Microsoft Corp. has made big changes to its familiar Windows operating system to stay relevant amid booming sales of mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad. But some corporate customers worry Microsoft has made its workplace workhorse too unfamiliar.
微软(Microsoft Corp.)对人们熟悉的Windows操作系统进行了大刀阔斧的变革，以便在苹果(Apple Inc.) iPad等移动设备热销之际不落人后。不过一些企业客户担心，微软让这套在工作场合应用广泛的主力操作系统变得令人过于陌生了。
The new operating system, dubbed Windows 8, adds a new way to navigate a computer by touching rows of small windows, called tiles, that represent websites or apps, much like the icons familiar to smartphone users. Microsoft's new interface can also be controlled with a mouse, and used in a mode similar to the old Windows 'desktop.'
这套名为Windows 8的新操作系统增添了一种新的操作电脑的方法，使用者可以触摸一排排代表网站或应用程序的小窗口来操控电脑。这些名叫“瓷贴”(tile)的小窗口和智能手机用户所熟悉的图标非常类似。微软的新界面也能够通过鼠标控制，还可以通过类似老版Windows系统的“桌面”模式进行操作。
Yet some companies that have tried the new software─particularly those that expect to stick to traditional laptops and desktop computers for now─worry employees will be frustrated with the changes.
REUTERS一款使用Windows 8操作系统的三星平板电脑。然而，一些已试用过新操作系统的公司担心员工会不适应这些变化，尤其是那些眼下希望继续使用传统笔记本电脑和台式机的公司。
'The interface for a tablet is very nice,' said Adam Noble, chief information officer for GAF, a Wayne, N.J., building-materials company that uses about 3,000 Windows-based systems as well as some iPads. 'On a laptop, it's more difficult to use.'
新泽西州韦恩市(Wayne)建材公司GAF的首席信息长诺布勒(Adam Noble)说，这个界面用于平板电脑非常合适，但装在笔记本电脑上则不太好用。GAF公司使用了约3,000台装有Windows系统的电脑，同时也使用iPad。
The new software presents companies with a training issue they haven't faced since Windows 95 first brought innovations such as the Start button, which is replaced by a Start screen in Windows 8.
新系统也给企业带来了培训问题。自Windows 95首次采用“开始”按钮等一系列创新技术以来，企业还不曾碰到更换操作系统需要对员工进行培训的问题。Windows 8用“开始”界面取代了“开始”按钮。
'This is going to be the first time in a decade and half that [companies are] actually going to have to teach someone to use Windows,' said Stephen Kleynhans, a Gartner Inc. analyst.
研究机构Gartner Inc.的分析师克莱因汉斯(Stephen Kleynhans)说，这将是15年来企业首次需要教员工如何使用Windows。
Microsoft officials note that there is always some initial customer resistance to change in its products that is eventually overcome, and insist that the benefits of Windows 8 are worth the learning curve. 'We're confident about the value we can deliver,' said Erwin Visser, senior director of the Microsoft team overseeing Windows for corporations.
微软负责人指出，客户最初总是会对微软产品的变化存有一些抵触情绪，但这最终会被克服，并坚持说Windows 8所带来的种种好处值得用户付出学习时间。微软负责向企业客户销售Windows操作系统的团队高级负责人维瑟(Erwin Visser)说，我们对所能传递的价值抱有信心。
Some technology buyers already seem to have moved on. 'We believe today as a tablet, the iPad gives us a strong combination of functionality, security and price,' said Peter Hendel, associate director of the global business services arm of Procter & Gamble Co., which counts more than 5,000 iPads in use among sales people, executives and other workers who travel frequently.
全球业务服务部门副主管亨德尔(Peter Hendel)说，我们相信如今作为一款平板电脑，iPad为我们提供了一个集功能性、安全性和适中价格于一身的产品。宝洁公司使用的iPad数量超过5,000台，销售人员、公司高管以及其它经常出差的员工都在使用。
Stuart Kippelman, chief information officer of Covanta Holding Corp.'s Covanta Energy unit, said he can envision his company and others buying fewer Microsoft computers in the future as the iPad replaces some uses of traditional computers. 'I can see that happening,' Mr. Kippelman said.
卡万塔控股(Covanta Holding Corp.)旗下卡万塔能源公司(Covanta Energy)的IT负责人吉普尔曼(Stuart Kippelman)说，将来随着传统电脑的某些用途被iPad取代，自己公司和其他公司购买的微软电脑越来越少。吉普尔曼说，我可以预料到这种情形的发生。
Forrester Research Inc. found that about one-third of companies it surveyed plan to adopt Windows 8 eventually, while 57% haven't considered Windows 8 yet or plan to skip it. At the same point before Windows 7 was released in 2009, two-thirds of companies surveyed said they planned to migrate to Windows 7, and 28% said they hadn't yet considered Windows 7 or planned to skip it. One difference is in 2009 many businesses had been waiting for years to update old Windows software. Now, many have spent millions of dollars installing Windows 7 and are reluctant to spend the money again so soon.
美国弗雷斯特研究公司(Forrester Research Inc.)发现，三分之一的受调查企业计划最终采用Windows 8，57%的企业要么还没有考虑采用Windows 8，要么打算跳过。2009年Windows 7发布之前的同一时间，三分之二的受调查企业表示打算升级为Windows 7，28%的企业表示还没有考虑采用或打算跳过。2009年的一个不同之处是，很多企业为升级老版Windows系统已经等了好几年。而现在，很多企业已经斥巨资安装Windows 7，不愿意这么快又花一笔钱。
One fan of Windows 8 is Joe Simon, chief technical officer of Advance Publications Inc.'s Condé Nast, the New York publisher of Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. 'I think it's the best operating system we've seen out of Microsoft for a long time,' he said.
《名利场》(Vanity Fair)和Vogue杂志的出版方、Advance Publications旗下纽约出版公司Conde Nast的首席技术长西蒙(Joe Simon)是Windows 8的粉丝。他说，我觉得它是很长时间以来微软推出的最好的操作系统。
To save money, Condé Nast has stuck with 11-year-old Windows XP for most of the company's 3,000 Windows users, and Mr. Simon said he is enthusiastic to move to Windows 8 'as soon as possible.' The company has about 5,000 iPads in use; Mr. Simon said he is 'agnostic' about whether he will try to shift those iPad users to Windows tablets.
为了省钱，Conde Nast公司11年以来一直坚持让其3,000名Windows用户中的多数人使用Windows XP。西蒙说他非常希望公司尽快改用Windows 8。该公司有5,000部左右的iPad正在使用；西蒙说他“不知道”自己是否会试图让这些iPad用户改用Windows平板。
Spending on Windows devices still dwarfs the iPad, though use of Apple's device is growing at a rapid clip. Forrester estimates business spending on iPads will total nearly $10 billion this year, a 76% jump from 2011. Spending on Windows-based computers is projected to dip 3% to $124 billion.
企业采购Windows设备的花费仍然远高于iPad，不过iPad的使用正在快速增长。据Forrester估计，今年企业iPad支出总额将接近100亿美元，较2011年增长76%，而Windows电脑支出总额预计将为1,240亿美元，下降3%。
Microsoft and PC makers that are developing tablets to work with its new software say they offer a key advantage: the ability to run popular business software such as Microsoft's Word and Excel. Microsoft also says its software is better at letting technology managers electronically send new software applications to hundreds of Windows computers, or wipe corporate data from a lost or stolen tablet.
微软和开发Windows 8平板电脑的PC制造商说，Windows 8有一个至关重要的优势：它可以运行微软Word和Excel等流行企业软件。微软还说，Windows 8还使技术管理人员能够更加方便地通过网络将新的软件应用发送到数百台Windows电脑上，或从丢失、被盗的平板电脑中擦除公司数据。
'It's the tablet enterprise customers have been waiting for,' said Mr. Visser of Microsoft.
微软的维瑟说，这是企业客户一直在等待的平板电脑。
There is pressure for companies to shift from Windows XP, since Microsoft plans to end extended support for the software in April 2014. Yet Barclays Capital, in surveys of corporate chief information officers, says it has found more desire for customers to upgrade to Windows 7 rather than Windows 8 over the next year.
企业也有升级Windows XP的压力，因为微软打算在2014年4月结束对这款操作系统的后续支持。但巴克莱资本(Barclays Capital)在对企业IT负责人的调查中发现，未来一年用户更愿意升级为Windows 7而不是Windows 8。