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無意見看見的文章,覺得很有趣 :P。點此看原連結。之前有提過 Eee PC,這篇則從外國人眼中來看 Eee PC。

The Most Hated Company In the PC Industry
January 4, 2008
By Mike Elgan

資訊產業最被討厭的公司?

Who in the hell is Asustek, and why does Microsoft hate them more than any other company in the industry? Why does Apple, Dell and Palm Computing hate them?
誰他媽的是 Asustek?為什麼 M$ 在產業界最討厭它了?為什麼蘋果、Dell 還有 Palm 都十分的恨它?

And why does Intel love them?
而為什麼 Intel 卻愛死它了?
Taiwan's Asustek -- better known as ASUS -- is one of the most interesting, innovative and fastest-growing companies in technology.

台灣的 Asustek,通常都稱為 ASUS (就華碩啦),是一個富有趣味、創造力且高速常長的科技公司。

At its core, Asustek makes motherboards -- more than any other company. Asustek motherboards are the heart of Sony's PlayStation 2 consoles, Apple MacBooks, Alienware PCs, and some HP computers.
華碩的核心,就是主機板啦,遠遠超過其他公司。鼎鼎大名 Sony 的 PS2、蘋果的 Macbooks、Alienware PCs (這啥?)、HP 的一些電腦,通通都用華碩的主機板。

But that's not why they're hated. The source of ire is a tiny laptop called the ASUS Eee PC. This open, flexible, relatively powerful, and very small laptop is notable for one feature above all: Its price. The Eee PC can be had for as little as $299. (Go here to read the reviews -- they're all positive.)
但是僅僅只是這樣的話,他們才不會被討厭。這些憤怒的來源,是來自於一個超小型的筆記型電腦,叫做 Asus Eee PC。這個開放、靈活但又相對勇猛且迷你的筆記型電腦被注意到,是一個原因:它的價格。Eee PC 僅僅只賣 299 美金。

Let's take a moment to ponder how cheap that is. This full-featured laptop costs $69 less than the 16 GB Apple iPod Touch. It's $100 less than an Amazon Kindle e-book reader. The most expensive configuration for the ASUS Eee PC on Amazon.com is $499.
讓我們花點時間來看看到底 Eee PC 有多便宜。這個完整的筆電比蘋果的 16 GB iPod Touch 便宜 69 美金,比 Amazon 的 Kindle e-book reader 便宜 100 美金。而最貴的 Eee PC 版本在 Amazon.com 只賣 499 美金。

Even though ASUS isn't a well-known consumer brand, and even though the company just started selling them in late 2007, the company expects to sell up to a half million units by March, and up to 5 million by 2009.
儘管華碩不是一個很知名的消費者品牌 (對國外而言),而且在 2007 下半旬才開始賣 Eee PC,華碩預期在三月會賣出 50 萬台,而在 2009 年賣出 500 萬台。

The reason Microsoft hates Asustek couldn't be more obvious. The Eee PC runs Linux (Xandros running KDE) and uses an appealing and innovative tabbed-based user interface developed by Asustek. The device also comes with OpenOffice, a Microsoft Office replacement, and Firefox. The entire system -- hardware, OS, office suite and applications -- costs $30 less than Amazon.com's discounted price for Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate alone. The Asus Eee PC is demonstrating to the world that its success depends on aggressively *avoiding* any Microsoft product.
而微軟討厭華碩的原因再也清楚不過了。Eee PC 跑的是 Linux (Xandros running KDE),並採用一個華碩自行研發具有吸引力且創新的 tabbed-based 使用者介面。這個筆電也採用 OpenOffice,還有 Firefox。整個系統,包括硬體、OS、office 相關軟體與應用程式,在 Amazon.com 上比單單一個 M$ Windows Vista Ultimate 還便宜 30 美金。而 Asus Eee PC 向全世界展示了,它的成功來自於主動迴避所有微軟的產品。

Apple and Dell hate Asustek because these companies have been planning for quite a while to introduce flash storage-based mini laptops. But by the time they get around to shipping, the ASUS Eee PC will have already gobbled up some of the market. Worse, the ASUS Eee PC is preemptively poisoning the well by applying enormous price pressure on these two companies.
蘋果和 Dell 討厭華碩的原因則是因為他們都計畫一段時間後要導入 flash 硬碟的迷你筆電。但是當他們還在運送這些玩意的時候,Eee PC 已經在市場上攻城掠地啦。更慘的是,Eee PC 已經先發制人的給這兩家公司巨大的價格壓力。

In truth, Apple isn't all that concerned because they'll do what they do, and the masses will respond. But poor Dell. That company's flash-based mini-laptop will probably cost five times as much as the ASUS. It will be 10% better and 500% more expensive than the ASUS Eee PC. Good luck with that, Dell!
事實上,蘋果應該完全不鳥這些,因為他們只做他們的事情,且大眾也會回應。但可憐的 Dell,它的 flash-based 迷你筆電恐怕是 Eee PC 的五倍。他比 Eee PC 好 10% 但卻貴 500%!祝它好運。

Palm, Inc. hates Asustek because the company has made a fool out of them. Palm announced in May its Foleo mini-laptop. The device was slightly bigger than the ASUS Eee PC, but less capable and twice the price. The Foleo focused on connecting to the Internet through Palm's own line of giant cell phones. While many think Palm "killed" the Foleo, they in fact only killed the idea of shipping with a Linux-based OS.
Palm, Inc. 討厭華碩的原因則是因為自己白爛。Palm 在五月宣佈他們的 Foleo 迷你筆電,這玩意約比 Eee PC 略大一些,有較少的能力卻有兩倍的價格。Foleo 主要是專注在從 Palm 自己的超巨大手機線路連接網路。通常許多人認為 Palm 「殺了」 Foleo,事實上它們殺的是採用 Linux-based 作業系統的點子。

In his blog announcement, Palm's CEO vowed to come back with a Foleo-like device that runs the same proprietary OS that powers Palm's next-generation of cell phones. By the time Palm gets around to shipping something, the market will be saturated with millions of ASUS Eee PCs on the low end, and thousands of Apple and Dell units on the high end.
在他的 blog 公告中,Palm 的 CEO 發誓會弄出 Foleo-like 的東西,且是跑和 Palm 下個世代手機相同性質的 OS。而當 Palm 終於準備要開始賣的時候,市場上低階的部份早已被數百萬個 Eee PC 佔滿,高階的部份則也被數千個蘋果或 Dell 機器搶光。

Meanwhile, Intel loves Asustek. The ASUS Eee PC is powered by -- you guessed it! -- an Intel processor, namely the 900 MHz Intel Celeron-M. More than that, Intel respects Asustek for its engineering prowess. Intel discovered this fact when the company was struggling in the 1990s to fix a range of design flaws in its own 486 motherboard prototypes. Asustek was able to fix it, and in fact already had a fully operational motherboard for the chipset before Intel did. Since then, the companies have been very close.
在此時刻,Intel 卻愛死華碩了。Eee PC 用了啥,猜猜看,答案是:一顆 Intel Celeron-M 900Mhz。比起這個,Intel 更尊敬華碩的工程實力。Intel 發現在 90 年代他們為了處理一系列他們自己 486 主機板 prototypes 的 design flaws 在苦苦掙扎時,華碩已經有能力修好他們,而且事實上華碩在 Intel 之前就已經有了完整功能的主機板支援晶片組。

Now rumors are circulating that a new Intel Merom-based ASUS Eee PC that may ship as early as April will run so efficiently that it won't need a fan. The entire laptop will be solid state -- no moving parts. Intel loves that kind of thing.
現在謠言已經傳說一個新的 Intel Merom-based 的 ASUS Eee PC 可能在四月就開賣,它跑的夠有效率,因此不需要風扇。整個筆電是 solid state,也就是沒有可動的部份。Intel 愛死這類型的玩意了。

There's no question about it -- Asustek is the most hated company in the industry. Microsoft, Apple, Dell and Palm hate Asustek because the company can give us something they can't: A super cheap, flexible, powerful mobile computer. At $299, why would anyone not buy one?
因此沒有任何的疑問!華碩現在是產業界最受人討厭的公司。微軟、蘋果、Dell、Palm 都恨死華碩了,因為華碩可以給他們無法給的:一個超級便宜、有彈性、且強力的行動電腦。而且只要 299 美金,為什麼會有人不想買呢?

--
終於翻譯完了,累死我了。想說順便練習一下就來個順手翻譯,沒想到比我想像中的難多啦,花了不少時間,而且好像也沒很通順。不過看來 Eee PC 的效應越來越大,一些高階的消費型產品(萬元左右)果然開始出現了危機。而且裡面提到 Dell 的比 Asus 好 10% 卻貴 500% 這段真是讓我笑了 XD。看來玩價格戰,台灣果然很厲害啊,不過就怕市場被搞爛了。

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