乔布斯传 第427期:产品线评估(5)

 The most visible decision he made was to kill, once and for all, the Newton, 乔布斯作的最高调的决定，就是彻底地扼杀牛顿项目，

the personal digital assistant with the almost-good handwriting-recognition system. 就是那个带有不错的手写识别系统的个人数字助理。

Jobs hated it because it was Sculley's pet project, 乔布斯讨厌它，因为它是斯卡利最喜欢的项目，

because it didn't work perfectly¹, and because he had an aversion to stylus devices. 因为它不完美，也因为他讨厌手写设备。

He had tried to get Amelio to kill it early in 1997 and succeeded only in convincing him to try to spin off the division. 早在1997年初他就试图让阿梅里奥砍掉它，但只成功地说服他解散了这个部门。

By late 1997, when Jobs did his product reviews, it was still around. 到1997年末，乔布斯作产品评估时，发现它还在。

He later described his thinking: If Apple had been in a less precarious² situation, 他后来这样描述这个决定：如果苹果当时的处境没有那么危险，

I would have drilled down myself to figure out how to make it work. 我可能会钻进去研究怎么改进它。

I didn't trust the people running it. 我不信任这个项目的负责人。

My gut³ was that there was some really good technology, but it was fucked up by mismanagement. 我强烈地感觉到它有真正优秀的技术，但是因为管理不善槁砸了。

By shutting it down, I freed up some good engineers who could work on new mobile devices. 停掉它，我就解放了一些优秀的工程师，他们可以去开发新的移动设备。

And eventually we got it right when we moved on to iPhones and the iPad. 最终我们走对了路，做出了iPhone和iPad。

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

3 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。