Car Forum / Ford / Ford Mustang / May 2005
Bill Gates versus GM
|
|
Thread rating:  |
RichA - 27 Apr 2005 10:25 GMT 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 could have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and then reopen the windows before you could continue For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre 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.
7. Before deploying, the airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?"
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 introduced, the car buyer 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 off the engine. Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate -their computer!
memset@recorddeal.com - 27 Apr 2005 11:01 GMT LMAO That's awesome, Rich!!!
-Mike
-- Melt away the Cellulite with Cellulean! http://www.MeltAwayCellulite.com/
> At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the > computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > -their > computer! John H - 27 Apr 2005 20:21 GMT >At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the >computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] >-their >computer! Great! Thanks.
 Signature John H
"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."
Quiet Desperation - 27 Apr 2005 22:13 GMT > 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. Yeah, but we can emulate a Windows car anytime we want by pushing it off a cliff and letting it bounce end over end for a few hundred feet.
WindsorFox[SS] - 28 Apr 2005 02:04 GMT > At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the > computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving > cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part): You forgot to mention, 11. Everytime you replace the oil, oil filter, airfilter and sparkplugs, you have to call GM on the phone to get them to send you a new key to start the car with....
 Signature There are no limits [to stupidity or kookdom], only extremes we haven't reached yet. - Quaestor
Andrew - 28 Apr 2005 03:05 GMT >> At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the >> computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > sparkplugs, you have to call GM on the phone to get them to send you a > new key to start the car with.... .. and after waiting on the phone for the 5th time they tell you that you have gotten too many new keys and will have to re-buy your car.
WindsorFox[SS] - 29 Apr 2005 03:20 GMT >> You forgot to mention, >> 11. Everytime you replace the oil, oil filter, airfilter and [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > .. and after waiting on the phone for the 5th time they tell you that you > have gotten too many new keys and will have to re-buy your car. Has that actually ever happened to anyone?? I have to tell you, someone would have a serious problem. I upgrade my system a lot and sometime change things just to change them or to do a hardware review. Once I purchase that OS, by God it is MINE....
 Signature There are no limits [to stupidity or kookdom], only extremes we haven't reached yet. - Quaestor
Garth Almgren - 29 Apr 2005 03:59 GMT >> Someone else whose name got snipped wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Has that actually ever happened to anyone?? It happened to an acquaintance of mine who is a friend of my cousin's, but I didn't hear it directly from him, so it could have been BS or pure misinformation. :)
> Once I purchase that OS, by God it is MINE.... Not according to Microsoft; you're not purchasing the OS itself, just a license to use the OS.
 Signature / Garth - '83 GL V6stang Hatch <Former MW #7> \
| My V6stang: http://www.v6stang.com/v6stang | | RAMFM Merchandise: http://www.cafeshops.com/ramfm | \ Mail pgp@v6stang.com for secure reply information /
WindsorFox[SS] - 29 Apr 2005 04:43 GMT >> Once I purchase that OS, by God it is MINE.... > > Not according to Microsoft; you're not purchasing the OS itself, just a > license to use the OS. Right, but if I change parts in my puter they have absolutly no right to suddenly say "no".
 Signature There are no limits [to stupidity or kookdom], only extremes we haven't reached yet. - Quaestor
Thomas Cameron - 30 Apr 2005 21:33 GMT >>> Once I purchase that OS, by God it is MINE.... >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Right, but if I change parts in my puter they have absolutly no right > to suddenly say "no". Wanna bet? Read the EULA.
memset@recorddeal.com - 30 Apr 2005 22:28 GMT End User License Agreement
..I think.
-Mike
-- Melt away the Cellulite with Cellulean! http://www.MeltAwayCellulite.com/
> >>> Once I purchase that OS, by God it is MINE.... > >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Wanna bet? Read the EULA. Thomas Cameron - 02 May 2005 04:28 GMT You are right, sorry. I'm in the computer biz so to me EULA is as natural as "vert" is in this group.
Microsoft only licenses you to use thei OS and they put a wad of restrictions in that EULA - if you can stay awake, you should really read through it. It's scary.
Thomas
> End User License Agreement > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >> >> Wanna bet? Read the EULA. memset@recorddeal.com - 02 May 2005 06:45 GMT I'm the computer biz too. What part you focus on? Web-development over here.
-Mike
-- Melt away the Cellulite with Cellulean! http://www.MeltAwayCellulite.com/
> You are right, sorry. I'm in the computer biz so to me EULA is as natural > as "vert" is in this group. [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > >> > >> Wanna bet? Read the EULA. WindsorFox[SS] - 03 May 2005 07:19 GMT > I'm the computer biz too. What part you focus on? Web-development over here. > > -Mike Internet porn and webmail spam here...
 Signature What's black and looks good on a spammer?
...Gangrene.
William R. James
memset@recorddeal.com - 03 May 2005 07:28 GMT LOL... time for me to switch !!
-Mike
-- Melt away the Cellulite with Cellulean! http://www.MeltAwayCellulite.com/
> > I'm the computer biz too. What part you focus on? Web-development over here. > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > William R. James ZombyWoof - 03 May 2005 13:04 GMT >> I'm the computer biz too. What part you focus on? Web-development over here. >> >> -Mike > > Internet porn and webmail spam here... I've always wished I got into the internet porn boom earlier. Who'd ever realized people would pay to watch to average looking people screw or a bunch or College girls walk around in their house in their undies.
 Signature "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..."
The Marquis de Sade
ZombyWoof - 28 Apr 2005 16:25 GMT >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" While humorous, it is not true. There was no Comdex last year (2004), I used to go ever year until it was canceled because of very poor attendance in 2003. This is a very old joke with certain elements of the truth, but not from GM nor Microsoft.
>In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release >stating: [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] >-their >computer!
 Signature "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..."
The Marquis de Sade
one80out@hotmail.com - 28 Apr 2005 18:58 GMT > This is a very old joke with certain elements of > the truth, but not from GM nor Microsoft. As one who recently moved from a Windows XP office to a Mac OS X office, I can tell you that any claim to Mac superiority is definitely an outdated myth. This Mac stuff sucks, both from its own slowness and from its incompatibility with Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word (which I presume to be intentional on MS's part). I haven't seen so many lockups since Windows 95, and the speed (i.e., the lack of it) is continuously aggravating.
180 Out
Kruse - 29 Apr 2005 04:16 GMT > While humorous, it is not true. There was no Comdex last year (2004), > I used to go ever year until it was canceled because of very poor > attendance in 2003. This is a very old joke with certain elements of > the truth, but not from GM nor Microsoft. I was going to keep mum about this until I saw your post. I actually saw the Bill Gates/GM statement about three or four years ago. I don't know if there is any truth to all of it, but it couldn't have been said at a RECENT Comdex because of when I first read it.
ZombyWoof - 29 Apr 2005 14:25 GMT >> While humorous, it is not true. There was no Comdex last year >(2004), [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >know if there is any truth to all of it, but it couldn't have been said >at a RECENT Comdex because of when I first read it. Nah, it's to funny to be true, an to unprofessional to be as well. The senior folks at GM aren't known for their sense of humor. I've never checked it against Snopes, but I would bet it is in there.
It really is a shame about Comdex I used to love that show, but the company that originally put it on went belly up and the folks who purchased the rights to the name really didn't know what direction they were going to go in. They have been sending out a lot of questionnaires to previous attendees to try an identify what the IT community would like out of the trade show. Towards the end you had people with absolutely no connection to the IT business at all showing up with kids in strollers just trying to grab up the swag. After the economic down turn after 9/11 most exhibitors cut way back on the good swag stuff anyways. I always enjoyed the keynote addresses and the training sessions. The exhibit floor was a monster to patrol.
Since Comdex was canceled this year and I had the monies to attend in my budget I went to the CES for the very first time instead. I suspect many of the Comdex activities are going to get split between the venue and Interop.
 Signature "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..."
The Marquis de Sade
Fao, Sean - 05 May 2005 23:58 GMT > At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the > computer industry with the auto industry [...]
This has actually been around for quite a while. Still good for a laugh ;-)!
Interestingly enough, this might not be too far from a reality:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/03/1735254&tid=109&tid=126&tid=137
Is it no surprise that it was Ford rather than GM that decided to work with Microsoft?
Scary, I tell ya!
 Signature Sean
ZombyWoof - 06 May 2005 04:16 GMT On Thu, 05 May 2005 18:58:21 -0400, "Fao, Sean" <enceladus311@yahoo.comI-WANT-NO-SPAM> wrote something wonderfully witty:
>> At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the >> computer industry with the auto industry [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Scary, I tell ya! Yeah Microsoft building anything that doesn't crash is scarier then hell.
 Signature "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..."
The Marquis de Sade
|
|
|