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Microsoft (whose own topological machines are still at an early stage of development) offers access via Azure, its cloud-computing service,
微軟（該公司自己的拓撲量子計算機仍處于開發的早期階段）通過其云計算服務平臺Azure提供了
to machines from IonQ, Honeywell and a company called Quantum Circuits.
訪問IonQ、霍尼韋爾以及一家名為“量子電路”的量子計算公司機器的接口。
Amazon hosts machines from Rigetti, IonQ and D-Wave,
亞馬遜則群集了來自Rigetti、IonQ和D-Wave的機器，
a Canadian company that builds specialised, fixed-purpose computers called quantum annealers.
D-Wave是一家制造固定用途的專用計算機，也即所謂的“量子退火爐”的加拿大公司。
Rather than have hardware-makers come up with useful algorithms,
相比讓硬件制造商提供有用的算法，
the hope is that existing businesses, by being given access to the machines in this way, will invent such algorithms for themselves.
微軟和亞馬遜選擇了寄希望于現有企業，通過以這種方式為他們提供訪問量子計算機的權限，現有企業能夠自主開發這類算法。
With that in mind, says Krysta Svore, who leads Microsoft's quantum-computing research,
如此一來，微軟量子計算研究負責人克里斯塔·斯沃爾表示，
one task is to make those machines as easy as possible to use.
現有企業面臨的任務之一便是盡可能提高這些量子計算機的易用性。
The firm has developed tools intended to help customers wrap their brains around the counter-intuitive properties of quantum computers.
該公司已經開發出了一些工具，幫助客戶理解量子計算機的反直覺特性。
It has also developed software intended to smooth over differences between machines from different makers,
微軟還開發了旨在消除不同制造商不同機器差異的軟件，
so that programmers do not have to worry about whether they are marshalling ions or electrons.
如此一來，程序員便不必再擔心他們在編組的究竟是離子還是電子。
She compares this to the early days of classical computing,
她將這一工作與經典計算的早期開發做了類比，
when the development of compilers and early programming languages
正是有了那些開發工作，編譯器和早期編程語言的發展
freed human beings from the need to think in the ones and zeros of raw machine code.
才將人類從1和0這樣的原始機器代碼中解放了出來。
The big question is what all this is leading up to.
最關鍵的問題是：這一切努力最終的歸宿。
Despite the excitement, the industry's commercial pioneers have their work cut out for them.
盡管前景令人期待，該行業的商業先驅們依然還有很多工作要做。
There is plenty of promise, but, as yet, no certainty.
未來充滿了希望，但就目前來看，沒有一種希望是板上釘釘的。
Finding algorithms that are both commercially useful and simple enough to work within a NISQ machine's limitations is not easy.
要探索出既有商業用途，又能在NISQ機器的各種局限性下實現簡單操作的算法并不容易。
A report published last year by America's National Academy of Sciences reminded readers that no commercial applications are currently known to exist.
美國國家科學院去年發表的一份報告提醒讀者，這類算法目前尚不具備商業應用能力。
The first step, then, is to go looking.
那么，如今的第一步就是去看看。
The industry has been cheered by Google's demonstration last year of "quantum supremacy",
去年，該行業迎來了一大振奮人心的消息：谷歌展示了“量子（計算）的優越性”，
in which it used a NISQ machine to perform, with minutes of computing time,
該企業真的利用一臺NISQ機器，只用了幾分鐘的計算時間，
a calculation that would have taken thousands of years on classical hardware.
完成了一項傳統硬件需要數千年才能完成的計算任務。
Google's calculation was highly contrived and of little use in the real world.
盡管谷歌的計算任務人為痕跡較重，在現實生活中并沒有多大用處，
But it proved a point.
但至少說明了問題。
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