微軟各方面正式步入中年
While you were running Saturday errands, the world’s biggest software company celebrated its 40th birthday. Yes, seriously.
上週六，當你正享受週末時，全球最大的軟件公司正在慶祝自己的40歲生日。In a letter sent to employees, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (still a technical advisor) predicts computing will evolve more quickly over the next decade than ever but is still too far out of reach for many people.
在一封致員工的公開信中，微軟聯合創始人、目前仍擔任該公司技術顧問的比爾o蓋茨預計，計算機技術在今後十年的發展速度將比以往任何時候更快，但仍有許多人無法接觸到它們。
“So I hope you will think about what you can do to make the power of technology accessible to everyone, to connect people to each other, and make personal computing available everywhere even as the very notion of what a PC delivers makes its way into all devices,” he wrote.
蓋茨寫道：“所以我希望你們想想自己能做些什麼，來讓科技的力量惠及每一個人，將人們互聯起來，使個人計算普及到世界各地，正如個人電腦傳達的觀念影響了所有設備一樣。”
Of course, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of other companies—both large and small—that would love to solve that problem at Microsoft’s expense.
顯然，只要微軟不在乎損失，搶着想解決這個問題的大大小小的公司大有人在。Mere toddlers like collaboration software upstart Slack, flirting with a $2 billion valuation, are challenging its dominance in productivity software.
最年輕一代中的有剛成立幾年的團隊協作軟件公司Slack，其估值已經迅速達到20億美元，以它爲代表的這些新生力量正在挑戰微軟在生產力軟件上的統治地位。Twenty-something Amazon Web Services and teenager Google are making things tough in the data center realm. And despite itsexpensive Nokia investment, Microsoft can’t seem to get more people to trade in their Apple and Samsung smartphones.
年紀大一些的有“20多歲”的亞馬遜網絡服務和“十幾歲”的谷歌，它們讓微軟在數據中心業務上的處境日益艱難。儘管微軟在諾基亞上投資不菲，但卻無力阻止越來越多的人購買蘋果和三星智能手機。As it enters its fifth decade, does Microsoft have the energy to combat competition on so many different fronts? That’s up to company’s third CEO, Satya Nadella. After spending his early days rightsizing the company (the last round of Microsoft’s biggest layoff ever was apparently completed last week), he is busy acting as different from his immediate predecessor, Steve Ballmer, as possible.
隨着微軟進入第5個十年，它是否還有精力多線作戰，在這麼多的領域展開競爭？這取決於該公司第三任首席執行官薩蒂亞o納德拉。他上任之初便開始優化公司規模（微軟史上最大規模的裁員剛剛在上週完成最後一輪），如今他正忙着推行改革，竭力彰顯自己跟前任史蒂夫o鮑爾默的不同之處。That’s evidenced in Microsoft’s relationship with Box. “We’re seeing a different Microsoft, and customers are seeking a different Microsoft,” Box CEO Aaron Levie said during Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference last July.
微軟與Box的關係就體現了這一點。Box公司首席執行官阿隆o列維在去年7月的《財富》科技頭腦風暴大會上表示：“我們看到的是一個不同的微軟，顧客也期待着一個不同的微軟。”Nadella has already pulled off a few refreshing surprises. Consider the company’s $2.5 billion buyout of the wildly successful Minecraft developer last September or the January sneak peek at the company’s virtual reality interface, HoloLens.
納德拉已經帶來了一些令人眼前一亮的驚喜。微軟在去年9月以25億美元的價格收購了大獲成功的遊戲《我的世界》的開發商，又在今年1月發佈了虛擬現實產品HoloLens。Officially speaking, the upcoming Windows 10 launch, which will be sold under a new subscription mode, will be the first big test of Nadella’s leadership. But in my mind, attracting and retaining the talent to keep Microsoft relevant throughout its fifth decade could be his biggest challenge as CEO. There’s a reason so many people are interested in the new book from Google’s human resources chief.
根據官方說法，即將以全新訂閱模式發售的Window 10將會是納德拉領導能力面臨的第一次大考。不過在我看來，在第五個十年裏，如何吸引和留住人才，進而保持微軟的競爭力，纔是納德拉作爲首席執行官面對的最大挑戰。如此多的人對谷歌人力資源主管的新書感興趣，是有原因的。Nadella’s misguided comments last fall about women in technology didn’t help. That’s why one of the most important strategic decisions early in his tenure came in November, when Nadella promoted Kathleen Hogan from a customer-facing role to run human resources.
納德拉去年秋天對科技界女性的不當言論，可幫不了他（他建議女性不要主動要求加薪）。這也是他爲什麼要在任期之初的11月就做出一項最爲重要的戰略決定——將負責客戶公關的凱瑟琳o霍根提拔至人力資源部門擔任領導。Hogan’s resume includes leading the Microsoft services organization; she also was a developer at Oracle and a partner at consulting firm McKinsey. Her mandate: lead Microsoft’s cultural transformation and ensure “Microsoft remains the best, most inclusive place to work.”
霍根曾是微軟服務部門的負責人，還擔任過甲骨文的開發人員以及諮詢公司麥肯錫的合夥人。她的任務是：領導微軟的文化轉型，保證“微軟仍是最好、最具包容性的工作場所”。
