Gates vs GM

Gates Vs. GM
For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash... Twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this
4.. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
I love the next one!!!
7.. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key a nd grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9.. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.

The sad part of that sarcastic joke is.... that in reality, with Tier III emissions, a good MANY of those things ARE true of modern cars and trucks. Sadly they don't cost 25 bucks tho...

Rod

Looks like they both have their points but i tell you what. If i paid 30,000 for a home computer that thing better do more than what the computer does now and if i paid 300 for a car i might expect it to strand me now and then. Admit it computer prices dropped because of competition but car prices escalated just because we all thought we needed bigger and better. Computer performance will get better when the industry realizes we aren"t going to take it anymore just as the auto industry will when they also realize we aren"t going to take their garbage anymore either.

A couple weeks ago I rented a Toyota Pious on a business trip. You indeed have to press the "power" button to turn the dang thing on and off. When you get in, pressing the power button once would turn on the electrical system (radio, lights, A/C, etc). Pressing it again would turn on the "driving" system, showing the speedometer, gearshift indicator, etc. However, at this point, you couldn't actually shift into Drive or Reverse, but you could shift into Neutral, which means you are now able to roll out of your parking spot at the hotel, which is in a sloping parking lot, but you have really bad brakes because that system isn't on yet. You need to press the Power button twice more, once to shut it off, then to turn everything back on, and then you can put it in gear and drive away. Must be some kinda safety feature, but I sure ain't seein' what kind.

(4.. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.)

A good friend of mine had a ford T-bird that would do this all the time. He never did get it fix right.
Walt

Dave, that is a hoax. Gates never said it, and GM never issued the press release. It has been circulating around on the internet since 1999.
Gates GM Story is false

(quoted from post at 09:40:33 05/14/09) Dave, that is a hoax. Gates never said it, and GM never issued the press release. It has been circulating around on the internet since 1999.
Gates GM Story is false

Click to expand...

Absolutely true. That it's a hoax, I mean. But is it POSSIBLE that it "really is true?"

Let's think, for a moment about the recent layoffs at "Gates." If GM could have locked up copyrights on autos like Gates did on Microsoft products, do ya thing GM would'ha made a bit more money? You'd have had to buy new tires from GM. oil and antifreeze. It would have been illegal to modify the "software" (engine) so that means than any replacement parts had to come right from GM

Of course GM would STILL be paying out of the claims due to those pesky "blue windshields of death" and the "frozen brake pedal and wheel" complaints

Who cares? It's still funny. I posted it for a laugh, not for someone to analyze it to death.

"9.. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car."

Have you ever driven or ridden in a Chevy Equinox? None of the controls are located where you would expect to find them except for a couple, and those controls do something entirely different than what is expected.

You are right it is funny.

I don't think saying that pointing out that neither party actually said what you were stating they did is "analyzing it to death".

The truth is that people keep upgrading and buying new computers and the prices do come down. With vehicles the technology keeps going up but so does the price and people aren't buying them. Dave

They forgot one.

Only one person would be allowed to ride in a car, everytime another person wanted to ride you would need to buy another car.