Drive along with Microsoft

from EETimes "Microsoft in driver's seat"
and from mobile pipeline http://www.mobilepipeline.com/news/23900957

as if our Ferrari weren't tempermental enough, Microsoft is infecting(?) Fiat.

" Fiat said it plans to apply the platform[windows] across its entire product line, from the high-end Alfa Romeo to the low-end Fiat models. "

Of course this start is just telematics. But how long before our cars won't start due to virii, gets flooded with spam, and we be driving along and the car coughs/chuggs and then reboots. and they are talknig about enabling BlueTooth. So, your car infects your phone. Your car (a la Kit from night rider) calls your phone to talk to you & complain about current driving conditions. The old joke "What if your car was like Windows operating system" now becomes a reality.

Perhaps this is what plagues Vik's 355 alarm system. Perhaps his is an early prototype.

(The story is real. I'm just poking fun at MS)

 

You know, the SDII tool runs on Windows...

 

and hence our cars don't have "problems", but must constantly make trips to CC for "enhancements" You are sly, Bill Gates.

 

I'm sure we've ALL seen this, but I'm :02 from 800 posts so up it goes!

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:

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 over 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 manoeuvre 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,twice as easy to drive, as sexy, fast & fun as a Ferrari -- but would run on only twelve 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.