????蘋(píng)果（Apple）黑們不厭其煩地講述一個(gè)故事：麥金塔機(jī)（Macintosh）的構(gòu)想是史蒂夫?喬布斯從施樂(lè)（Xerox）的帕洛阿爾托研究中心（Palo Alto Research Center）那偷來(lái)的。

????然而真實(shí)情況是：?jiǎn)滩妓垢哆^(guò)錢(qián)，他在蘋(píng)果公司上市前一年，向施樂(lè)支付了10萬(wàn)股蘋(píng)果股票。

????更進(jìn)一步的真相是，喬布斯沒(méi)興趣重復(fù)施樂(lè)帕洛阿爾托研究中心已經(jīng)完成的工作。馬爾凱姆?格拉威爾[《臨界點(diǎn)》（The Tipping Point）的作者]在最新一期的《紐約客》（New Yorker）上詳細(xì)闡述了這一點(diǎn)。

????格拉威爾在文章中寫(xiě)道：阿特金森幾乎將鼻子湊到顯示屏上，而喬布斯則極其興奮地在屋子里走來(lái)走去。后者知道，自己和比爾?阿特金森在1979年的那天所看到的演示代表著一場(chǎng)計(jì)算機(jī)革命的到來(lái)。不過(guò)喬布斯也看出施樂(lè)的產(chǎn)品在很多方面存在嚴(yán)重不足，三鍵鼠標(biāo)首當(dāng)其沖——其成本高達(dá)300美元，但不到兩周就壞了。

????“直接操作和間接操作之間的差別不容小覷，這包括三鍵與單鍵的差別，300美元與15美元的差別，以及由滾珠軸承支撐的滾珠與自由滑動(dòng)滾珠的差別。這個(gè)區(qū)別就在施樂(lè)帕洛阿爾托研究中心考慮的是專(zhuān)家的需求，而蘋(píng)果的理念則是開(kāi)發(fā)面向大眾用戶(hù)的產(chǎn)品。簡(jiǎn)言之，施樂(lè)打算制造個(gè)人計(jì)算機(jī)，而蘋(píng)果則想要制造流行計(jì)算機(jī)。”

????這個(gè)故事并不新鮮，但格拉威爾加入了很多新的細(xì)節(jié)，講得也繪聲繪色。他描述了蘋(píng)果第一個(gè)原型鼠標(biāo)是如何由黃油碟、吉他線筒、玩具火車(chē)輪以及腋下香體棒中的滾珠組裝而成的。

????根據(jù)本周一宣布的一項(xiàng)與蘋(píng)果的交易，訂閱者能免費(fèi)在iPad上閱讀格拉威爾的這篇文章。和時(shí)代公司（Time Inc）一樣，康泰納仕（Condé Nast）也使用了一篇史蒂夫?喬布斯的故事來(lái)吸引新訂閱者。

????文章開(kāi)頭的圖片來(lái)自《紐約客》在其網(wǎng)站上播放的一組幻燈片，展示了早期鼠標(biāo)的原型。

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????The myth -- repeated ad nauseam by Apple (AAPL) naysayers -- is that Steve Jobs stole the ideas behind the Macintosh from Xerox's (XRX) Palo Alto Research Center.

????The truth is that he paid for them -- with 100,000 shares of his company a year before its initial public offering.

????The deeper truth, which Malcom ("The Tipping Point") Gladwell explores at length in the current issue of the New Yorker, is that Jobs had no interest in reproducing the work the team at Xerox PARC had done.

????Jobs knew that the demo he and Bill Atkinson were given that day in 1979 -- Atkinson with his nose pressed almost against the screen, Jobs pacing around the room in an excited state -- represented the seeds of a computer revolution. But also knew that it was fatally flawed at many levels, starting with the three-button mouse that cost $300 and broke down within two weeks. Gladwell writes:

????"The difference between direct and indirect manipulation—between three buttons and one button, three hundred dollars and fifteen dollars, and a roller ball supported by ball bearings and a free-rolling ball—is not trivial. It is the difference between something intended for experts, which is what Xerox PARC had in mind, and something that's appropriate for a mass audience, which is what Apple had in mind. PARC was building a personal computer. Apple wanted to build a popular computer."

????It's a story that's been told before, but Gladwell spins it well with lots of new detail and color, including how Apple's first prototype mice were constructed out of butter dishes, spools of guitar wire, toy train wheels and roller balls taken from underarm deodorant sticks.

????The piece is available free to subscribers on the iPad as part of a deal with Apple announced Monday. Like Time Inc., Condé Nast has used a Steve Jobs story as a lure to enlist new subscribers.

????The image above is taken from a slide show of early mouse prototypes that the New Yorker has posted here.