????亞馬遜（Amazon）在圣誕節(jié)后的第二天公布了購物季熱銷商品排行榜，筆記本銷量排名第二的是華碩（Asus）變形金剛（Transformer）。這是一款Windows 8筆記本，配有可拆卸鍵盤，可以非常便捷地“變形”成平板電腦。毫無疑問，變形金剛恰恰就是微軟（Microsoft）翹首以盼的那種殺手級(jí)便攜式電子產(chǎn)品。

????那么，亞馬遜的這份排行榜是否對(duì)微軟完全是好消息呢？不盡然，銷量第一和第三的筆記本都與Windows無緣，大放異彩的是Chromebook。不過這款筆記本并不是什么新產(chǎn)品，它的一代產(chǎn)品上市已經(jīng)有兩年時(shí)間。Chromebook是由谷歌和宏碁（Acer）、惠普（HP）、聯(lián)想（Lenovo）、三星（Samsung）等合作伙伴共同研發(fā)的輕量級(jí)上網(wǎng)本，是全功能筆記本的替代產(chǎn)品。

????Chromebook可不僅僅是傳統(tǒng)電腦的替代品。它們還是微軟在孜孜不倦地詆毀、攻擊的對(duì)象。Chromebook有幸成為微軟“Scroogled”戰(zhàn)役的重點(diǎn)打擊對(duì)象。所謂“Scroogled”是微軟從2012年11月開始發(fā)起的一場市場營銷活動(dòng)，旨在抨擊、揭露谷歌的產(chǎn)品和商業(yè)戰(zhàn)略。微軟在抹黑Chromebook的這場大戰(zhàn)中大放厥詞，稱它既不能運(yùn)行Windows，也不能運(yùn)行Office、iTunes、photoshop等主流應(yīng)用程序，如果不連接互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，簡直“一無是處”。

????“Scroogled”戰(zhàn)役的最初目標(biāo)是谷歌占據(jù)統(tǒng)治地位的搜索引擎和飽受爭議的隱私策略。不過，就在圣誕節(jié)前，微軟轉(zhuǎn)移目標(biāo)，將槍口瞄準(zhǔn)了Chromebook。我聽到這樣的消息時(shí)不禁一頭霧水。因?yàn)镃hromebook的市場行情一直很差，谷歌對(duì)此一籌莫展。

????不過，最近發(fā)生在我身邊的一則故事讓我認(rèn)識(shí)到，Chromebook已成為微軟的又一根肉中刺。一邊是PC市場增長停滯，另一邊是手機(jī)和平板市場節(jié)節(jié)敗退，微軟這幾年的日子很不好過。我的兩個(gè)兒子在奧克蘭市就讀小學(xué)，前不久，我所在的教師家長協(xié)會(huì)決定購買36臺(tái)Chromebook供四年級(jí)學(xué)生使用。幾周后，學(xué)校又作出決定，再購入約70臺(tái)Chromebook，而且還計(jì)劃升級(jí)學(xué)校的WiFi網(wǎng)絡(luò)，以便新購入的所有筆記本能同時(shí)聯(lián)網(wǎng)。這意味著，只要老師同意，近半數(shù)四、五年級(jí)學(xué)生能隨時(shí)使用筆記本。

????這件事令人吃驚的地方不在于一所市區(qū)學(xué)校一次性購買了100臺(tái)Chrombook，而是根本沒人提出要購買Windows產(chǎn)品。就算有人提出替代方案，討論的也無外乎Mac和iPad。在學(xué)校的圖書館、多媒體實(shí)驗(yàn)室和某些教室已經(jīng)部署了不少M(fèi)ac電腦。

????教師家長協(xié)會(huì)和學(xué)校為什么選擇Chromebook？原因一目了然。雖然Chromebook沒有Office，但內(nèi)置的免費(fèi)Google Docs是一款簡單易用的軟件，完全可以替代Office，滿足小學(xué)生們的需求簡直是小菜一碟。至于沒有Windows——或者說沒有Mac系統(tǒng)——對(duì)精打細(xì)算的教育機(jī)構(gòu)來說反而是件好事。Chromebook啟動(dòng)迅速，內(nèi)容分享簡單，不需要升級(jí)，也無需隨時(shí)備份，整個(gè)系統(tǒng)能隨時(shí)保持最新狀態(tài)。當(dāng)然，最值得一提的是，它的主流型號(hào)價(jià)格僅在200到300美元之間，是性價(jià)比極高的產(chǎn)品。【羅杰斯家庭教育基金（Rogers Family Foundation）主管混合教育的格雷格?克萊恩在教育網(wǎng)站edSurge發(fā)表了一篇博客，倡議奧克蘭地區(qū)的學(xué)校引入高科技教學(xué)手段。克雷恩在文中詳細(xì)列舉了學(xué)校選用Chrombook的優(yōu)點(diǎn)。】

????當(dāng)然，我們不能以偏概全，我猜測眼下依然有大量學(xué)校選擇Windows產(chǎn)品。不過，谷歌Chromebook顯然已經(jīng)成功得手，讓我們的孩子在童年時(shí)就開始接受其軟件和服務(wù)的熏陶。老牌科技博客Verge最近發(fā)文指出，微軟之痛不在于硬件，而在于它最賺錢的軟件和服務(wù)正被谷歌的免費(fèi)產(chǎn)品大肆鯨吞。

????現(xiàn)在看來，Scroogled戰(zhàn)役不但沒能收到成效，反而助長了谷歌的勢頭。上周，調(diào)研機(jī)構(gòu)NPD報(bào)告稱，21%的筆記本，買家是商業(yè)組織、教育機(jī)構(gòu)和政府機(jī)構(gòu)等機(jī)構(gòu)組織。NPD還指出，就在2012年，Chromebook的市場份額還“微不足道”，如今它市場份額的增速秒殺其它所有產(chǎn)品類別。NPD行業(yè)分析部副總裁史蒂芬?貝克在接受采訪時(shí)表示，消費(fèi)者將Chromebook當(dāng)作廉價(jià)PC和平板電腦的替代產(chǎn)品。“Chromebook大獲成功，市場定位非常清晰。”

????截至上周，在亞馬遜網(wǎng)站的筆記本銷售排行榜上，華碩變形金剛已跌落至第三，排名前兩位的是宏碁和三星的Chromebook。一切都表明，過氣的是微軟，而不是谷歌。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????When Amazon released its list of holiday bestsellers the day after Christmas, the second-most popular laptop was the Asus Transformer, a Windows 8 laptop with a detachable keyboard that converts into a tablet. It's just the kind of portable consumer device that Microsoft (MSFT) desperately needs to be a hit.

????So was the Amazon announcement good news for Microsoft? Not quite. As it turns out, the first- and third-bestselling laptops at Amazon over the holidays were not Windows PCs. They were Chromebooks, the stripped down, web-only machines that Google (GOOG) and partners like Acer, HP (HPQ), Lenovo, and Samsung have been peddling for two years as an alternative to full-fledged laptops.

????Chromebooks aren't just any PC alternative. They're the one Microsoft has worked hard to discredit as a mere toy. Chromebooks feature prominently in Redmond's "Scroogled" marketing campaign, a much-criticized series of attack ads on Google's products and business practices that Microsoft launched in November 2012. In the Chromebook "Scroogled" ads, actors disparage the Google-powered laptops for not being able to run Windows or popular programs like Office, iTunes, or Photoshop, and for being "pretty much a brick" when not connected to the Internet.

????The Scroogled campaign had initially targeted Google's dominant search engine and its controversial privacy practices. The new focus on Chromebooks ahead of this holiday season was a bit of a head-scratcher for me at first. After all, the Google-powered machines had struggled to gain traction with consumers.

????But a story close to home gave me reason to think that Chromebooks are the latest headache for Microsoft, which has struggled to gain traction in phones and tablets at a time when growth in the PC market has stalled. At the public elementary school that my two sons attend in Oakland, the parent teacher association, on whose board I serve, recently decided to purchase 36 Chromebooks for students in the fourth grade. A few weeks later, we received news that the school district would purchase an additional 70 or so Chromebooks -- and would upgrade the Wi-Fi in the school so all the new machines could work simultaneously. This allows half of fourth and fifth graders to work on computers at any one time, if their teachers decide it's appropriate.

????What was striking was not so much that a school in an urban district would purchase 100 Chromebooks, but that there was never any discussion of purchasing Windows machines. When an alternative to the Chromebooks was discussed, the conversation was about Macs -- of which there are several in the school library, media lab, and some classrooms -- or iPads.

????It's not hard to see why our PTA and the school district opted for Chromebooks. Sure, they don't have Office. But they do have the free Google Docs, which is an easy-to-use alternative and sufficient for most tasks required of elementary school students. As for the lack of Windows -- or for that matter MacOS -- that's actually an asset for the cost-sensitive school environment. The machines boot up immediately, they can be shared easily amongst students, they never have to be upgraded or backed up, and they are always up to date. Oh, and at prices ranging between $200 and $300 for popular models, they're more affordable than most alternatives. (In a blog post on the educational website edSurge, Greg Klein, director of blended learning at the Rogers Family Foundation, which advises the Oakland schools on technology solutions, lays out the benefits of Chromebooks in the classroom in more detail.)

????This is purely anecdotal, of course, and I suspect there are plenty of schools that are choosing Windows machines. But Google's Chromebooks are clearly making inroads, and getting an important demographic -- millennials -- hooked on their software and services at an early age. And as The Verge, a prominent tech blog, recently noted, it is Google's threat to Microsoft's lucrative software and services, more than hardware, that has Redmond worried.

????The Scroogled campaign doesn't seem to be working and may even be backfiring for Microsoft. Last week, the NPD Group reported that 21% of all notebooks sold through resellers, which are mainly purchased by organizations like businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies. In 2012, Chromebooks had a "negligible" share of the market, according to NPD, and the surge represented the largest share increase among any product category. In an interview, Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said Chromebooks are being purchased as an alternative to both low-cost PCs and tablets. "Chomebooks have been very successful," Baker said. "There was clearly a market demand."

????By this week on Amazon.com, the Asus Transformer had slipped to No. 3 in the laptop category behind two Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung. It all suggests that the one getting Scroogled is Microsoft.