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Oh Yeah, well....

1 Trillion-Gazlillion people use Linux.
Which sucks, since I hate Linux.
Vista rules and no other computer OS will come close until MS creates a new one.
No PC manufacturer will ever ship a Linux based peice of junk.
Go to http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=articles/art_linux_s ucks.htm for more information.

There, I think I covered all of your points.

Here is a related article.
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=source/src_top10hype d.htm

Oops, I gave a bad URL. Here is the right one.

http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/brVisu alStudioHacks.htm

http://www.vbrad.com/Reviews/books/brVisualStudioH acks.htm

I guess not everyone has seen this. I thought it was kinda funny.

(From Here

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.

In response to Mr. Gates' comments, General Motors issued the following press release (by Mr. Welch himself, the GM CEO).
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

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

2. Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you'd have to restart it. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this, restart and drive on.

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

4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a "Car 95" or a "Car NT". But then you'd have to buy more seats.

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

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

7. The oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced with a single "General Car Fault" warning light.

8. People would get excited about the "new" features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.

9. We'd all have to switch to Microsoft gas and all auto fluids but the packaging would be superb.

10. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

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

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

13. They wouldn't build their own engines, but form a cartel with their engine suppliers. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it.

14. There would be an "Engium Pro" with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.

15. Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes. Unless of course, you buy the upgrade to use existing stuff.

16. Microsoft would do so well, because even though they don't own any roads, all of the road manufacturers would give away Microsoft cars free, including IBM!

17. If you still ran old versions of car (ie. CarDOS 6.22/CarWIN 3.11), then you would be called old fashioned, but you would be able to drive much faster, and on more roads!

18. If you couldn't afford to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friends, and then copy it.

19. Whenever you bought a car, you would have to reorganise the ignition for a few days before it worked.

20. You would need to buy an upgrade to run cars on a motorway next to each other.

I sense a disturbance in a force, as if a million slashdotters all went and googled "if microsoft made cars" ...

Here's the content from the first link on Google:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

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

2. Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you'd have to restart it. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this, restart and drive on.

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

4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a "Car 95" or a "Car NT". But then you'd have to buy more seats.

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

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

7. The oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced with a single "General Car Fault" warning light.

8. People would get excited about the "new" features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.

9. We'd all have to switch to Microsoft gas and all auto fluids but the packaging would be superb.

10. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

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

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

13. They wouldn't build their own engines, but form a cartel with their engine suppliers. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it.

14. There would be an "Engium Pro" with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.

15. Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes. Unless of course, you buy the upgrade to use existing stuff.

16. Microsoft would do so well, because even though they don't own any roads, all of the road manufacturers would give away Microsoft cars free, including IBM!

17. If you still ran old versions of car (ie. CarDOS 6.22/CarWIN 3.11), then you would be called old fashioned, but you would be able to drive much faster, and on more roads!

18. If you couldn't afford to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friends, and then copy it.

19. Whenever you bought a car, you would have to reorganise the ignition for a few days before it worked.

20. You would need to buy an upgrade to run cars on a motorway next to each other.

Anyone willing to update it for the post-XP generation?

Microsoft doesn't produce car (thank god).

Wondering what would happen if they did? First your post would be insightful instead of funny :) and

http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Misc/hum_ms_cars.htm

MS guys posting AC, don't check that URL or... Evil Bill gets you :)

http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=source/src_top_10_fe atures_2004.htm

http://www.vbrad.com/Misc/hum_ms_cars.htm one of many...

Hope linux'd compete well against ms in this field and save us avoiding those microsoft cars' jokes from becoming a reality

The link is broke. Here is a better one.

"http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/brAdv ancedRemoting.htm"

Another review and interview with the author is available at

Interview with the Author
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/interv iewGuerilla.htm

Book Review
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/brCare erProgrammer.htm

Another review and interview with the author is available at

Interview with the Author
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/interv iewGuerilla.htm

Book Review
http://www.vbrad.com/pf.asp?p=Reviews/books/brCare erProgrammer.htm

``I guess people prefer not having to reboot their phones.''
Not to mention having to insert the Windows CD and entering that CD-key with the phone keypad every time the thing screws up. It reminds me of the series of If MicroSoft Made Cars jokes. Of course everyone knows that the only thing M$ is after making is toaster ovens.

---
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

I was going to list a bunch of reasons why comparing cars and sofware is invalid but I haven't the time or energy. You can't compare intellectual property with physical property from a cost (either to create or selling price) perspective. It's so apples and oranges it's not even funny. You might just as well say that audio CD's are cheap compared to furniture. But if you're really intent on comparing the automobile and software industries, I refer you to If Microsoft Made Cars.

Germane issues to this would be development costs, duplication & distribution costs, marketing, supply and demand, etc. But not the cost of cars.