FWIW: just to give some of you a bit of fun; no futher discussion needed
here as it's kinda off topic.
Found this in comp.sys.ibm.sys3x.misc. Don't know for sure if Mr. Welch
really gave the press rls. Posted on Thu, 16 Jul 1998:
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the
computer industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like
the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar
cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon.
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release
stating (by Mr. Welch himself):
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving
cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have
to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason,
and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
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. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought
"Car95" or "CarNT". But then you would have to buy more seats.
6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun,
reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would
only run on five per cent of the roads.
7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would
be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.
8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
9. The air bag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.
10. 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 grab hold of the radio antenna.
11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of
Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither
need or want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately
cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM
would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.
12. Every time GM introduced a new model 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.
13. You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL:
http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/
Received on Wed Jul 22 1998 - 09:49:38 BST