战略函六

IBM just released an open-source office suite called IBM Lotus Symphony. Sounds like Yet Another StarOffice distribution. But I suspect they’re probably trying to wipe out the memory of the original Lotus Symphony, which had been hyped as the Second Coming and which fell totally flat. It was the software equivalent of Gigli.

IBM刚刚发布了一个名为IBM Lotus Symphony的开源办公套件。听起来像是另一个StarOffice发行版。但我怀疑他们可能是想抹去对最初的Lotus Symphony的记忆，它曾被吹嘘为第二春，但完全落空了。它是相当于Gigli的软件。

In the late 80s, Lotus was trying very hard to figure out what to do next with their flagship spreadsheet and graphics product, Lotus 1-2-3. There were two obvious ideas: first, they could add more features. Word processing, say. This product was called Symphony. Another idea which seemed obvious was to make a 3-D spreadsheet. That became 1-2-3 version 3.0.

在80年代末，Lotus公司非常努力地想知道他们的旗舰电子表格和图形产品Lotus 1-2-3的下一步该怎么做。有两个明显的想法：首先，他们可以增加更多的功能。比如说文字处理。这个产品被称为Symphony。另一个似乎很明显的想法是制作一个3-D电子表格。这成为1-2-3的3.0版。

Both ideas ran head-first into a serious problem: the old DOS 640K memory limitation. IBM was starting to ship a few computers with 80286 chips, which could address more memory, but Lotus didn’t think there was a big enough market for software that needed a $10,000 computer to run. So they squeezed and squeezed. They spent 18 months cramming 1-2-3 for DOS into 640K, and eventually, after a lot of wasted time, had to give up the 3D feature to get it to fit. In the case of Symphony, they just chopped features left and right.

这两个想法都一头撞上了一个严重的问题：旧的DOS 640K内存限制。IBM开始出货一些带有80286芯片的计算机，这些芯片可以处理更多的内存，但Lotus认为需要10000美元的计算机才能运行的软件没有足够大的市场。因此，他们不停地压榨，压榨。他们花了18个月的时间将DOS的1-2-3压缩到640K，最终，在浪费了大量的时间之后，不得不放弃3D功能以使其适应。在 "交响乐 "的例子中，他们只是左右逢源，砍掉了一些功能。

Neither strategy was right. By the time 123 3.0 was shipping, everybody had 80386s with 2M or 4M of RAM. And Symphony had an inadequate spreadsheet, an inadequate word processor, and some other inadequate bits.

这两种策略都不对。在123 3.0上市的时候，每个人都有200万或400万的内存的80386。而Symphony公司有一个不完善的电子表格，一个不完善的文字处理器，以及其他一些不完善的部分。

“That’s nice, old man,” you say. “Who gives a...