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Business Microsoft and Intel Wintel swings
商業 微軟和英特爾 微軟和英特爾各覓新歡
The marriage that dominated personal computing becomes more open
強強聯姻主導個人電腦市場之勢日趨明朗
TOGETHER Microsoft, the maker of the Windows operating system, and Intel, the world's biggest maker of semiconductors, used to rule the world of personal computing.
微軟（Windows操作系統的開發者）和英特爾（世界最大的半導體制造商），曾聯手統治了個人電腦市場。
Now that new computers are as likely to sit in people's hands as on their desks or laps, life for the Wintel couple is less comfy.
然時代變遷，如今的電腦已不再局限于放在桌上、膝上，還能持于手上。于是乎，微軟和英特爾這兩口子也開始心猿意馬。
On September 13th, at their annual conferences for software developers, both claimed to have found new zest—not least from dallying with other partners.
就在9月13號，一年一度的軟件開發大會上，兩口子都宣布已有了新的對象——不僅僅只是和別人眉目傳情、暗送秋波了。
Gartner, a research and consulting firm, expects that this year only 3.8% more laptop and desktop PCs will be shipped than in 2010.
研究與顧問咨詢公司高德納預計，今年的筆記本和臺式個人電腦的發貨量較2010年頂多增長3.8%。
That is partly because people have tightened their belts, but also because they are snapping up tablets and smartphones.
這里面部分是因為現在的人都在拉緊褲腰帶生活，但也有部分原因是他們都去搶購平板電腦和智能手機了。
Both Microsoft and Intel have struggled to adjust.
對此，微軟和英特爾都是心急如焚，急于轉變。
The phone version of Windows has had good reviews but was installed in only 1.6% of smartphones sold in the second quarter; Google's mobile operating system, Android, scooped 43%.
Windows手機綜合測評不錯，但第二季度只有售出的智能手機只有1.6%是安裝其操作系統。而谷歌的安卓操作系統卻抱走了43%的市場份額。
Windows' share of tablets is minuscule.
在平板電腦市場Windows所占份額更可謂是芝麻粒豆。
And in markets where battery life is prized, economical chips designed by ARM, a British company, have made the running.
再者，在如今這個極其重視電池續航能力的市場情況下，節能型芯片可謂是前景廣闊，而英國ARM公司在這方面已是先拔頭籌。
Intel has made virtually no impression in tablets and none at all in smartphones.
可憐的英特爾對平板電腦市場幾無影響，對智能手機更是無比汗顏。
Both firms boasted this week of liaisons with others.
本周，微軟和英特爾都在高調宣傳他們的新感情生活。
Intel and Google said that future versions of Android would be tuned for Atom, Intel's family of low-power processors.
英特爾和谷歌結了姻，英特爾家族的節能處理器凌動未來將會和安卓系統合體，預計將會于明年上半年誕生。
Phones with Intel inside should be on sale in the first half of next year. Microsoft showed off the next version of its operating system, code-named Windows 8, using ARM chips.
另一方面，微軟則看上了ARM，并對他們的后代表示出極高的自信，冠以Windows 8的美名。
It wants to reassure the army of developers who write programs to run in Windows that these will be just as reliable as Intel's.
微軟此舉也就是想消除那些開發Windows系統軟件的人們的疑慮，表明此產物會如與因特爾所產的那樣穩定可靠。
Microsoft also told developers how easy it would be to create applications for Windows 8 and to put them in a "Windows Store".
同時，微軟也一直向應用軟件開發人員們宣傳為Windows 8制做軟件并存入Windows軟件商店是何其地容易。
Happy developers are essential, because the more apps they create, the more users will want to use Windows 8.
軟件開發者開心是必須的，因為這樣才會有更多的應用軟件，也就會吸引越多的用戶使用Windows 8。
Better still for both users and developers, the system will run on everything from PCs to smartphones.
此外，這個系統將運行于從個人電腦到智能手機的所有平臺，這對用戶和開發都來說可謂是喜上加喜。
Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft's Windows division, says Windows has been "re-imagined".
Windows 部門主管Steven Sinofsky說道，Windows 已經重新設計了用戶界面。
A user sees chunky "tiles", as on a Windows smartphone today, rather than small icons; and he can view two apps at once, which he cannot do on an iPad.
用戶將看到像現在Windows智能手機上那樣的瓷磚式的顯示，而不是小的圖標。它還能同時瀏覽兩個應用程序，這是在iPad上也沒有的功能。
The system is designed for touch-screens, common on mobile devices but not yet on PCs—though you can use a keyboard or mouse if you like.
目前這個系統只能在觸屏移動設備上運行，個人電腦版的尚未發布，但是如果你想的話，只要接上鍵盤和鼠標，看起來和PC也沒什么兩樣。
Writing off either of these giants, even after their slow start, would be daft.
不管是微軟，還是英特爾，盡管他們近來反應遲鈍，但無視他們都是一種愚蠢的行為。
Intel is probably closing the power-consumption gap with ARM.
英特爾完全有可能縮小與ARM 間的能耗差距。
Microsoft claims to have 450m users of Windows 7, the operating system's latest incarnation on PCs.
微軟也聲稱其擁有4.5億的用戶正在使用其最新的個人電腦操作系統Windows 7。
Many of these, and people with older versions, may upgrade, especially if they can use the same system on all their devices, at home or at work.
由于Windows8能在所有的設備上運行，不管是在家里還是在工作單位都可以使用一樣的操作系統，所以眾多的windows7以及更舊版本的用戶都可能會選擇升級。
Even so, the clock is ticking, especially for tablets, where the competition will get fiercer.
盡管如此，還是必須爭分奪秒，尤其是對平板電腦這種日新月異、競爭激烈的商品而言。
Apple's iPad2 is selling like, well, an iPad.
蘋果的iPad2 正如其一代iPad 一樣熱銷。
By the time Windows 8 tablets appear, a third version may well have won Apple even more customers.
待到Windows 8平板上市時，蘋果的第三版平板可能已經搶占了更多用戶。
Amazon, buoyed by the success of its Kindle e-reader, is expected to launch an Android tablet within weeks.
Kindle電子書閱讀器的成功也鼓舞了亞馬遜，預計其安卓平板也將在數周內上市。
Its vast online shop, selling much more than books, may be a draw.
其在線銷售多種產品的綜合網上商城，將會是其一大助力。
Other Android tablets are arriving all the time.
其他安卓平板也將陸續上市。
Some contenders, such as Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, have already stumbled; HP has all but given up.
其他一些競爭者，像動態研究通信公司（黑莓智能手機制造商），如今已是跌跌撞撞、蹣跚而行。
"The longer they [Microsoft] leave it," says Carolina Milanesi of Gartner, "the more consumers will have found an alternative, and not just for tablets but for PCs too."
惠普則已是放棄了。"微軟要是再拖拉下去，"高德納的Carolina Milanesi說道，"將會有更多的消費者選擇其他替代產品，而且這不局限于平板電腦，個人電腦也是同樣的。"
