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To: bdog who wrote (20025)	12/18/1998 1:54:00 PM
From: bdog	Respond to of 152472

Speaking of pointless debates, visions of the future, etc., at a recent computer expo – I think COMDEX – Bill Gates, with his usual hubris, reportedly compared the computer and auto industry as follows: “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 Gates, GM issued a press release from 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 “Car98” 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 air bag system would say “Are you sure?” before going off. 10. You'd press the “start” button to shut off the engine. 11. 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. 12. 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 needed nor wanted 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.”