初创公司打造手机上的Word

    布雷特• 泰勒与凯文•吉布斯称，文字处理软件过去三十年来一直一成不变。最新版本的微软（Microsoft）Word文字处理软件仍然是几行杂乱无章的工具栏，甚至连象征保存操作的软盘图标都还在。

    “现在的电脑根本就没有软盘了，”旧金山新创企业Quip的联席创始人布雷特•泰勒说。去年，时任Facebook首席技术官的泰勒，以及谷歌（Google）App Engine的创造者吉布斯独辟蹊径，自行发布了一款产品。该产品利用了从个人电脑向智能手机和平板的快速过渡。凭借标杆资本风投公司（Benchmark Capital）、马克•贝尼奥夫以及尤里•米尔纳等投资的1,500万美元，这款产品发展成了于本月面世的免费文字处理软件Quip，适用于台式机以及iOS设备。它的付费版本——Quip商业版的收费标准为每位用户每月12美元，每个账户可由多达250名用户使用，而且拥有管理控制面板等多种功能——相比之下，免费版每个账户只可由5名用户使用。Android版本目前正在测试中。

    Quip在使用上和Word有几分相似。用户能在各种设备上使用Quip直接敲出文档。用户可以在PC机上完成大部分文本编辑工作，然后在手机或平板上浏览并简单修改文档。（如果想在移动设备上使用Word可不容易，用户必须先注册微软的Offcie 365云服务。）吉布斯说：“直接把Word拿来放到小屏幕设备上可不是优雅的做法，只会给用户徒增烦恼。”

    According to Bret Taylor and Kevin Gibbs, word processors have been stuck in a rut for the last three decades. Launch the latest version of Microsoft Word, and there's the same cluttered array of toolbars, even a floppy disc button emblematic of saving progress.

    "Your PC doesn't even have a floppy disc anymore," muses Bret Taylor, co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup Quip. Last year, Taylor, then Facebook (FB) CTO, and Gibbs, creator of Google's (GOOG) App Engine, struck out on their own to release a product that took advantage of the rapid transition away from the PC toward the smartphone and tablet. With $15 million in backing from Benchmark Capital, Marc Benioff, Yuri Milner and others, the product evolved into Quip, a free word processor introduced this month for the desktop and iOS devices. A paid version, Quip Business, charges $12 a month per user, allows for up to 250 users per account -- versus the free version's five -- and adds features like an administrative dashboard. Testing of an Android version is also underway.

    To use it, Quip feels like the hipper, distant cousin to Word. Users may type out documents but also hop from device to device when doing so, writing out most of the file on their desktop, then skimming and lightly editing their content on the phone or tablet. (To compare, a version of Word is only available to mobile users if they subscribe to Microsoft's (MSFT) cloud-based Office 365 service.) "Just taking Word and putting it on the smaller screen would not just an inelegant thing, but a frustrating thing to use," says Gibbs.