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.

    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。”

    The app takes a lead from Facebook, where Taylor worked for nearly three years after the social network acquired FriendFeed, a startup he co-founded around aggregating social media. Quip includes a heavy dose of social interaction. Users can share and work on documents with each other, toss in photos and tables, make to-do lists, and call a users' attention to an area of a document with the "@" sign. "The odds that two people would be staring at the same document at the same time are almost zero," explains Taylor. But thanks to Quip, a user's ability to retrieve a file on their omnipresent smartphone almost enables a back-and-forth that feels more fluid and real-time.

    Such was the case with an unnamed travel agency that tested Quip early on. Previously, the agency kept a Word document for every customer synchronized via Dropbox, a separate Google (GOOG) spreadsheet and task management software to keep track of everything from a checklist to a traveler's dietary restrictions. Once they used Quip, the company was able to consolidate all those things into one document.

    For now, Quip's team of 12 will focus on software updates with more features that bolster Quip's mobile and social abilities but also appease many people accustomed to conventional word processors. That includes Quip Enterprise, another pricing scheme due later this year with more advanced security features. Says Gibbs: "We want to open their eyes about what can be in a document."

    Quip与Facebook关系密切。泰勒曾经是社交媒体聚合公司FriendFeed的联合创始人，2009年，Facebook将FriendFeed和他一起收入囊中。泰勒一共在Facebook工作了近3年时间。Quip拥有大量社交元素。用户可以相互分享文档，协同工作，包括：添加照片和图表、制作任务清单、还可以通过在文档上放置“@”符号来吸引他人注意。泰勒解释称：“两个人在同一时刻编辑同一文档的几率几乎为零。”但借助Quip，用户可以利用无处不在的智能手机随时随地检索文档，这样一来一去的感觉更加流畅，而且更具实时性。

    在某家早期试用了Quip的旅行社，情况就是如此。过去，这家旅行社为每位客户维护一个通过云存储应用Dropbox进行同步的Word文档，同时运用一个单独的谷歌电子表格和任务管理软件，跟踪从清单到旅客饮食限制的各类信息。而用了Quip之后，这家旅行社能够将所有这些都整合到同一个文档中。

    目前，Quip的12人团队将专注于软件升级，推出更多巩固Quip的移动和社交功能，同时满足许多习惯了传统文字处理软件的用户。它包括另一个收费版本——Quip企业版。这个版本预定于今年晚些时候面世，将具有更先进的安全功能。吉布斯说：“我们想让用户大开眼界，让他们知道原来一个文档可以包罗万象。”（财富中文网）

    译者：项航