Topic: If GM made cars like Microsoft made programs....

[1TSX]

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 and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introd! uced 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.

Taken from: http://www.birdboard.com/forum/lounge/32935-if-gm-made-cars-like-microsoft-makes-computers.html

 

[The Mighty Duck]

And every once in a while, the windshield would just turn blue and nothing you tried would get it back to normal... 

[UmroAyyar]

haha, this is a really funny joke, I've seen this before. 

btw, Ford's using Microsoft's Sync and Formula 1 was planning to use Microsoft software for car ECUs. They should be worried just in case.

Here's what actually happened and Jack Welch was never president of GM, he was with GE.

The basic premise of this gag — the computer industry's touting advances in computing technology by comparing them to the automotive industry is met by a stinging rejoinder from car manufacturers — began life as a mere three-line joke at least as far back as early 1997:

There's word in business circles that the computer industry likes to measure itself against the Big Three auto-makers. The comparison goes this way: If automotive technology had kept pace with Silicon Valley, motorists could buy a V-32 engine that goes 10,000 m.p.h. or a 30-pound car that gets 1,000 miles to the gallon — either one at a sticker price of less than $ 50. Detroit's response: "OK. But who would want a car that crashes twice a day?"

As typically happens in the urban legend cycle, within months a generic tale that invoked types of businesses had been transformed into a version that attributed it to the biggest and most well-known corporate representatives of those businesses: "the computer industry" became Bill Gates of Microsoft, and "Detroit" was replaced with "General Motors":

http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp

[tpl]

The original joke and the new one both confuse the hardware and the software.  PC hardware, especially the cpu and memory is amazingly more rugged and reliable than it was. MS software not so much.

To be fair to the software writers of the world, the software in embedded computers like car ECUs, and your lowly microwave oven or  cable tv box IS extremely reliable

[wing]

Or how about your cars would be like my Cobalt tester?   Nothing included out of the box but you can buy the Home edition, Ultimate edition or business edition of the cobalt

[Wolverine]

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off. This one is real already.

[Juke1]

I think we're missing the point here, there is no reference to operating systems or software here.  We should not forget that auto ecu's are often reflashed to correct problems.


 

[The Mighty Duck]

Or how about your cars would be like my Cobalt tester?   Nothing included out of the box but you can buy the Home edition, Ultimate edition or business edition of the cobalt

And the car would incessantly nag you while you were driving to "Upgrade Anytime"?   

[tpl]

I think we're missing the point here, there is no reference to operating systems or software here.  We should not forget that auto ecu's are often reflashed to correct problems.


 

You think "often" ?   Hmmmmm  I suspect that it is not often any more. It is a fairly mature technology now. I do not disagree that ECUs are reflashed sometimes for bugs  and, I presume, as part of a recall for emissions or something similar.

i have written programs for embedded cpus in the past and it certainly was ( and is) a more rigorous testing procedure that regular applications.... no room for a BSOD 

[initial_D]

Regardless Who Made Who, the problem still exist between chair and steering wheel keyboard.