Ballmer's biggest regret at Microsoft? Windows Vista
Steve Ballmer is retiring from Microsoft within the next 12 months, and he's had some time to reflect on his 13-year experience as CEO. In an interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Ballmer reveals that his proudest achievement over the 33 years he spent at Microsoft was being "a significant part even of the birth of intelligent personal computing." Detailing his regrets, he lays the blame solely on Windows Vista. "I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista," says Ballmer. "I would say that's probably the thing I regret most."
鲍尔默将在未来12个月之内从微软退休, 所以他有一些时间来反思在微软13年的CEO经验。 在一个访问中( interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley)， 鲍尔默显露出对于他在微软33年所取得的成就感到自豪，声称“这甚至比智能个人计算机的诞生还要更有意义”。谈到遗憾方面，鲍尔默对Windows Vista感到追悔莫及，“我可能会说我最后悔的事情，是在我们称之为loopedy-loo的时期，当时我看到了各种版本的 ‘Longhorn’， 然后挑选这个版本作为 Vista 系统”，鲍尔默说，“这一定是我最后悔的事”。
That "loopedy-loo" saw Microsoft reset the codebase of Windows Vista midway through its development, dropping a number of ambitious features that it promised during a developer event in 2003. Ballmer has previously discussed the long development process of Windows Vista, noting that "we tried too big a task and in the process wound up losing thousands of man hours of innovation." Windows Vista, codenamed Longhorn, was originally expected to debut just two or three years after Windows XP. A complicated development process meant it shipped five years after XP, and missed the all-important holiday season for retail availability.
"loopedy-loo" 时期是指微软在开发Windows Vista的中途期间决定重写代码，并放弃了在2003年时开发者所承诺的大量的雄心勃勃的功能。 鲍尔默在先前曾讨论过Winodws Vista的长期发展，他指出“我们尝试了太过于巨大的任务，并在这个过程中浪费了数千个工时。” Windows Vista，代号为“Longhorn”，最初预计在Windows XP发布后的两到三年之内推出，但是复杂的发展过程注定了它要比XP晚5年才登场，并且错过了所有可以零售的重要节日。
WHAT WILL BALLMER DO NEXT?
鲍尔默以后会做什么？
While Ballmer regrets Windows Vista, his plans for his post-Microsoft future are unclear. "Frankly I don't know," he says, noting he hasn't had much time to consider his plans. "My whole life has been about my family and about Microsoft. And I do relish the idea that I'll have another chapter, a chapter two, if you will, of my life where I'll get to sort of experience other sides of life, learn more about myself, all of that, but it's not like I leave with a specific plan in mind."
鲍尔默还在为Windows Vista而感到后悔， 现在他对于在微软的后期生涯的计划还不明朗。“坦白说，我不知道”，他指出，他没有足够的时间来考虑他的计划。”我所有的生活就是关于我的家庭以及微软，而且我对于自己的想法十分享受，我未来将会有另外一篇章，第二篇章...只要愿意，我将从我生活的其他方面获得经验，从而更加了解我自己，所有这些都是，但是他不是我脑海中的一个具体的计划”
一起学单词：
solely： adv. 单独地，唯一地
wound up ： 紧张的；兴奋的
innovation： n. 创新, 改革, 革新
debut： n. 开张,初次登台；v. 初次登台
frankly： adv. 坦白地
原文： THE VERGE
翻译： shuangde