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Google Wave 你Google Wave了吗？

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It’s creative and cutting-edge, but many computer users hesitate to ride the Wave  它既有创意又先进，但很多电脑用户却对在Wave上踏浪犹豫不决

Google’s latest brainchild, Google Wave, is all the rage, among technology enthusiastic. But corporate information technology executives say that while they’re intrigued by Wave – a replacement for e-mail, the most widely used of all internet services – they’re not ready to adopt it.

Google（谷歌）最新的创意发明：Google Wave在科技迷之间风行一时。但企业信息科技高阶主管们却表示，虽然Wave的确令他们感兴趣──它能取代电子邮件这个所有网络服务中使用最广泛的项目──但他们还没准备好真正采用它。

Part of the reason is a reluctance to entrust important data to someone else’s servers, even those of giant Google. But another factor is old-fashioned resistance to change.

部份原因是，他们不大愿意把重要信息委托别人的服务器来处理，即使是龙头企业Google也不例外。不过，另一个因素则是出于排拒改变的守旧作风作祟。

With Wave; people can exchange messages, share or edit documents, even play games in a computer desktop space that is shared by many people simultaneously. Google introduced it for testing by a select group of users in May, and in September opened up the testing – by invitation only – to about 100,000 people.

有了Wave之后，人们就能交换讯息，分享或编辑文件，甚至玩电玩游戏，而这些全都可以在可多人同时共享的电脑桌面空间中进行。在五月间，Google推出这套程序供选定的一组用户进行测试，并在九月间扩大测试──这次约十万名人士，而且必须获邀才能参加。

We’re just not sure about this  怀疑态度作祟

Wave immediately ran into a wave of skepticism.

Wave很快就遭遇一波怀疑的波澜。

“People have a reluctance to change,” said Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group in Massachusetts. “E-mail is pretty simple, and people understand what it does. Maybe the consolidation of instant messaging and e-mail Google Wave represents makes sense, but it might be years before it happens.”

「人们对改变犹豫不决，」麻州企业策略团体分析师马克．鲍克表示，「电子邮件相当简单，所以人们能了解它的功用。Google Wave所代表的实时简讯与电子邮件的结合或许言之有理，但可能需要好几年的时间才能实现。」

“I kind of like Google Wave,” said Bill Konkol, vice president of technology for radio advertising firm Marketing Architects. “It saves running separate computer servers to do a lot of different things, such as live video meetings, instant messaging and e-mail. But are people willing to trust Google Wave as a replacement for e-mail? That’s going to take years. After all, it’s taken some time for people to adopt Gmail, Google’s free e-mail.”

「我蛮喜欢Google Wave的，」营销设计师这家电台营销公司科技副总裁比尔．康克表示，「它可以省下操作个别电脑服务器来做许多不同事情的麻烦，像是实时视频会议、实时简讯和电子邮件等，只不过，大家真的愿意信赖Google Wave，用它来取代电子邮件吗？那可能要花好多年的时间才能办到。毕竟，人们也是花了好一段时间才愿意采用Google的免费电子邮件Gmail。」

Gmail, introduced in 2004, has only recently been adopted by local universities that plan to outsource student e-mail to Google in order to save money. The University of Minnesota, Macalester College and Hamline University have done so, and Macalester also put its faculty and staff on Gmail.

二００四年推出的Gmail，一直到最近才陆续被（美国）当地大学采用，这些学校为了省钱而计划把学生的电子邮件外包给Google来做。明尼苏达大学、玛卡勒斯特大学和汉莱大学都已经照做了，而玛卡勒斯特大学还让教职员也使用Gmail。

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entrust [ɪnˋtrʌst] v. 信託，委託；託管[（+to/with）]

server [ˋsɝvɚ] n.【计算机】服务器  a central computer from which other computers obtain information

run into 陷入 to encounter (something)

consolidation [kən͵sɑləˋdeʃən] n. 统一；合并

faculty [ˋfæk!tɪ] n.【主美】（任何学校的）全体教员

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Streamlining e-mail  精简电子邮件

But, just as Gmail simplifies life for universities running big e-mail systems, some, such as blogger Daniel Tenner, believe Google Wave simplifies e-mail.

不过，就和Gmail能替原本使用超大型电子邮件系统的大专院校省下不少麻烦一样，如部落客丹尼尔．檀纳等人相信，Google Wave也照样能精简电子邮件。

For example, employees no longer have to collaborate on documents by e-mailing them back and forth; they look at the documents together. Wave also makes it easier to bring in new collaborators without forcing them to speed through a long list of e-mails that have already been sent back and forth. In addition, Wave allows much bigger attachments than e-mail typically does, and, when e-mail messages are flying furiously back and forth, it automatically downshifts into the faster instant messaging mode.

举例来说，员工将不再必须用电子邮件往返寄送文件档案，而是能一起阅读这些文件。Wave也让引进新的合作者变得更加容易了，让他们不必再被迫看一长串早晚来回收发多次的电子邮件，此外，Wave的附加档案容量也比一般电子邮件更大，而且如果电子邮件讯息以飞快的速度鱼雁往返时，它就会自动转换到更快速的实时简讯模式。

“Wave is not a geek/hacker tool, or a social media tool, it’s a corporate tool that solves work problems,” wrote Tenner, who is chief technology officer at Woobius Ltd., a British tech firm that sells its own collaborative software. “The way Google should have advertised Wave is: ‘It solves the problems with e-mail.’”

「Wave并不是专属于技客／黑客的工具，或是社群媒体工具，而是能解决工作问题的企业工具，」英国科技公司必斯首席科技长檀纳表示，该公司旗下也贩卖自有的合作软件。「Google宣传Wave的方式应该是：『它能解决电子邮件的种种问题。』」。

What’s the problem?  问题何在？

So why wouldn’t people, corporations and universities accept something that is designed to be superior to old-fashioned e-mail? Maybe because they’re still busy figuring out how to use the last technological revolution, “cloud computing.”

那么为何人们、企业和大学迟迟不肯接纳这种比老式电子邮件更优异的产品呢？或许这是因为大家还在忙着思索如何使用上一个科技革命产品：那就是「云端运算」。

In cloud computing, companies are supposed to save money by using distant computers owned by others to run programs, store data and manage networks.

在云端运算中，企业照理说应当能使用其他人拥有的远程电脑来操作程序、储存信息，及管理网络，以省下大笔金钱。

Given the reluctance to accept the better-understood cloud computing, it may be no surprise that there’s no stampede to Google Wave.

先前大家对于他们更了解的云端运算也迟迟不肯接纳，有此前车之鉴，或许Google Wave并没有引发一波热潮也就不那么令人意外了。

“Right now, people don’t take Google Wave seriously as a business product,” said Greg Schulz, an information technology analyst. But maybe that’s fine with Google, which he believes has other motives in introducing new technology like Wave.

「在目前，大家并没有认真地把Google Wave当成企业产品，」信息科技分析师葛瑞格．舒兹表示，但或许Google对此也不在意，因为他认为该公司推出如Wave这类的新科技的动机也并不单纯。

“Google …. keeps Microsoft unsure of where to focus.”

「Google…让微软难以取决究竟该把焦点放在哪里。」

−by Steve Alexander

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streamline [ˋstrim͵laɪn] v. 使有效率；使简化

simplify [ˋsɪmplə͵faɪ] v. 简化; 精简

collaborator [kəˋlæbə͵retɚ] n. 合作者；共同研究者

speed [spid] v. 急速送至

furiously [ˋfjʊərɪəslɪ] adv. 激烈地

downshift [ˋdaʊnʃɪft] v. 换低挡 change

geek [gik] n. 计算机玩家; 计算机迷（特别精通计算机技术和操作的人；不善社交专门迷恋于计算机的人）someone who is an obsessive computer user or a computer expert

hacker [ˋhækɚ] n.【计算机】黑客 a person who is skilled in the use of computer systems, often one who illegally obtains access to private computer system

collaborative [kəˋlæbərətɪv] adj.（用作定语）合作的；协作的

given [ˋgɪvən] prep. 鉴于; 考虑到[+（that）] granted as a supposition; acknowledged or assumed

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brainchild [ˋbren͵tʃaɪld] n.（某人的）创作，独创的观念 a clever and original idea, plan or invention

all the rage 风行一时 very popular or fashionable

intrigue [ɪnˋtrig] v. 激起……的好奇心（或兴趣）to make one want to discover more about something, especially because there is something unusual about it

simultaneously [saɪməlˋtenɪəslɪ] adv. 同时地 at exactly the same time

outsource [ˈaʊtsors] v. 将…外包 for a company to pay to have part of its work done by another company

stampede [stæmˋpid] n.（一群人的）冲动行事; 突然一面倒 when many people suddenly all move quickly, usually in the same direction at the same time; rush

Google Wave presentation

Google Wave Overview