????方舟子是北京知名打假人士，以前他的影響力主要局限在學術圈內，他揭發了不少中國學者的學術造假和剽竊行為（兩者都相當猖獗）。不過，最近他以筆作槍，把槍口對準了一個非同尋常的靶子：著名科技行業經理人李開復。李開復曾任谷歌（Google）中國區總裁，目前執掌知名天使投資基金創新工場（Innovation Works），后者已有多個大名鼎鼎的支持者，包括YouTube聯合創始人陳士駿和富士康（Foxconn）首席執行官郭臺銘。

????上周爆發的這輪紛爭以新浪微博（所謂的中國版Twitter）為主戰場，以李開復的自傳《世界因你而不同》（The World is Different Because of You）為焦點。方舟子稱，李開復的簡歷有夸大其辭之嫌，而且他與許多名流之間的關系（具體來說包括：巴拉克?奧巴馬、史蒂夫?喬布斯和比爾?蓋茨）并不真實。

????例如：李開復在自傳中寫道，他上世紀八十年代初在哥倫比亞大學（Columbia University）讀書時，巴拉克?奧巴馬是他在政治科學這門課上的同學，而且他和奧巴馬都曾在教室里“睡覺”。方舟子援引這段話，指出李開復是計算機科學專業的學生，質疑他何以能跟奧巴馬一起上政治科學課。作為回應，李開復貼出了他在哥倫比亞大學的成績單，以證明自己確實上過政治科學課，但他撤回了“我跟奧巴馬一起上無聊課”這一說法。他作了個多少有點牽強的修正，寫道，他本人并不記得奧巴馬也上了這門課，而是多年后奧巴馬競選總統之時，另一位同學對他說：“你還記得政治科學課上那哥們嗎？”

????至于蓋茨與微軟（Microsoft）——2005年加盟谷歌之前，他曾為微軟效力——李開復曾寫道，他曾是就產品開發和戰略向蓋茨提供建議的七人高層智囊之一。方舟子則指責李開復故意夸大自己的重要性，以及這個所謂智囊團的重要性。（不過，《紐約時報》（The New York Times）2001年曾發表過一篇關于該智囊團的文章，并明確提及了李開復。）方舟子表示，微軟當時發布的年報中列出了21位高級副總裁，而李開復并未躋身其中。李開復本周回應道，他從來沒有自稱與蓋茨關系有多密切，或者說對后者有多大影響力。“我從未說過我是微軟最高級別的八位經理人之一。”他在微博中寫道。

????（值得一提的是，谷歌聘請李開復之后，微軟高調提起訴訟，稱李開復違反了競業避止合同，官司最后庭外和解。由此看來，微軟還是相當器重李開復的。）

????方舟子還嘲弄李開復，指后者在書中自稱史蒂夫?喬布斯的“學生”并不妥當，因為李開復在蘋果（Apple）工作的時候，正值喬布斯被迫從蘋果離職之時，而喬布斯重返蘋果時，李開復已經離開。“何必以喬布斯的學生自居？”方舟子質問道。可是，在他的自傳中，李開復只是提及“在過去的20年，我有幸在喬布斯、蓋茨和施密特等人身邊學習、成長”。無論李開復是不是真的曾在蘋果已故創始人喬布斯“身邊”學習，在李開復2005年接受谷歌聘請之前，喬布斯確實曾打電話給他，希望說服他加盟蘋果。簡單來說，二人之間確實有一些關聯。至于說“學習”喬布斯，過去30年來，哪一位硅谷人士沒有從喬布斯身上學到點東西呢——無論是在蘋果與他并肩工作還是在其他什么公司與他競爭。就因為李開復書中這一句無傷大雅的話就公開對他大加抨擊，似乎有些過分了。

????考慮到方舟子在中國主要因為揭穿學術造假行為而聞名，他拿李開復在美國當教授的那段經歷來做文章或許也是不可避免之事。方舟子指出，李開復曾提及自己在匹茲堡的卡內基梅隆大學（Carnegie Mellon University）計算機科學系當“副教授”，而且是這所聲譽尊崇的大學“最年輕”的副教授。“如果我堅持（該工作）幾年，”李開復在書中寫道，“我就可以得到終身教授的職位。”方舟子對此也冷嘲熱諷。他指出，事實上“這個所謂的副教授只是助理教授而已”。

????這確實沒錯。如果方舟子寫這段話抨擊的對象是某個剛剛在某領域獲得諾貝爾獎的教授，那或許這點兒簡歷注水之事可能還真的會有點影響。問題是，作為一個風頭正勁的北京科技行業風險投資人，很難看出這對他有什么影響。不管李開復被指在其自傳里犯了什么過錯，他肯定沒必要再去學術圈謀份差事。

????與此同時，據《新京報》（Beijing News）報道，李開復已決定在亞馬遜（Amazon）上免費提供其自傳的英文版，讓讀者自己去判斷是非曲直。

????譯者：小宇

????A noted whistle blower in Beijing, Fang Zhouzi, who's main impact previously has been to call out academic fraud and plagiarism in China (both of which are rampant) has turned his rhetorical guns on an unusual target: high profile technology executive Kai-fu Lee. Lee is the former head of Google in China who now runs Innovation Works, a prominent angel investment fund with several notbale backers, including Steve Chen, cofounder of Youtube, and Terry Gou, CEO of Foxconn.

????The controversy, which has played out this week on Sina Weibo, the so-called Twitter of China, focuses on whether in his autobiography, The World is Different Because of You, Lee exaggerates his resume and makes claims about relationships with famous people (specifically, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates), which aren't quite true.

????For example: Fang quotes Lee as saying that when he attended Columbia University in the early 1980s, he had a political science class in which one of the other students was Barack Obama. He says he and Obama used to both "fall asleep" in class. Fang notes that Lee was a computer science major and wonders how it was he could have taken a political science course with Obama. In response, Lee posted his transcript from Columbia showing he did indeed take a poli sci class but backs off the Obama-and-I-were-bored-together claim. He writes, somewhat lamely, that he himself actually didn't remember Obama being in class, but that other classmates later said to him, when Obama was running for President, "do you remember this guy from political science class?"

????Regarding Gates and Microsoft (MSFT), where he worked before moving to Google (GOOG) in 2005, Lee wrote that while there was on a committee of seven executives who advised the CEO about product development and strategy. Fang accuses Lee of inflating his own importance and the importance of this group. (The New York Times, however, wrote a story about it in 2001, and specifically named Lee.) Fang writes that Lee's name doesn t appear in Microsoft's annual reports from that era, while 21 senior vice presidents are listed. Lee this week said he never made any claims about being particularly close or influential with Gates. "I never said I was one of the senior most eight executives at Microsoft," he wrote on his microblog.

????(It is worth noting that Microsoft considered Lee important enough that when Google hired him, the company filed a high-profile lawsuit alleging that Lee was violating a non-compete agreement. The suit was settled out of court.)

????Fang also mocks Lee for calling himself a "student" of Steve Jobs" in his book, pointing out that he worked at Apple (AAPL) after Jobs had left the first time around but before he returned. "So how can you call yourself a Jobs student," Fang asks. But in his book, Lee simply says in the past "20 years I m very honored and lucky to study and grow near to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt." Whether Lee was "very near" to Jobs is not clear, but the late Apple founder did call Lee in Beijing before he took the Google job in 2005 to try to get him to come to Apple. Plainly, they had some relationship. And as for "studying" Jobs, well, who in Silicon Valley over the last 30 years didn't, whether working with him at Apple or competing against him elsewhere? To publicly flog Lee for that relatively innocuous sentence in his book seems a bit much.

????Given that Fang is best known in China for his work illuminating academic fraud, it was perhaps inevitable that he would try to score a point about Lee's days as a professor in the U.S. Fang notes that Lee claimed that he had been an "associate professor" in the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and that he says the "youngest" associate professor ever at that prestigious school. "If I stuck to that for [job] several years," Lee wrote in his book, "I could get a tenured position." In truth, "the so called associate professor was merely an assistant professor," Fang sneers.

????That's true. And if he were writing about some professor who had just won a Nobel Prize in something or other, maybe that little resume padding might matter a bit. As it is, it hardly seems of consequence for a high powered tech VC in Beijing. Kai-fu Lee, whatever his alleged transgressions in his autobiography, most certainly doesn't need a job in academia anymore.

????In the mean time, Beijing News reports that Kai-fu Lee has decided to provide the English version of his biography for free on Amazon (AMZN) to allow people to decide for themselves.