Date:         Fri, 31 Dec 1999 16:49:52 -0500
Reply-To:     Bob O'Shaughnessy <vanagon@COLUMBUS.RR.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bob O'Shaughnessy <vanagon@COLUMBUS.RR.COM>
Subject:      Re: (F) Microsoft Cars
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

     I knew I had a longer version of this:

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
twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mi/gal." Recently General
Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement "Yes, but would
you want your car to crash twice a day?"

Now, if Microsoft decided to make cars, then...

       1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have
to buy a new car.

       2. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason,
and you  would just accept this, restart, and drive on.

       3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop
and fail and you would have to re-install the engine. For some strange
reason, you would accept this too.

       4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you
bought "Car95" or "CarNT". But then you would have to buy more seats.

       5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was
reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive, but would only run
on five percent of the roads.

       6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades
to their cars, which would make their cars run much slower.

       7. The oil, gas 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 airbag system would say, "Are you sure?" before going off.

       10. If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what
happened.


_________________________________________________________

Bob O'Shaughnessy,         Columbus, OH
vanagon@columbus.rr.com
99 A3 Jetta TDI
85GL with basic Westy interior
74 Bus (Dad's)
72 Wife, 94 Rabbit, 95 Cat, 96 cat, 98 Kid
52 House