answer period.

　　据几位当事人透露，负责手机软件业务开发的微软高级副总裁李斯(andy lees)和他的老板巴奇(robbie bach)解释说，微软员工经常使用竞争对手的产品以便更好地了解竞争情况。
　　according to several people present, andy lees, a microsoft senior vice president who oversees development of the mobile-phone software business, and his boss, robbie bach, explained that microsoft workers often use rival products to better understand the competition.

　　这些当事人表示，微软的首席运营长特纳(kevin turner)对这种解释嗤之以鼻。特纳说，他反对微软的销售人员使用iphone手机，这些当事人补充说。特纳说，“对业务有益，对微软就有益。”听到了特纳这番言论的一名当事人回忆道。
　　kevin turner, chief operating officer, scoffed at that explanation, these people said. mr. turner said he discouraged microsoft's sales force from using the iphone, they added. 'what's good for the field is good for redmond,' mr. turner said, recalls one of the people who heard his comments.

　　鲍尔默在会议上也持相似立场。
　　mr. ballmer took a similar stance at the meeting.

　　数名与会者表示，鲍尔默对这些高管说，他在底特律长大，他的父亲为福特汽车公司(ford motor co.)工作，他的家人一直开着福特车。
　　he told executives that he grew up in detroit, where his father worked for ford motor co., and that his family always drove fords, according to several people at the meeting.

　　2009年初微软修改了公司的手机政策，只对那些使用运行windows phone软件的手机的员工提供手机费补贴。在某些员工看来，微软此举意在打击iphone手机。
　　in what some employees interpreted as a sign that microsoft was clamping down on the iphone, the company in early 2009 modified its corporate cellphone policy to only reimburse service fees for employees using phones that run on windows phone software.

　　微软则表示，这项政策改变是削减成本计划的一部分。
　　microsoft has said it made the change as part of a broader cost-cutting plan.

　　一些微软员工煞费苦心地隐藏他们的iphone手机。普通员工一般会在同事面前公开使用iphone，而有些人则会在级别更高的管理人士面前把iphone藏起来。一名微软员工表示，他知道有几名同事试图用外套来伪装他们的iphone，让iphone看起来更像是一般的手机。
　　some microsoft workers take pains to hide their iphones. while rank-and-file workers tend to use the iphone openly around peers, some conceal them within sight of more senior executives. one microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iphones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets.

　　“我每年可能会有一次机会和鲍尔默见面，”这名员工表示。“在那个时候，无论谁打来电话，我都不会接。”
　　'maybe once a year i'm in a meeting with steve ballmer,' said this employee. 'it doesn't matter who's calling, i'm not answering my phone.'

　　有些管理者已经公开地放弃使用iphone手机。微软商业部门总裁埃洛普(stephen elop)在鲍尔默2008年初把他挖到微软之前使用的是苹果的产品。不过在加入微软后的一次销售代表会议上，埃洛普为了重现一段流行的互联网视频，将他的个人iphone投入了工业用搅拌器并销毁了它，一位当时在场的人士回忆说。
　　some executives have openly renounced their iphones. stephen elop, president of microsoft's business division, used apple products before mr. ballmer lured him to microsoft in early 2008. but at a meeting of microsoft sales representatives after joining, mr. elop placed his personal iphone into an industrial-strength blender and destroyed it in a reenactment of a popular internet video, says one witness.

　　还有些人对他们的iphone手机则不那么避讳。微软软件工程师林(eugene lin)最近在西雅图发表公开讲话宣称，他在业余时间里为iphone开发软件。他的作品之一：一个名为peekaboo的颇具挑逗性的应用程序，该程序能让人们一窥穿着暴露的女性漫画人物。林在西雅图讲话的youtube视频已经播放了超过7.3万次。林并未回应置评请求。
　　others remain less shy about their iphones. microsoft software engineer eugene lin recently gave a public talk in seattle about developing software for the iphone in his spare time. one of his creations: a racy application called peekaboo that lets people ogle scantily clad cartoon women. a youtube video of the seattle talk by mr. lin, who didn't respond to messages seeking comment, has been viewed more than 73,000 times.

　　微软并不是一概反对员工使用苹果产品，部分原因在于微软为苹果公司提供部分软件和服务。在生产office软件mac版本的微软小组里，苹果的macintosh电脑就随处可见。
　　microsoft isn't uniformly opposed to employees using apple products, in part because it makes some software and services for them. apple's macintosh computers are common in the microsoft group that makes the mac version of its office software.

　　尽管如此，苹果在手机领域取得的优势还是让微软难以接受。
　　still, apple's ascendancy in mobile phones has been tough to stomach.

　　根据comscore inc.的数据，在截至1月31日的三个月里，iphone占据着美国智能手机市场25.1%的份额，而使用windows phone软件的手机只占到了15.7%。
　　the iphone accounted for 25.1% of the u.s. smartphone market during the three months ending jan. 31, compared with 15.7% for phones running windows phone software, according to comscore inc.

　　windows系统手机在某些方面落后于iphone，其中包括苹果流畅的网页浏览器和用于下载软件的app store。
　　windows mobile phones have lagged some of the innovations of the iphone, including apple's slick web browser and the app store for downloading software onto the device.

　　不过，微软员工和其他业内人士对于微软手机软件的升级版本windows phone 7系列都给予了积极的评价。该版本预计将赶在今年假期前发布。
　　but there's positive buzz among microsoft employees and others in the technology industry about an overhauled version of its software, windows phone 7 series, expected to be on handsets in time for the holidays.

　　有一个人并没有投身iphone热潮，他就是微软共同创始人和董事长比尔•盖茨(bill gates)。在今年1月的《每日脱口秀》(the daily show)节目上，主持人斯图尔特(jon stewart)问盖茨说，在2008年退出微软日常管理投身慈善事业后他是否可以拥有一部iphone手机。
　　one person who isn't jumping on the iphone bandwagon is co-founder and chairman bill gates. in an appearance on 'the daily show' in january, host jon stewart asked mr. gates if he can have an iphone since leaving full-time duties at microsoft in 2008 to focus on philanthropy.

　　“我是个非常忠实的微软用户，”盖茨回答说。
　　'i'm a very loyal microsoft user,' mr. gates replied.

　　nick wingfield