微软巨额投资中国 - Translated by Marianne Wang

当微软公司的CEO史蒂夫-巴尔默在6月26日向国家计委承诺，微软将在未来3年内向中
国软件产业投入62亿元人民币时，几乎没有人相信微软是为了帮助中国软件产业的发
展。
When Steve Ballmer pledged to the National Planning Committee that Microsoft would invest RMB 6.2 billion to China's software industry, nobody really believed that Microsoft intends to help China's software industry by doing so.

阴谋，天大的阴谋，踊跃地参与臆断和猜测的外界正在朝着这个结论靠拢。微软此
举深意何在？中国政府用什么换来了微软的巨额投资？后一个问题听起来显然要严重
得多。
Conspiracy, totally a conspiracy, such is the conclusion drawn by more and more reporters. What on earth is the design of Microsoft by taking this approach? What has the Chinese government done to gain itself such a huge amount of investment from Microsoft? The latter one sounds much more important.

　　一贯行事低调的国家计委没有想到，由于与微软签署的谅解备忘录内容迟迟没有
公开，自己竟被这种"阴谋论"逼进了两条死胡同：阴谋的受害者，或者--更可怕的是--
阴谋的参与者。
The low-profiled Chinese government never imagined that the delay in the disclosure of the Understanding Memorandum entered with Microsoft caught itself in two dead-ends with this "conspiracy" theory: the victim of this conspiracy, or - more dreadful - a conspirator.

　　计委的回答显然否定了中国软件产业这些忧心忡忡人士的担忧：整个谅解备忘录
中，就只有微软在做出承诺，计委方面根本没有说一个字。
However, the answer from the National Planning Committee let the worried people in China's software industry blow out a deep breath in relief: throughout the Understanding Memorandum, there are only pledges from Microsoft, and none from the Planning Committee.

　　但巴尔默那天没有提到，微软在这份谅解备忘录中做出了有史以来最大的让步--
开放源代码。
But Ballmer did not mention that, in the Understanding Memorandum, Microsoft has made its biggest concession ever in its history - the disclosure of its source codes.

　　其让步幅度之大，真正会对此发出惊呼的，更有可能是美国政府。
It is such a big big concession that it should have been the U.S. government that made these exclamations.

政府逼出来的合作？
A cooperation forced by the government?

　　"大家以为这个谅解备忘录是微软和国家计委做了个交易。"7月8日赴沪出席微软
(中国)2003财年合作伙伴大会的微软大中华区总裁黄存义说道，"其实说白了，就是微
软希望支持国内软件产业的发展，并为此投资62个亿，经过与计委的合作，双方为投
资共同制定了方向。"
On 8th July, when attending the Microsoft (China) 2003 Fiscal Year Partners Meeting in Shanghai, President of Microsoft Greater China Huang Cunyi said: "This Understanding Memorandum is considered by many a trade between Microsoft and the National Planning Committee. But actually, it is nothing more than a gesture of Microsoft to support the development of the domestic software industry, and to invest $6.2 billion. Through cooperation with the Planning Committee, we have set the goals for this investment."

　　微软在中国最初的策略正如国家计委所说，只卖产品，不做合资，不搞合作，也
不转让技术。中国政府由此认为微软并没有做到中国希望通过改革开放实现的目的--引
进国外行进的管理经验和科学技术。因此，政府多次提出微软应该对中国市场做出承
诺。
The original strategy of Microsoft in China was indeed like how the Planning Committee put it: sales of its products only, no joint venture, no cooperation, and no technology assignment either. The Chinese government believed that Microsoft did not live up to China's expectations for reforms and opening up - to import advanced foreign management ideas and technologies. Therefore, the Chinese government reminded Microsoft many times that it should commit itself to China's market.

黄存义介绍说，随着18号文件(即2000年6月25日国务院颁布的《鼓励软件产业和集成
电路产业发展的若干政策》)的出台，以及信息产业部"十五"计划的制定，微软开始了
与中国企业和政府的大规模、广泛的合作。
According to Huang Cunyi, with the release of the Document 18 (i.e., Policies to Encourage the Development of Software Industry and Integrate Circuit Industry, issued by the State Council on 25th Jun. 2000) and the introduction of the Tenth Fives Plan by National Information Ministry, Microsoft has just begun a substantial, extensive cooperation with the Chinese government as well as the Chinese companies.

　　真正的突破还是发生在2001年。这年5月在香港举行的财富论坛上，微软的首席执
行官史蒂夫-鲍尔默拜会了国家计委主任曾培炎，提出微软开始意识到了自己有责任参
与中国软件产业的建设。于是，曾培炎表示愿意听取微软对中国软件产业发展的建
议。
The real breakthrough came in the year 2001. On the Fortune Forum held in Hong Kong in May, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer met with Zeng Peiyan, the director of National Planning Committee, and expressed Microsoft's recognition of its obligations to the construction of China's software industry. Zeng Peiyan replied that he would be interested in Microsoft's suggestions to the development of China's software industry.

　　随即，微软便聘请独立调查机构麦肯锡撰写了《中国软件产业发展战略研究报
告》，4个月后，将之递交给了国家计委。"这不是一份秘密报告。"微软大中华区战略发
展部总经理龚定宇对记者说道，"我们在国内很多场合都介绍过这个报告，光我一人而
言，在今年北京科博会的中国软件产业发展高层论坛上，在浙江、在上海，我不但谈
到了这份报告，还介绍了报告的内容。"
Presently, Microsoft invited an independent investigation firm Mckinsey to compose a Research Report on the Development of China's Software Industry and presented it to the National Planning Committee after four months. "This is no confidential report, " the General Manager of the Strategic Development Dept. of Microsoft Greater China Gong Dingyu told the reporter, "We have brought this report to many occasions. I don't know about others, but I myself have discussed the report and its content on the Senior Forum of China's Software Industry Development during this year's Science and Technology Exhibition Show in Beijing, as well as in Zhejiang and Shanghai."

　　尽管双方的正式签署仪式是发生在今年的6月26日，但事实上，从微软1月份建立
合资公司中关村科技软件、以及 4月份成立的第二家合资公司上海微创来看，微软对中
国市场的承诺，在一边进行谈判的时候，就一边开始兑现了。
Though the formal signing ceremony was held on 26th June of this year, Microsoft already set up the joint venture Zhongguancun Technological Software Co. in January, and in April, a second joint venture, Shanghai MicroPort was also founded. Microsoft already started to carry out its commitments while the negotiations were still going on.

微软的最终目的
The ultimate goals of Microsoft

　"很多人会不理解微软为什么要花力气帮助中国软件产业发展，阴谋论才由此而
生。"接受采访的一位官员说道，" 但这并不是没有先例。1997年，摩托罗拉公司就
投资2000万美元，用于培养一千家中国国有企业的领导。"当年这个让摩托罗拉公司不
解也让国内人士心存警惕的举动后来被证实这笔钱确实是用在了各个行业的国企的领
导进行管理学的培训上。
"Many people don't really understand why Microsoft goes out of its way to please China's software industry, this is the reason the Conspiracy Theory prevails." An officer said so in an interview, "But there are many such examples. In 1997, Motorola invested $20 million to train a thousand leaders for China's state-owned enterprises." This action at the time puzzled Motorola itself and seemed suspicious to many domestic in-siders, but it was proven finally that the money was indeed spent on the management training programs designed for leaders from state-owned enterprises.

　　也许微软并不愿意将自己与摩托罗拉作比，但这两件事确实有异曲同工之妙：只
是当年作为合作委员会美方主席的老高尔文换成了这一次的比尔-盖茨，中方主席还是曾
培炎。事隔五年，他们的表白也一样：整个行业的兴盛，才能给自己带来最大的收益，
这是IT产业发展的基本规律。
Possibly Microsoft does not want to see that it is compared with Motorola, but they cannot deny the similarity between the two approaches: Galvin, the U.S. Director in the Cooperation Committee has been replaced by Bill Gates whereas Zeng Peiyan remains the Director on the Chinese side. Though five years elapsed, their proclamations did not change: the company cannot make big gains without the prosperity of the industry, this is the fundamental rule in the IT industry.

　　横向来看，微软此举正是其发展战略发生重大转变的体现。这一点，从7月8日微
软(中国)2003财年合作伙伴大会上就可以清楚地看出来。
This approach symbolizes a significant change in Microsoft's growth strategies, which is observable from the Microsoft (China) 2003 Fiscal Year Partner Meeting on 8th July.

　　7月8日，微软包下上海浦东香格里拉大酒店的500多个房间，将自己的千余名渠道
商代表请到了这里。在去年曾作为APEC峰会主会场的饭店大宴会室里，微软中国公司
的总裁唐骏向经销商宣布了"春耕计划"：微软将在新财年里，将向中国市场投放800万
美元的资金，专门用于为中国的经销商和解决方案商提供培训、技术支持、市场推广等
服务。
On 8th July, Microsoft reserved more than 500 hundred rooms in Shanghai Pudong Shangri-La Hotel and invited its one thousand representatives of its channel distributors. In the banquet room where last year's APEC Summit Meetings were held, the President of Microsoft (China) Co. Tang Jun declared his "Spring Plowing Plan" to the dealers: in the coming fiscal year, Microsoft would invest $8 billion into the Chinese markets solely for the Chinese dealers and solution providers to provide services such as trainings, technical support and market promotions.

　　唐骏打了个比方：微软只是一个砖头提供商，它要做的是告诉大家盖房子、住房
子是有好处的，微软只有让盖房的人赚到钱，盖房的人才会越来越多，微软的砖头也才
会越卖越多。唐骏认为，一旦微软凭借砖头生产优势把盖房权垄断下来，合作伙伴们无
利可图，就会抛弃微软；同时，微软单凭一已之力也无法迅速地扩大市场。
Tang Jun made a metaphor: Microsoft was a brick supplier, it needed to tell others that it was very beneficial to build houses with bricks, and Microsoft must first help house-builders be profitable; the more profit they made, the more people there would be to build houses, and the more bricks Microsoft could sell. According to Tang Jun, once Microsoft monopolizes house-building, its partners will have no profit and abandon Microsoft; Microsoft can never expand the market by itself in a short time.

　　"我们与软件产业的大部分是合作而不是竞争的关系，我们要做的是把软件产业这
个蛋糕做大。现在微软占了整个中国软件产业的5%，这个比例永远不会变，但是蛋做
大了，微软的收益才会增加。"唐骏说。
"Our relationship with the software industry is cooperation rather than competition, what we shall do is to make this cake bigger. Now Microsoft accounts for 5% of China's software industry, this proportion will not change. But the bigger the cake is, the more profit Microsoft will be able to make." Tang Jun said.

　　而微软大中华区总裁黄存义打了一个比方："微软是一个生态系统维护者，我们都
知道，一个健康的生态系统里面要有很多的生命体，所有的生命体在生态系统里能够
获得最多养料时，这个生态系统才是最有生存优势的。一旦各种生命体在生态系统里不
能获得最多养料，它们就会离开这个生态系统，投靠别的生态系统，所以微软有责任也
有压力把我们的生态系统维护得最好。"
President of Microsoft Greater China Huang Cunyi gave another example: "Microsoft is an exponent of the eco-system. We all know that a healthy eco-system embraces many organisms. When all of these organisms get plenty of food, this eco-system is most advantageous. Once any organism cannot get enough food, they will leave this eco-system for others. So Microsoft is obliged and forced to maintain our eco-system."

　　不管是黄存义的"生态系统论"，还是唐骏的"砖头说"，微软的战略思想仍然明
白无误地传递了出来：微软只想做平台，并且要让所有参与这个平台的人从中获益，
正是通过这种方式，微软的平台才能够出败其它平台，微软自身才能实现利益的真正最
大化。
Both of Huang Cunyi's "eco-system theory" and Tang Jun's "brick theory" expressly convey Microsoft's strategy: Microsoft intends to create a platform, and bring benefits to all who participate in the platform. It is only through this mean can Microsoft's platform defeat other platforms, and maximize its own benefits.

计委：我们没有任何承诺
The Planning Committee: We did not make any commitments

　　6月26日，国家计委与美国微软公司签署了一份备忘录，消息透露之后各种议论和
猜测也随之而来。上周，本报记者分别采访了微软中国和国家计委相关权威人士，了
解到事实的真相：在签署的备忘录中，所有的承诺都是微软做出的，计委没有任何承
诺。
On 26th June, the National Planning Committee sealed a memorandum with the U.S. Microsoft, which kicked up rumors and predicts. Last week, our correspondents interviewed respectively officers from Microsoft China and from the Planning Committee, and disclosed some of the truths: in the memorandum, it is Microsoft that kept making pledges, as for the Planning Committee, it did not give any.

　　据悉，构成了这份谅解备忘录的微软6大承诺分别是：向中国国内企业提供订单、
人才培养、输入资金和管理经验、技术转让、产品本地化，以及--开放源代码。
It is reported that the six major pledges of Microsoft in the memorandum are: to offer orders to China's domestic businesses, to organize trainings, to provide funds and experiences, to assign technologies, to localize its products, and to disclose its source codes.