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The mouse was far from an instant success, simply because there was no graphical user interface software, outside a handful of US research labs.

He still uses his five key input device and hopes to find commercial interest in the design.

Task 6. Comment on the sentences.

He quickly realized a graphical user interface required a simple pointing device, leading to the development of the computer mouse.

I'm not surprised the mouse is the success it became, but I am a little surprised that nothing better has come along since.

It's really a personal issue, users have to find a mouse that they are comfortable with.

Text 2.

PERSISTENCE TRANSLATES INTO SUCCESS

Many Internet-based companies fail first time round.

But reassessing the business model may often transmute failure

Businesses on the web, like those elsewhere, often succeed at the second attempt after an early version has proven flawed. A case in point is Onsale, the online auction house that was forced to abandon acting as an agent for sellers and instead became a retailer. Onsale is now a public company with a market capitalization of about $600 m (£366 m).

With hindsight, the shift in emphasis may seem obvious, but at the time things can look very different. Take Aleph, an online translation agency. Aleph was founded by a San Francisco-based consultant, on the premise that the fragmented translation industry is ripe for consolidation via the Internet. With his own money and a single backer, the consultant built a web site where customers needing translations could specify the languages they wanted, browse the CVs of individual translators, and obtain a quote based on word length and experience of translator. Jobs were sent to and from translators all over the world via e-mail.

The service had advantages over traditional agencies. Translators generally live in the country of the language they are translating, implying more familiarity than an expatriate who lives abroad. And Aleph used its low costs to reduce prices — receiving 10-35 per cent of the price, compared with 50 per cent charged by most agencies.

The Aleph designer had signed up blue-chip customers including Rockwell, Boeing and Bell Labs, as well as 3,000 translators. However, there was little business, and, according to one account, Aleph failed to raise the $500,000 needed to achieve $3m in sales. At the same time he made a presentation at the Venture

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Market conference in San Francisco. Among his audience was WorldPoint, an Hawaii-based electronic-commerce company. Last autumn WorldPoint acquired Aleph, paying for the company with an undisclosed quantity of its own stock.

World Point reappeared at the London Venture Market conference reincarnated as a company on a mission to offer "one-click multilingual communications solutions". WorldPoint has made several changes to the Aleph business model. Gone are the translators CVs. WorldPoint promotes itself as a seamless translation brand with quality-assurance. Gone too is the system of sending documents back and forth by e-mail.

Instead, a young developer at WorldPoint has written a user interface that automates the process of translating a web site. After opening an account with a credit card — a process that takes only 90 seconds — you can set target languages and check off pages to be translated from a list produced automatically by the software. WorldPoint chooses the translator, sets a price for each language, and provides an automated quote based on the word length of each web page.

But the company is not positioning itself only as a service for web sites. WorldPoint is developing a software plug-in for Microsoft Word, which can be downloaded free off the web and will add an item to the program's file menu allowing customers to send a document to WorldPoint for translation in a few clicks. The company has sold translation services worth $300,000 during the past six weeks. The company has also agreed to sell one-seventh of its assets to venture capitalists for $5m. The translation market is worth $32bn and is growing at an annual rate of 30 per cent. WorldPoint would, of course, need only a tiny slice of that to justify the most aggressive valuation.

But the important point behind Aleph's failure to capitalize on its first-mover advantage may be that users of translation services prefer meeting the agency providing the service. So WorldPoint is setting up offices in Honolulu, Dallas, San Francisco, Zurich and possibly Tokyo. That may well be the magic ingredient that turns Aleph into Onsale. But it is worth remembering the proverb "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Glossary

To transmute failure — зд. добиться успеха (как следствие преодоления трудностей на начальном этапе).

То sign up blue-chip customers — зд. подписать договор с ведущими компаниями.

In a few clicks — букв, сделав пару (несколько) щелчков компьютерной мышью.

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Task 1. Render the article and put 7—10 questions based on its content.

Task 2. Look up the following words and word combinations in the Vocabulary; find the sentences where they are used:

web, web site, web page, case in point, market capitalization, to capitalize, hindsight, online, backer, quote ,e-mail, venture market, venture capitalist, to reincarnate, target language, software plugin, program's file menu, valuation, first-mover advantage.

Task 3. Fill in the blanks with articles if needed.

Aleph was founded by ... San Francisco-based consultant, on ... premise that ...

fragmented translation industry is ripe for ... consolidation via ...Internet.

... translators generally live in ... country of ... language they are translating, implying ... more familiarity than ... expatriate who lives abroad.

...young developer at ... World Point has written ... user interface that automates

... process of translating ... web site.

... World Point chooses ... translator, sets ... price for each language, and provides ... automated quote based on ... word length of each web page.

Task 4. Translate into Russian.

With hindsight, the shift in emphasis may seem obvious, but at the time things can look very different.

Jobs were sent to and from translators all over the world via e-mail. Gone too is the system of sending documents back and forth by e-mail. But the company is not positioning itself only as a service for web sites. That may well be the magic ingredient that turns Aleph into On sale .

Task 5. Comment on the sentences.

1.Businesses on the web, like those elsewhere, often succeed at the second attempt after an early version has proven flawed.

2.The service had advantages over traditional agencies.

Last autumn World Point acquired Aleph, paying for the company with an undisclosed quantity of its own stock.

3.But the important point behind Aleph's failure to capitalize on its first-mover advantage may be that users of translation services prefer meeting the agency providing the service.

4.It is worth remembering the proverb "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."