Remember today's date: January 22, 2009. It may go down in business history as the day that it became clear that proprietary software had been broken by Linux and open-source software.
请记住今天这个日子：2009年1月22日。这一天可能载入商业史，因为就在这一天，Linux和开源软件打败专有软件变得清清楚楚。
First, Microsoft had its biggest layoffs in the company's history. Yes, Microsoft still makes billions, but, for the first time ever, Microsoft is staggering.
首先，Microsoft进行公司历史上最大的裁员。没错，微软仍然赚几十亿，但是，有史以来第一次，Microsoft令人震惊。
It's actually worse than it first appears. The headlines talk about 5.000 jobs lost. They don't point out that Microsoft is also cutting up to up to 15% of its temporary and contract workers. Over the last few years, those are the people who actually do a lot of Microsoft's day-in/day-out work. People who insist that everything is the same as ever with Microsoft have been missing that Microsoft has actually done worse than the general economy. Microsoft stock is worth about half of what it was last year at this time.
实际情况比首次出现的更糟。头条新闻谈论失去5,000个职位。他们没有指出的是，微软也削减多达15%的临时与合同工。在过去的几年里，这些人实际上日复一日地为微软做了许多工作。坚持认为微软的一切照旧的人未必领会到，微软所做的实际上已经不如一般经济。微软股票只值去年这个时候的一半。
Sure, part of that is the economy going down the toilet. Never forget, however, that Microsoft has been heading for trouble ever since it became Vista was going to be a disaster.
当然，部分是经济泡汤。可是，决不能忘记，自从Vista变成一场灾难到现在，微软已经走向困境。
As for Sun for years, Sun had a love/hate relationship with Linux and open source. Sun, finally got the open-source message, but it may have gotten it too late.
至于Sun，多年来，Sun与Linux和开源爱恨交加。虽然Sun最后总算明白开源的意思，但也许领会得太迟。
While there's still no official word from Sun, the cuts are coming fast and furious. If you want to feel blue, go over and visit Sun's blogs. There, you'll find good-bye notes from some of the best software and hardware people in the business with decades of experience being laid off.
尽管还没有Sun的官方消息，但无法逃避的裁员将来得迅速而猛烈。如果希望无精打采，就去访问浏览Sun的博客。在那里，您会找到这家企业一些最棒的有几十年经验的被解雇的软硬件员工写的告别信。
You could argue that Microsoft is just cutting fat. That argument can't work with Sun. Sun is cutting muscle.
您可以争辩说，微软只是在（分割胴体时）修削碎肥膘肉。那样的辩解对Sun无效。Sun正在切割肌肉。
Novell, on the other hand, while still struggling with getting out of the service business and back into being a pure operating system and software play, continues to make more and more money from Linux. This, I might add, is happening despite the fact that Novell doesn't have a good reputation with many Linux users.
另一方面，虽然Novell还在挣扎着摆脱服务业务，力争单纯重操操作系统和软件旧业，但它继续从Linux赚越来越多的钱。我可以补充说，这一点正在发生，尽管事实是，Novell对许多Linux用户来说名声不好。
In the meantime, Red Hat is doing better than ever. They just released a new version of their flagship operating system, RHEL 5.3 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), and, unlike Sun or Microsoft, they have new customers coming in.
与此同时，Red Hat现在做的比以前要好。他们刚刚推出其旗舰操作系统的新版本，RHEL 5.3(Red Hat Enterprise Linux)，并且与Sun或微软不同，他们还有新进的客户。
In fact, as my fellow open-source and Linux watcher Matt Asay points out, Red Hat's market capitalization may soon actually surpass Sun's capitalization. Of course, You'd be right in pointing out that, even now, Sun's make billions while Red Hat makes hundreds of millions.
事实上，正如我的伙伴，开源与Linux观察家，马特·阿萨伊指出，Red Hat的市值可能很快就要实际超过Sun的市值。当然，您会准确地指出，尽管这样，Sun公司赚的钱还有几十亿美元，而红帽公司只赚数亿元。
That means less than you might think. The business world sees companies moving forward, Red Hat and Novell, and companies sliding backwards, Sun and Microsoft. It's not how much money you're making or how big your market share is today, it's which way your numbers are trending and what's happening with its rate of change-the delta-that tells you what tomorrow is going to bring to your business.
那表示不超出您的预料。工商界明白，前进的公司是Red Hat和Novell，而后退的公司是Sun和微软。这不是赚了多少钱或今天您的市场份额多么大的问题，这是您的数字往哪个方向变化，而且按其变化速度会发生什么事情——变化速度δ告诉您明天将给您的业务带来什么。
I don't have to be Warren Buffett, grandmaster investor, to see that two of what were once the leading proprietary software companies are trending down in a hurry, while, bad economy and all, the open-source companies are actually prospering. Remember this date ladies and gentlemen; I think it's going to prove to be an important one in software and business history.
我肯定不是投资大师沃伦·巴菲特，看得出两家曾经领先的专有软件公司正在迅速下行，与此同时，经济恶化，而所有的开源公司确实生意兴隆。请记住这个日子，女士们先生们，我想，今天将被证实为软件和商业史上一个重要的日子。