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The High Cost of Free 解读「免费」的个中玄机

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（译注：直译为「免费」背后的高代价）

Why charging just a little can be smarter than charging nothing at all  为什么收取一点点费用有时反而比完全免费还来得更高明呢

Google’s much-anticipated desk-top operating system, Chrome OS (debuting in late 2010), has one main selling point: It’s free. The search company plans to give the software to computer makers in an attempt to amplify its rivalry against Microsoft. That’s Google’s way nearly everything it makes is free to users.

众所期待的Google（谷歌）桌面计算机操作系统Chrome OS（将于二０一０年底推出），主要卖点就是：免费。这家搜索引擎公司打算打Chrome OS操作系统软件送给计算机制造商，意图扩大和微软的对打。这就是Google的作风──几乎所有Google产品都不向用户收费。

In an earlier generation, we might have scoffed at this marketing strategy. What business gives away its products? But not anymore. Free is the new normal. Today, every business that deals in intellectual property – from software to journalism to music – feels the no-cost push. If you’re not giving it away, the thinking goes, you must be doing something wrong.

在上一个世代时，我们可能会对这种营销策略嗤之以鼻，认为有哪家公司会把自己的产品免费大赠送？但现在情形可不同了，因为免费才是新的王道。从软件界、新闻界、到音乐界，如今所有和智慧财产有关的行业，无不感受到「毋须付费」的压力。如果不是免费赠送，大家就会想，你一定有哪里做错了。

Does “free” always work?  「免费」总是万灵丹？

Though digital prophets champion our pay-nothing future, it’s instructive to consider why free sometimes fails. To return to Google’s Chrome OS, sure, Google will persuade some computer makers to install the OS. But when you consider what free really buys, the answer is not much. The computers are likely to sell at $20 or so less than the price of comparable Windows machines. In exchange for that slightly lower price, customers will get computers that do much less – they’ll run fewer programs and connect to a smaller range of peripheral devices. And good luck finding tech support.

虽然数位先知们积极鼓吹不用付费的未来，但思考一下免费策略有时会失败的原因，还是能够有所启发。回到Google的Chrome OS操作系统来看，当然Google会说服部分电脑制造商安装它的操作系统，但是当你仔细想想免费产品究竟让你获得什么时，答案则是，其实得到的东西不多。安装Chrome OS操作系统的电脑可能比安装Windows的同等电脑便宜二十美元左右，可是为了这些微的差价，顾客得到的却是功能大幅缩水的电脑──可以使用的程序和可连接的接口设备种类都比较少，至于找不找得到技术支持，就得碰运气了。

Most consumers get it. There’s already a free operating system for consumers: Linux. Yet netbooks running Windows outsell their Linux counterparts by a margin of nine to one. In other words, free is getting trounced. Why? Because free costs too much, weighed down with hassles that you’ll happily pay a little to do without.

大部分消费者都清楚这是怎么回事。市面上已经有免费的电脑操作系统Linux，然而使用Windows的小笔电销售量，热销的幅度却是Linux的九倍之多。换句话说，免费产品被彻底打败了。原因何在？因为免费的代价太高，它带来的麻烦会让你乐于花点钱好省点事。

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amplify [ˋæmplə͵faɪ] v. 扩大；扩展

rivalry [ˋraɪv!rɪ] n. 竞争；对抗

normal [ˋnɔrm!] n. 标准；常态

intellectual property 智慧财产 someone’s idea, invention or creation, which can be protected by law from being copied by someone else

no-cost push 完全免费的压力 it means the pressure from everything is free

prophet [ˋprɑfɪt] n. 预言者，预言家

instructive [ɪnˋstrʌktɪv] adj. 增进知识的; 有教育意义的; 有启发性的

buy [baɪ] v.（以一定代价）获得 to acquire by sacrifice, exchange, or trade

or so 约莫, 大约…左右 imprecise but fairly close to correct

netbook 小笔电: 网络笔电 a small, light, inexpensive laptop originally designed with smaller screens and keyboards and fewer features than traditional laptops

outsell [aʊtˋsɛl] v. 卖得比……多；在推销上胜过

margin [ˋmɑrdʒɪn] n. 幅度

weigh down 给…加负担(麻烦) to burden or oppress

hassle [ˋhæs!] n.【美】麻烦；困难；问题

do without 戒绝；摒弃; 情愿没有 sendaway, remove; free

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This is also the model that The Wall Street Journal uses to goad people into paying for news online. Anyone can read its stories for free through Google or a news-aggregation site like Digg, but people who want the full newspaper experience pay $103 a year for the privilege. More than a million subscribers consider that a good deal. This isn’t an anomaly, either. According to a recent study by the private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, consumers now spend more time reading or watching media they’ve paid for than free media.

这也是《华尔街日报》用来吸引大众付费阅读网络新闻的模式，任何人都可藉由Google或是像Digg这种新闻汇集网站免费来看报导，但是如果想看报纸全文的读者就必须缴交年费一百零三美元才能享有此待遇，有一百多万订户认为这样很划算。而且这并不是特例，根据私募股权公司VSS最近一项研究指出，消费者现在阅读或观看付费媒体的时间，比免费媒体多。（译注：Veronis Suhler Stevenson是美国专门研究媒体市场的私募股权投资公司。）

There are also natural advantage to charging a price – for starters, revenues, which can fund such extravagance as marketing and support. Google’s free cell-phone operating system, Android, has had a tough time competing with Apple’s iPhone in part because Apple has the funds to spend big sums on advertising and to staff its Genius Bars. Apple makes an enormous profit on each iPhone; Google, meanwhile, will make money only incidentally – through advertising revenue from people who use Google products on their phones.

收取费用也有个先天优势，首先就是收益可以用来资助营销和支持服务等昂贵开销。Google的免费手机操作系统Android和苹果iPhone竞争起来相当吃力的部分原因，就是苹果有资金可投注于巨额广告费用、以及零售店技术支持服务Genius Bars的人员上。苹果在每支iPhone上都能获取庞大利润，但Google却只能透过在手机上使用Google产品所得的广告收益，顺带赚些钱。

Making money out of “free”  靠「免费」来赚钱

Some companies have been at the vanguard of making a paying business out of “free.” IBM, HP, and other tech giants generate significant revenue selling consulting services and support for Linux and other free software to businesses. These customers are willing to pay for nominally free products, because they understand that only when money changes hands does the seller become reliably responsive to the buyer.

有些公司是靠「免费」赚大钱的先驱。IBM、惠普以及其他科技龙头公司，为企业提供Linux和其他免费软件的付费咨询服务和技术支持，赚取可观收入。这些顾客愿意为名义上免费的产品花钱，是因为他们了解，只有让对方有钱赚，卖方才会确实可靠地响应买方的需求。

Even Google is starting to learn this lesson. You can run Gmail and its office suite for free, but if you’d like tech help, better reliability, and someone to blame when everything goes wrong, you have to pay. Perhaps Google should take this strategy more to heart. If rock-bottom prices don’t work out for Chrome OS or Android, there’s only one way to go: up.

就连Google也开始学到教训了。Gmail及办公室软件包可以让大家免费使用，但是如果你需要技术支持、希望产品更可靠、出差错时有人可以怪罪的话，那么就得乖乖掏出钞票。也许Google应该更加认真思考这个策略，如果Chrome OS或Android操作系统的触底价无效，那么就只剩下一个方法了：那就是涨价。

−by Farhad Manjoo

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news-aggregation site 新闻汇集网站 a website where a number of news stories are gathered together and posted in a single location for easy viewing

privilege [ˋprɪv!ɪdʒ] n. 特权；优特

for starters【口】首先 as a beginning; to start with

extravagance [ɪkˋstrævəgəns] n. 挥霍; 铺张浪费之举

in part 在某种程度上；部分地

staff [stæf] v. 给……配备职员

incidentally [͵ɪnsəˋdɛnt!ɪ] adv. 附带地；偶然地

vanguard [ˋvæn͵gɑrd] n. 先锋；前锋；先头部队  a leading position in the development of something; the forefront

business [ˋbɪznɪs] n. 公司; 企业

change hands 易手; 归另一人所有; 转手

reliably [rɪˋlaɪəblɪ] adv. 可靠地; 确实地

suite [swit] n. 系列，套，组

take something to heart 把某事放在心上; 认真思考某事 if you take something to heart, you think about it seriously, often because it upsets you

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scoff [skɔf] v. 嘲笑; 嘲弄; 藐视[(+at)] to laugh and speak about an idea in a way that suggests it is stupid or silly

champion [ˋtʃæmpɪən] v. 拥护; 支持; 为……而战 to support, defend or fight for something enthusiastically

peripheral [pəˋrɪfərəl] adj. 周边的, 周围的 not as important as something else

trounce [traʊns] v.【口】打败，使溃不成军 to defeat a competitor decisively

goad [god] v. 刺激; 驱使; 唆使[（+into/to/on）] to cause someone to do something, usually by prodding them into action

anomaly [əˋnɑməlɪ] n. 反常（事物）; 异常（现象）something that is different from what is usual

nominally [ˋnɑmən!ɪ] adv. 在名义上；表面地 officially but not in reality

rock-bottom [ˋrɑk͵bɑtəm] adj. 最低的; 最低水平的; 最低限度的 referring to the lowest possible level