(OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest.

I received this in my post today and thought I would share it.

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 miles to the gallon."

General Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement: "Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"

Other quips of a similar nature

Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre 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.

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.

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

The airbag system would say "are you sure?" before going off.

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

Comment on (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest.

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Re: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by ikegami (Patriarch) on Aug 20, 2009 at 18:18 UTC
Note that quote is falsely attributed to Bill Gates, and GM has never released those comments. Interestingly, the origin of the piece is more than a decade old (1997, as old as Perl 5.4)! ref	[reply]
Re^2: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by Gavin (Archbishop) on Aug 20, 2009 at 18:31 UTC
Just goes to show nothing changes on the crashing front!	[reply]
Re: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by hangon (Deacon) on Aug 20, 2009 at 18:53 UTC
This joke has been circulating for a while in a several forms, but does make some interesting points. Here's more: GM doesn't continually redesign the roads, forcing car owners to "upgrade" every couple of years. The Microsoft concept of "licensing", where you can buy a car and not own it. Linux car owners downloaded plans from the Internet and built the car themselves. Generally faster, more reliable and better mileage, but often not as pretty as the Gates cars. Doesn't run on most commercially built roadways, but no problem, Linux owners have also constructed their own roads, though many are rather bumpy or incomplete.	[reply]
Re^2: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Aug 28, 2009 at 04:57 UTC
The Microsoft concept of "licensing", where you can buy a car and not own it. This seems not so far from what we do have. You can buy a car but you may only operate it outside of your driveway at the pleasure of the state (license, license fees, inspection fees, taxes, mandatory insurance, etc).	[reply]
Re^2: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by biohisham (Priest) on Aug 27, 2009 at 14:33 UTC
then after a long chase, Google would aggressively come in with this multiple capacity once car that when no road is available would morph to a plane, and if not possible to fly it at that certain place would become a burying snake-like automaton that is earth's core lava resistant. It would work on fossil fuel if on earth, it would work on hydro fuel while flying and once inside the ground it would use some Nitrogen fixing bacteria to generate fuel. What an awesome idea... Excellence is an Endeavor of Persistence. Chance Favors a Prepared Mind.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: (OT) There's many a true word spoken in jest. by hangon (Deacon) on Aug 28, 2009 at 02:04 UTC
But in reality it turns out that Google just offers a free service that provides a car to use whenever you need one. The car is always nice, modern and has the latest upgrades (whether you want them or not). But while you're driving, advertizements constantly pop up on the dashboard, mirrors, windshield and over the radio.	[reply]