Terms and conditions of software localization
Translators are Volunteers
By participating in the Translator Program you are volunteering your time and efforts to the promotion of the Evernote service and, we hope, expanding the enjoyment and value of the Evernote service to those for whom language might otherwise be a barrier. We hope that the benefits others obtain due to your contributions will be appreciated by you as well as by them, and thank you for your efforts. We must make clear that, whether or not Evernote utilizes your work in the Translator Program, Evernote is under no obligation to pay you any sum of money or otherwise provide you with any compensation. Evernote also retains complete discretion to select any or none of the translations and other contributions you may provide in the Translator Program, or otherwise.
I have nothing against utilizing the community or volunteer effort for product localization; I am just wondering how it benefits the software maker, the volunteers and the software users. Are they well balanced? How would the overall quality be? Will this approach benefit the industry?
這是某個軟體公司徵求志工，為旗下產品進行介面翻譯的部分啟事內容。現在似乎利用這種方式「省錢」的廠商越來越多了；只要召募得到夠水準的志工，這樣做可以節省成本、提昇相關社群的向心力、造福外語程度不足的使用者。
然而，這樣的手法之下，廠商、志工、以及使用者各能有多少獲益呢？這三者之間的獲益是否能夠均衡呢？廠商本身用在管理專案和品質控制方面的努力，會不會其實高過找傳統的專業翻譯廠商呢？如果這種手法廣泛使用，對於軟體業、以及所謂「軟體本地化」產業又會有什麼影響呢？我很好奇。
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