TONT 39873 USB软驱的一则小故事

爱美之心，人皆有之，爱美之税，人皆交之。

原文链接：https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040409-00/?p=39873

A friend of mine used to work on the development of the USB specification and subsequent implementation. One of the things that happens at these meetings is that hardware companies would show off the great USB hardware they were working on. It also gave them a chance to try out their hardware with various USB host manufacturers and operating systems to make sure everything worked properly together.

我有一个朋友曾经负责过USB规格及相关部署的开发工作，在这项工作中，经常会与硬件厂商会面，而厂商会展示他们开发的优良USB硬件产品。这也给他们（厂商）提供了一个机会，来测试其硬件是否能与不同的USB宿主硬件生产商、以及不同的操作系统协同工作。

One of the earlier demonstrations was a company that was making USB floppy drives. The company representative talked about how well the drives were doing and mentioned that they make two versions, one for PCs and one for Macs.

其中一个演示是有个厂家制造了一款USB软驱。厂方代表介绍了其产品的优良性能，并提及他们做了两个版本：一个是PC版，另一个是Mac版。

“That’s strange,” the committee members thought to themselves. “Why are there separate PC and Mac versions? The specification is very careful to make sure that the same floppy drive works on both systems. You shouldn’t need to make two versions.”

『好奇怪啊，』委员会成员想，『为什么会做两个独立的PC和Mac版呢？设计标准是精心设计过的，确保同样的软驱能在两种系统上都能正常运作，根本用不着做两个版本吧。』

So one of the members asked the obvious question. “Why do you have two versions? What’s the difference? If there’s a flaw in our specification, let us know and we can fix it.”

然后就有人把这个很明显的问题提了出来：『为什么要做两个版本呢？它们之间有什么区别吗？如果我们的设计标准里有什么问题，请提出来，我们好进行修订。』

The company representative answered, “Oh, the two floppy drives are completely the same electronically. The only difference is that the Mac version comes in translucent blue plastic and costs more.”

厂方代表答道：『噢，这两个（版本的）软驱在电子元件的设计上是完全相同的，唯一的区别是Mac版有个透明的蓝色塑料外壳，卖的贵点。』

This company was of course not the only one to try to capitalize on the iMac-inspired translucent plastic craze. My favorite is the iMac-styled George Foreman Grill. (I’m told the graphite ones cook faster.)

这家公司当然不是唯一从iMac标志性的透明塑料热潮中获利的唯一一家，我最喜欢的例子是iMac风格的George Foreman烧烤盘。（有人跟我说深黑色的款式做饭更快。）