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.

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 introduced 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.

hehe touche many times over Keith

Old one, but funny everytime I see it :-)

Cute. However GM could never issue such a statement as their cars often are capable of many of the things they list about Microsoft.

Also as a Web developer I think it's not exactly fair to blame computer crashes on the OS 100% of the time. In reality it's the software that causes the crash 95% of the time and not the OS. When was the last time you had your OS open and it crashed while you were doing nothing.

And when was the last time you had trouble with your OS? Was it when you tried to access a Flash based feature on a website? Or how about when trying to open a suspicious email attachment that your anti-virus application freaked out about. A game? A webcam? Scanner? DVD-movie?

Yeah the last time I remember Windows crashing while using Word, Excel, or Frontpage was....errrr.... 1995 or so.

However I see GM cars broken down on the road daily. :-)

Jim

PS: For those who think this is more than a joke http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp