IBM didn’t want Microsoft to use the Tab key to move between dialog fields

IBM 曾反对微软使用 Tab 键在对话框字段间切换

I’ve written in the past about the cultural mismatch between Microsoft and IBM during the collaboration on OS/2, with the Microsofties viewing their IBM colleagues as mired in pointless bureaucracy and the IBM folks viewing Microsofties as undisciplined hackers.¹ 我过去曾写过微软与 IBM 在合作开发 OS/2 时存在的文化冲突：微软员工认为 IBM 同事深陷于毫无意义的官僚主义，而 IBM 员工则视微软员工为缺乏纪律的“黑客”。¹

One of many points of mismatch was the organizational structure. A colleague recalls that while he was assigned to the IBM offices in Boca Raton, Florida, there was a dispute over what key should be used to move from one field to another in dialog boxes. 组织架构是双方诸多分歧点之一。一位同事回忆说，当他被派驻到位于佛罗里达州博卡拉顿（Boca Raton）的 IBM 办公室时，双方曾就对话框中应使用哪个按键来切换字段产生了争议。

The folks at IBM were not happy with my colleague’s decision to use the TAB key, so they asked him to escalate the issue to his manager back in Redmond. My colleague’s manager replied, “The reason you are in Boca is to make these decisions so I don’t have to be in Boca.” IBM 的员工对我的同事决定使用 TAB 键感到不满，于是要求他将此事上报给雷德蒙德（Redmond）总部的经理。我同事的经理回复道：“你之所以在博卡，就是为了做这些决定，这样我就不必亲自去博卡了。”

My colleague rephrased this reply in a more corporate manner before passing it on to IBM: “Microsoft supports the use of the TAB key for this purpose.” 我的同事将这番话润色得更具“职场范儿”后转达给了 IBM：“微软支持将 TAB 键用于此目的。”

Unsatisfied, the IBM folks escalated the issue up their organizational chain for several levels, and replied that their VP (who was around seven levels of management above the programmers) was absolutely opposed to the use of the TAB for this purpose, and they wanted confirmation from the equivalent-level manager at Microsoft that Microsoft stands by the choice of the TAB key. IBM 的员工对此并不满意，他们将问题层层上报，并回复称他们的副总裁（比程序员高出约七个管理层级）坚决反对使用 TAB 键，他们要求微软同级别的经理确认微软是否坚持使用 TAB 键的决定。

My colleague replied, “Bill Gates’s mother is not interested in the TAB key.” This apparently ended the discussion, and the TAB key stayed. 我的同事回复道：“比尔·盖茨的母亲对 TAB 键不感兴趣。”这显然终结了讨论，TAB 键最终被保留了下来。

Note: This upcoming Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States. You probably shouldn’t ask her for her opinion on the TAB key. 注：本周日是美国的母亲节。你大概不该去问她对 TAB 键有什么看法。

¹ There was probably merit to both arguments. ¹ 双方的观点可能都有其道理。

Wonderful story. It is hard to imagine something like this happening today. Was the key IBM wanted to use for dialog navigation lost in the depths of history? I’d like to know what it was, if only to appreciate what we escaped from. 精彩的故事。很难想象今天还会发生这样的事。IBM 当年想用于对话框导航的按键是否已湮没在历史长河中？我很想知道那是什么键，哪怕只是为了庆幸我们避开了那个选择。

If you work with keyboard input at all, you’ll see there’s a ton of historical keys that don’t exist on most modern keyboards, some of which might make for good candidates for switching between input fields in forms. Nowdays, they’re just useful for programs that remap hotkeys from icon button peripherals. 如果你从事键盘输入相关的工作，你会发现有许多历史按键在现代键盘上已不复存在，其中一些或许本可以成为表单字段切换的不错选择。如今，它们只对那些从图标按钮外设重映射热键的程序有用。

You assume they had one. Some primes push back on every decision a subcontractor makes just because that’s how they operate, while providing no solution/alternative of their own. Those are fun projects to work on (/s) 你假设他们当时有方案。有些总承包商会对分包商做的每一个决定都进行阻挠，仅仅因为这就是他们的行事风格，同时却又不提供任何自己的解决方案或替代方案。参与这样的项目可真“有趣”（反讽）。

I wonder if it was a key associated with the terminals used for Mainframes. On the original 3270 keyboards, field navigation wasn’t done with a “Tab” key the way you’d think of it on a PC. The dedicated keys were called Field Forward (→|) and Field Backward (|←) — sometimes labeled as “Skip” — usually shown with arrow-and-bar symbols. 我怀疑那是不是与大型机终端相关的按键。在最初的 3270 键盘上，字段导航并不是像你在 PC 上那样通过“Tab”键完成的。专用按键被称为“字段前进”（Field Forward, →|）和“字段后退”（Field Backward, |←）——有时标记为“跳过”（Skip）——通常带有箭头和竖杠符号。

The data-entry keyboard layout (modeled after IBM’s keypunch) had its own conventions inherited from card-punch operators, and there was no PC-style “Tab” key in the typewriter sense. 数据输入键盘布局（仿照 IBM 的打孔机）有其从卡片打孔操作员那里继承来的惯例，并没有打字机意义上的 PC 式“Tab”键。

This is absolutely hilarious. Thanks for sharing! 这太搞笑了。感谢分享！