微軟新CEO納德拉愛說大實話
Journalist Michael Kinsley famously defined a political gaffe as "when a politician tells the truth -- some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say." Satya Nadella, Microsoft's (MSFT) neophyte CEO, might just be giving truth-telling by public figures a good name by turning Kinsley's dictum on its head. Nadella is developing a specialty in the highly unusual practice of answering questions directly and truthfully.
記者邁克爾·金斯利曾有一句著名的論斷，他說，政客的失態就是“說了實話——而且是一些不該說的大實話。”這句話現在可以套在微軟（Microsoft）新任CEO薩蒂亞o納德拉的頭上了。如今的人們難得從公衆人物口中聽到一句大實話，但納德拉在回答問題時“不走尋常路”地坦率和真誠頗有些特立獨行。A case in point: Asked at an industry conference Tuesday night why Microsoft has issued a touch-enabled version of Microsoft Office for the iPad but not yet for Microsoft's own Surface tablet, Nadella chose candor. "We wanted to make sure we have full-touch Office on the platform with the most market share," he said.
比如在上週二晚上的一次行業會議上，當被問到微軟爲什麼選擇在iPad上發佈全觸屏版的微軟Office軟件而不是選擇自家的Surface平板時，納德拉坦率地承認：“我們想確保把全觸屏版的Office軟件發佈在市場份額最大的平臺上。”That statement is startling only because of the departure it represents from Microsoft's past. Of course Microsoft needs to be on the iPad, far and away the tablet market leader. In fact, it raises the question of what took Microsoft so long. Amazon (AMZN), for instance, understands the importance of its Kindle app on the iPad. Years ago, Apple figured out how critical it was to produce a version of iTunes for Microsoft's Windows operating software. iTunes may have been created for the Macintosh, but the Mac's share was tiny compared to Windows-enabled PCs. So Apple (AAPL) went where the users were.
這句話之所以讓人驚訝，只是因爲它代表微軟終於不再沉醉於過去的輝煌。微軟當然需要把自家軟件放在iPad上，畢竟iPad在平板電腦市場上的領軍地位無人可及。實際上，令人費解的是，微軟爲什麼花了這麼多時間纔想明白這個問題。亞馬遜（Amazon）早就明白了把Kindle應用放在iPad上的重要性。另外早在幾年以前，蘋果（Apple）就明白了發佈一款兼容微軟Windows系統的iTunes有多重要。雖然iTunes是專門爲Mac系統開發的，但Mac電腦的份額還是遠遠比不上安裝Windows系統的電腦，因此蘋果選擇了“跟着用戶走”的戰略。
Nadella isn't for abandoning Microsoft's devices. He said Microsoft's software needs to work on all devices, including its own. But, he said, "we want to get usage."
納德拉並不是要放棄微軟的自家設備。他表示，微軟的軟件需要在所有設備上都能工作，當然也包括他們自己的設備。不過他也說：“我們希望的是我們的軟件有人用。”Nadella spoke some truth in other areas as well. Grilled by veteran journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the new version of their old industry event in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Nadella said Microsoft builds devices to help create demand -- not because it wants to be a device manufacturer. "Software is the most malleable resource," he said, an interesting word choice. "In order to be in the hunt you need to build devices. You need to be all in." He also didn't mince words on the failures of Microsoft and its partners compared with Apple. "The PC ecosystem needs new innovation," he said. In fact, he thinks Microsoft needs to build the "next new thing." That's a tall order, but a good aspiration.
納德拉在其它一些領域的問題上也說過一些實話。在這場於加州派洛斯福德莊舉辦的行業會議上，經驗豐富的記者沃特o莫斯伯格和卡拉o斯威舍輪番發問，從納德拉口中榨出了不少“乾貨”。納德拉表示，微軟之所以生產硬件設備是爲了建立需求，而不是因爲它想當一個設備製造商。他的用詞也非常有意思：“軟件是最有可塑性的資源，爲了參與到‘打獵’中，你就需要製造硬件。需要全力參與進去。”他也絲毫沒有掩飾微軟及其合作廠商相對於蘋果的失敗。他指出：“PC生態系統需要新的創新。”他認爲微軟需要創造出“下一個新產品。”這是個很高的要求，不過算是一個很好的目標。The Microsoft CEO revealed no new strategic initiatives. He defended Microsoft's commitment to search and to its recently completed acquisition of Nokia, calling the first core technology and the latter a "means to an end," namely a toehold in mobile software through ownership of a big device maker. He unveiled a nifty product called Skype Translate that enables callers on the Microsoft-owned Skype service to speak to each other in their native language and have their dialogue translated by a computer and spoken out loud. (The demo was conducted in English and German.)
不過納德拉沒有透露微軟下一步有哪些戰略舉措。但他爲微軟在搜索方面所做的努力以及最近完成的收購諾基亞（Nokia）的案子做了辯解。他把搜索稱爲一項“核心技術”，把收購諾基亞稱爲“達到目的的一種手段”，也就是通過收購一個大型設備廠商，在移動軟件領域建立一個立足點。另外他還公佈了一款叫做“Skype翻譯”的產品。兩個不同國家的用戶通過Skype服務互相用母語打電話時，他們的對話會自動經過電腦翻譯向對方大聲念出來。（現場展示用的是英語和德語。）The CEO, whose demeanor is the polar opposite of his predecessor, Steve Ballmer, spent some time telling his personal story. Two of his three children have special needs, he said, one being a quadriplegic. He said he struggles all the time with work-life balance. An only child, Nadella credited his economist father and literature-professor mother with not pressuring him to succeed academically and professionally, an unusual posture for middle-class Indian parents of his time, he said.
納德拉的個人風格可以說與他的前任史蒂夫o鮑爾默截然相反。納德拉在會上也講述了自己的人生經歷。他的三個孩子有兩個患有殘疾，其中一個患有四肢癱瘓。納德拉表示，他一直都在努力尋找工作和家庭的平衡。納德拉小時候是家裏唯一的孩子，父親是位經濟學家，母親是文學教授，但是他們並沒有強迫納德納必須獲得什麼學業上或職業上的成就，這一點也和同時代的許多印裔中產階級家庭的父母截然不同。A truth-teller though he may be, Nadella isn't above the occasional chief-executive-level platitude -- or outright whopper. Asked to assess the latest Surface tablet, he called it "promising," acknowledging that that's what you call a product that hasn't succeeded yet. On the subject of assessing Google, Nadella sounded like his peers in CEO-land. "I don't know what Google's strengths and weaknesses are because I don't think about that," he said. That one is tough to believe, and one almost hopes he's fibbing in this case. Nobody's perfect.
雖然納德拉愛說實話，但有時也難免說出一些企業高管慣用的陳詞濫調，甚至是違心的話。比如當問到如何看待微軟最新版的Surface平板時，他稱其爲一款“有希望”的產品，一般人們都用這個詞來描述一款還沒有取得成功的產品。當被問到如何看待谷歌的優勢和劣勢時，納德拉也像其他CEO一樣打起了官腔：“我不瞭解谷歌的優勢和劣勢，因爲我不去考慮這個問題。”這一點很難讓人相信，甚至讓人感覺他是在撒謊。不過，畢竟人無完人。Google co-founder Sergey Brin didn't add much to the conversation about Google's strengths and weaknesses in his onstage interview. Brin explained his curious status as board member, pal of CEO Larry Page and head of Google X, the company's "moonshot" arm. In effect, he runs the relatively small research group -- responsible for such initiatives as Google Glass, self-driving cars and high-altitude balloons for delivering Internet access -- and not much else. He said, quite credibly, that he's happy to leave all the headaches of running a giant company to Page.
谷歌（Google）共同創始人謝爾蓋o布林上臺接受採訪時，對谷歌的優勢和劣勢也沒有講太多。布林解釋了自己在谷歌公司的角色——既是董事會成員，又是CEO拉里o佩奇的哥們兒，同時也是谷歌最神祕的部門——Google X實驗室的負責人。Google X是一個相對較小的研發團體，主要負責研發像谷歌眼鏡、無人駕駛汽車和能爲地面覆蓋無線網絡信號的高空氣球等“高大上”的前沿項目。他由衷說，自己很高興能把管理這樣一家大公司的所有麻煩事都丟給拉里o佩奇。Brin let loose quite a handful of interesting nuggets during a rambling and often unfocused interview dominated by a discussion of self-driving cars. Google X has precisely eight projects, four of which Brin discussed, and he won't allow new ones until a current member of the class "graduates." He said the company has a group that is "approaching 1,000 people" working on Internet security. He said the company plans to build 100 to 200 self-driving cars and is working with automotive suppliers in the Detroit area, Germany and California. He quite candidly said "business questions" about driverless cars would be left for another day, a rather Googley and altogether believable assertion.
對布林的訪談雖然主要圍繞着自動駕駛汽車，不過也有一些閒聊的意味，布林在漫談中不時拋出一些有意思的猛料。比如谷歌X確切地說有8個正在進行的項目，布林討論了其中的四個項目。不過他表示，在現有的某個項目“畢業”之前，暫時不會上馬新項目了。他還表示，谷歌目前有一支“接近1000人”的團隊專門在搞網絡安全問題。另外他還說，谷歌計劃製造100到200輛無人駕駛汽車，而且目前谷歌正在與底特律、加州和德國的一些廠商展開合作。他坦率地說，關於無人駕駛汽車的“商業問題”還是留到將來的某一天再來討論爲好，這是一種“谷歌式”的官腔，但總體上還是可以相信的。Brin wore a version of Google Glass for a portion of the interview, and he pooh-poohed the controversy over the product, namely the meme in the media that only an obnoxious techie would wear the computerized spectacles in public. At the same time, Google knows it has a potentially contentious product on its hands. A member of the audience asked if Google glass could use facial recognition to help a user identify someone they are talking to -- a particularly alluring feature at an industry conference. "We've asked glass wear manufacturers not to put facial recognition in Glass," Brin said. "Society is still formulating its opinion on that."
布林在採訪中還戴了一會兒谷歌眼鏡。對於這款產品的爭議，也就是有媒體稱只有那些“技術宅”纔會在公共場合戴這樣一款電腦眼鏡的說法，布林表示很不以爲然。不過谷歌顯然知道這款眼鏡是一款有爭議的產品。比如有一名觀衆就提問道，谷歌眼鏡是否能加入面部識別功能，幫助用戶確認眼前的人的身份——這個功能對於這樣一次很多人蔘加的大會來說，的確是一個非常有吸引力的功能。布林說：“我們要求眼鏡加工廠商不要在眼鏡中加入面部識別功能。現在社會就這個問題還沒形成統一的意見。”Thus ended an evening with yet more truth-telling. Could it be a trend?
這個晚上就這樣以更多的實話結束了。它是否會成爲一種趨勢呢？
