近日，比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）在一场Village Global举办的座谈会活动上谈到自己犯下的最大的错误，就是给了谷歌推出Android的机会，微软获胜本来是自然而然的事情，但是他搞砸了。

“只有一个非苹果操作系统的空间，这值多少钱？4000亿美元将从G公司（谷歌）转移到M公司（微软）。”

Bill Gates' $400 billion mistake involves Windows Phone and Android

Bill Gates started Microsoft in 1975 along with Paul Allen and the rest is history. You don't get to be one of the wealthiest people in the world and build a trillion dollar company without making some great decisions over the years. At an event held by venture capital firm Villiage Global, Gates said that there is still one thing that bothers him to this day, and that is allowing Google to develop Android. He calls it the "standard non-Apple phone form platform." According to the entrepreneur, "That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win."

Village is not a traditional VC. We’re a network. From how we invest in startups to how we help founders – we operate as a network. When you raise money from Village, you’re not just getting money. You’re getting connected capital.

Gates put a value of $400 billion on Android and admits that "we did screw up a super important one." After all, Windows Mobile was running on smartphones for years before Android was developed. And the reaction made by Microsoft's then CEO Steve Ballmer to the introduction of the iPhone revealed how Microsoft missed a golden opportunity. Ballmer said that the iPhone wouldn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. "We have our strategy. We have great Windows Mobile devices," the executive said in 2007 after Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's touchscreen handset. While Microsoft saw the iPhone as a goofy phone that required users to type on glass, Andy Rubin's team inside Google reportedly did a quick 180-degree turn and changed Android into an operating system for touchscreen phones. By the way, Ballmer admitted his mistake in November 2016.

1）表示“弄糟；破坏”，英文解释为“To screw something up, or to screw up, means to cause something to fail or be spoiled.”举个🌰：

You can't open the window because it screws up the air conditioning. 

你不能开窗，因为那样会破坏空调。

2）表示“（因痛苦、光太强等）锁起（眼睛、脸）”，英文解释为“If you screw up your eyes or your face, you tighten your eye or face muscles, for example, because you are in pain or because the light is too bright.”举个🌰：

She had screwed up her eyes, as if she found the sunshine too bright. 

她已眯起眼睛，似乎她发现阳光太强。

3）表示“把（纸片）揉成团”，英文解释为“If you screw up a piece of paper, you squeeze it tightly so that it becomes very creased and no longer flat, usually when you are throwing it away.”举个🌰：

He would start writing to his family and would screw the letter up in frustration. 

他一次次开始给家里写信，又一次次懊恼地把信揉成团。

熟词僻义，作形容词，表示“当时的”，英文解释为“Then is used when you refer to something which was true at a particular time in the past but is not true now.”如：a tour of the then new airport 在当时新机场的一次参观。

表示“（首次）透露（新计划），展示（新产品）”，英文解释为“to show or tell people about a new product or plan for the first time”举个🌰：

The club has unveiled plans to build a new stadium.

俱乐部首次披露了要建造一座新体育馆的计划。

goofy /ˈɡuːfɪ/ 表示“愚笨的”，英文解释为“If you describe someone or something as goofy, you think they are rather silly or ridiculous.”举个🌰：

A goofy grin spread across her face when she saw the card.

她看到卡片，脸上露出了傻傻的笑容。

The "app gap" kills Windows Phone

“You know, in the software world, in particular for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So, you know, the greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is, [meaning] Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win.”

表示“赢者通吃的；（竞赛）胜者全赢的”，英文解释为“(of a competition) resulting in the entire prize going to the one competitor who wins”举个🌰：

His winner-take-all business tactics shut out would-be competitors.

他的胜者全赢的商业策略使潜在竞争对手不愿参与进来。

“It really is winner take all. If you’re there with half as many apps or 90% as many apps, you’re on your way to complete doom. There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system, and what’s that worth? $400 billion that would be transferred from company G [Google] to company M [Microsoft].”

“And it’s amazing to me, having made one of the greatest mistakes of all time — and there was this antitrust lawsuit and various things that, you know, our other assets, Windows, Office, are still very strong. So we are a leading company. If we got that one right, we would be the company. But oh well.”

表示“反垄断的”，英文解释为“In the United States, antitrust laws are intended to stop big companies taking over their competitors, fixing prices with their competitors, or interfering with free competition in any way.”举个🌰：

The jury found that the NFL had violated antitrust laws. 

该陪审团判定全美橄榄球联盟违反了反垄断法规。

“So this idea that just small differences can magnify themselves doesn’t exist for a lot of businesses. You know, if you’re a service business, it doesn’t exist. But for software platforms, it’s absolutely gigantic. And so that’s partly where you have the mentality of every night you think, ‘Am I screwing this up?’ And eventually, we did screw up a super important one.” -Bill Gates, co-founder, Microsoft

表示“使（问题）加重，放大”，英文解释为“to make something much worse or more serious”举个🌰：

The results of economic mismanagement were magnified by a series of natural disasters.

一连串的自然灾害加剧了经济管理不善造成的恶果。

表示“巨大的，庞大的”，英文解释为“extremely big”，如：a gigantic skyscraper 摩天大楼。

Windows Phone was launched in January 2010 to replace Windows Mobile and was used to power the Nokia Lumia line of smartphones. Despite being "buttery smooth," developers failed to support the platform and the so-called "app gap" meant that consumers had to stick with iOS or Android to keep their favorite apps. Microsoft took a swing at the hardware by buying Nokia's Devices and Services businesses for more than $7 billion back in 2013. This led the company to release its own Lumia devices, but they sold just as poorly. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 Mobile will end on December 10th of this year, and urged users to switch to iOS or Android.

作名词，1）表示“（手臂、腿等的）挥动，挥舞”，英文解释为“a curved movement made with your arm, leg etc”，take a swing就有“重拳出击，击打（某人）”的意思，英文解释为“To attempt to hit someone or something with one's fist or an instrument in a broad, sweeping stroke. To try to hit (someone or something) by moving something”，举个🌰：

He took a swing at (= tried to hit ) my head and missed.

他挥拳向我头部打来，但没有打中。

2）swing还有“（意见或情绪的）明显改变”的意思，英文解释为“a noticeable change in opinions or emotions”，举个🌰：

She suffers from mood swings.

她常有情绪波动。

3）take a swing在金融（投资）领域还有另一个含义：A situation where a trader attempts to execute a trade that is riskier, or higher priced than would normally be considered acceptable. Though the trade is considered disadvantageous by the broker or investor, one "takes a swing" on the chance that the investment may become profitable.

The Android operating system is believed to have an 85% share worldwide with Apple's iOS second.

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