盖茨追忆艾伦：他用一本杂志成功劝我从哈佛退学

2018-10-19 09:46:39 作者：财经库来源：网易财经

直播视讯科技讯 10月18日消息，据国外媒体报道，微软联合创始人保罗・艾伦(Paul Allen)去世后，微软另一位联合创始人比尔・盖茨（Bill Gates）撰文追忆二人往昔。

以下是中文翻译：

保罗・艾伦(Paul Allen)是我最早结识的朋友之一，也是我的第一个商业伙伴。昨日不幸与世长辞。我向他的妹妹乔迪、他的家人，以及他在世界各地的众多朋友和同事表示哀悼。

我在七年级的时候遇到了保罗，这改变了我的生活。

我抬头看了看他。他在学校里比我高两级，个子真的很高，众所周知他是个电脑天才。(后来，他留了很酷的胡子，我永远也比不上。)尤其是当第一台电脑出现在学校的时候，我们开始经常混在一起。我们几乎把所有的空闲时间都花在摆弄我们能弄到的任何一台电脑上。

保罗预见到计算机将改变世界。甚至在高中的时候，我们还不知道个人电脑是什么之前，他就预言电脑芯片会变得超级强大，最终会产生一个全新的产业。他富有远见的洞察力是我们共同努力的基石。

事实上，如果没有保罗，微软永远不会出现。1974年12月，他和我都住在波士顿地区――他在工作，我在上大学。有一天他来接我，坚持要我和他一起去附近的报摊。我们到那儿以后，他拿给我看1月份的《大众电子》杂志封面。那是新推出的一款名为Altair 8800的新电脑，运行在一种功能强大的新型芯片之上。保罗看着我说:“这种事居然在没有我们的情况下发生了!”那一刻标志着我大学生涯的结束，也标志着我们新公司微软的开始。这一切都是因为保罗。

作为第一个与之合作的人，保罗设定了一个很少有人能企及的标准。他涉猎广泛，擅长用简单的方法解释复杂的问题。我很幸运，在小时候就认识他，所以我比世界上其他人都更了解他。十几岁的时候，我对汽油特别好奇。精炼到底意味着什么？我求助于我所认识的最博学的人。保罗用一种非常清晰有趣的方式解释了这一点。这只是我们在未来几十年里进行的许多有启发性的对话之一。

保罗比我更酷。他十几岁时很喜欢吉米・亨德里克斯（Jimi Hendrix，美国著名吉他手），我记得他还为我演奏过《Are You Experienced》。那时候我对一切都没有什么经验，而保罗想和我分享这美妙的音乐。他就是那种人。他热爱生活，热爱身边的人，大家都能看到这一点。

体育运动是保罗喜欢与朋友分享的另一种爱好。后来，他带我去看他钟爱的波特兰开拓者队比赛，耐心地向我解释球场上发生的一切。

当我想起保罗时，我记得的是一个充满激情的人，格外关心家人和朋友。我记得的是一个杰出的技术专家和慈善家，他想要完成伟大的事业，并且做到了。

保罗理应活得更久。他肯定不会虚度光阴。我会非常想念他。（晗冰）

以下是英文原文：

Paul Allen, one of my oldest friends and the first business partner I ever had, died yesterday. I want to extend my condolences to his sister, Jody; his extended family; and his many friends and colleagues around the world.

I met Paul when I was in seventh grade, and it changed my life.

I looked up to him right away. He was two years ahead of me in school, really tall, and proved to be a genius with computers. (Later, he also had a very cool beard, which I could never pull off.) We started hanging out together, especially once the first computer arrived at our school. We spent just about all our free time messing around with any computer we could get our hands on.

Paul foresaw that computers would change the world. Even in high school, before any of us knew what a personal computer was, he was predicting that computer chips would get superpowerful and would eventually give rise to a whole new industry. That insight of his was the cornerstone of everything we did together.

In fact, Microsoft would never have happened without Paul. In December 1974, he and I were both living in the Boston area―he was working, and I was going to college. One day he came and got me, insisting that I rush over to a nearby newsstand with him. When we arrived, he showed me the cover of the January issue of Popular Electronics. It featured a new computer called the Altair 8800, which ran on a powerful new chip. Paul looked at me and said, “This is happening without us!” That moment marked the end of my college career and the beginning of our new company, Microsoft. It happened because of Paul.

As the first person I ever partnered with, Paul set a standard that few other people could meet. He had a wide-ranging mind and a special talent for explaining complicated subjects in a simple way. Since I was lucky enough to know him from such a young age, I saw that before the rest of the world did. As a teenager, I was curious about (of all things) gasoline. What did refining even mean? I turned to the most knowledgeable person I knew. Paul explained it in a super-clear and interesting way. It was just one of many enlightening conversations we would have over the coming decades.

Paul was cooler than I was. He was really into Jimi Hendrix as a teenager, and I remember him playing Are You Experienced for me. I wasn’t experienced at much of anything back then, and Paul wanted to share this amazing music with me. That’s the kind of person he was. He loved life and the people around him, and it showed.

Sports was another passion that Paul loved to share with his friends. In later years he would take me to see his beloved Portland Trail Blazers and patiently helped me understand everything that was happening on the court.