In the browser wars that began in the 1990s, it took more than a decade for regulators to stop Microsoft exploiting its dominance with users of Windows software. In today’s mobile battles, customers have done so themselves in six months. Microsoft’s rapid retreat over Windows 8 – the latest, mobile-inspired, version of its operating software – shows wise flexibility rather than its traditional obstinacy. But it also demonstrates that Steve Ballmer, the company’s chief executive, has lost the power to “embrace and extend” the Windows hegemony into new fields.
在始于20世紀(jì)90年代那場瀏覽器大戰(zhàn)中，監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)花了10年多的時(shí)間才阻止了微軟(Microsoft)濫用其Windows軟件在用戶中的主導(dǎo)地位。而在今天的移動(dòng)戰(zhàn)場上，顧客只用了6個(gè)月時(shí)間就取得了同樣的結(jié)果。微軟在Windows 8上迅速撤退，展現(xiàn)出也有明智而靈活的一面，不再像以往一樣固執(zhí)己見。Windows 8是微軟最新版的操作系統(tǒng)，迎合了移動(dòng)設(shè)備發(fā)展趨勢(shì)。但這也表明，微軟首席執(zhí)行官史蒂夫?鮑爾默(Steve Ballmer)已經(jīng)失去了“擁抱并拓展”微軟的壟斷地位進(jìn)入新領(lǐng)域的能力。