A couple of years back, Bill Gates in an expo (COMDEX) compared the computer software industry with the auto industry and said:
"if GM would have evolutioned its technology as much as the software industry, we would all drive cars that would cost $25 and would run 1000Km on one liter of gas."
Well, in reply GM's president himself, Mr. Welch, said in a press release:
"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 percent of the roads.
7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car fault" 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. 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 Ran McNally Road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they 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."
Unfortunately, the auro industry seems to be mimicking the software industry
You can't buy a good car without suffreing electronic glitches, and Porsche is definately no less given by the early 996Carrera, Cayenne, and now 997 issues.
Eletronics still has a long way before it gets the reliability mechanical devices have.
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