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.

喬布斯想出了一記漂亮的柔術招式來對抗蓋茨，這一招可能永遠改變計算機產業的權力制衡。這需要喬布斯違背自己的本性做兩件事：授權自己的軟件給另一個硬件制造商，并和IBM合作。喬布斯的個性有幾分務實，雖然不多，因此他能夠克服自己的不情愿。但是他從來沒有全心投入于此，這也就是為什么他同其他公司的聯盟會如此短暫。

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.

一切始于一次聚會，一次令人難忘的聚會。1987年6月，《華盛頓郵報》發行人凱瑟琳·格雷厄姆舉辦了她的70歲生日聚會，共有600位嘉賓出席，其中包括美國前總統羅納德·里根。喬布斯從加利福尼亞州趕來，IBM董事長約翰·埃克斯從紐約州過來。這是兩人第一次見面。喬布斯借此機會唱衰微軟，并試圖讓IBM放棄微軟的Windows操作系統。“我忍不住告訴他，IBM將整個軟件戰略都壓在微軟身上，這太冒險了，因為我不覺得微軟的軟件有多好。”喬布斯回憶說。

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.

令喬布斯髙興的是，埃克斯回應道：“你打算如何幫助我們呢？”沒過幾周，喬布斯就和軟件工程師巴德·特里布爾出現在IBM位于紐約州阿蒙克市的總部。他們演示了NeXT，令IBM的工程師難以忘懷。尤為意義重大的是，NeXT電腦面向對象的操作系統NeXTSTEP受到了格外關注。“NeXTSTEP會處理很多導致軟件開發過程遲緩的瑣碎的編程問題。”IBM智能終端部門的總經理安德魯·海勒（AndrewHeller）表示，他非常欣賞喬布斯，以至于也給自己的兒子起名為史蒂夫。

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.

雙方的談判一直持續到1988年，其間喬布斯對于微小的細節頻頻發怒。在顏色和設計問題上出現分歧時，他會在會議中途禽席，只有特里布爾或丹·盧因才能令他平靜下來。他不知道IBM還是微軟哪一個令自己更害怕。4月，佩羅決定在自己的達拉斯總部舉辦調停會議，一個令人震驚的交易就此誕生了——IBM將獲得授權使用NeXTSTEP軟件的目前版本，如果IBM喜歡這款軟件，將會用在自己的一些工作站上。IBM給NeXT發送了一份125頁的合同。喬布斯讀都沒讀就扔掉了。“別來這一套。”他邊說邊走出辦公室。他要一份只有幾頁的合同，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.

喬布斯希望直到10月份NeXT電腦隆重推出之前，都不讓比爾·蓋茨知道他與IBM的合作。但是，IBM堅持立即宣布。蓋茨得知后怒不可遏。他很清楚，這可能會讓IBM失去對微軟操作系統的依賴。“NeXTSTEP和任何東西都不兼容。”他憤怒地對IBM的高管說。

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，喬布斯似乎成了蓋茨最可怕的噩夢。其他依賴于微軟操作系統的電腦制造商也找到喬布斯，讓其授權復制NeXT和使用NeXTSTEP，其中最著名的是康柏公司和戴爾公司。甚至有公司表示如果NeXT放棄硬件業務，愿意付更高的價錢。

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.

這對喬布斯來說太多了，至少在當時是。他停止了復制NeXT的討論，對IBM的態度也開始冷淡，這慢慢發展為相互的冷淡。當IBM發起該項合作的人離職后，喬布斯來到阿蒙克會見其繼任者吉姆·坎納維諾（JimCannavino）。兩人進行了一對一的談話。喬布斯提出，IBM需要支付更多的錢才能繼續雙方的合作并得到NeXTSTEP更新版本的授權。坎納維諾沒有作出任何承諾，他隨后也拒絕回復喬布斯的來電。于是，之前的合同中止了。NeXT公司得到了一筆授權費，但始終沒有得到改變世界的機會。