The Computer Buzz

August 7th, 2008

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

The Mojave Experiment

Urban legend has it that 10 years ago General Motors CEO Jack Smith and Bill Gates had a public dust-up over Bill Gates’ comment concerning the pace of technology in the auto industry versus that of the computer industry. Gates allegedly said "If technology in the auto industry kept pace with the technology in the computer industry, we would all be driving twenty five dollar cars that get one thousand miles to the gallon."

Gates never really said that and Smith never responded but the legend has grown to hundreds of items lampooning the comparison of computers and automobiles. In light of Microsoft's "Vista fiasco," we thought we'd dig up some of our favorites. Enjoy.

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a week.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would need to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would just die on the freeway. You would need to close all windows and restart the car.
4. If your car shut down and refused to restart you would need to reinstall the engine.
5. Apple would make a car that was powered by the sun, completely reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive but it would only run on five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, fuel, water temperature, odometer, and alternator indicators would all be replaced by a single bulb. The blue light of death.
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally 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. When you bought the latest model you would need to buy a new house and learn to drive all over again.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.
11. Your service department would be located in India. You could choose to drive it there or follow telephone instructions and fix it yourself.

Microsoft has initiated a $300,000,000 ad campaign (that's $1 for every person in the USA) to combat the negative public image of "Vista." While over 90% of business users have decided to skip the "Vista" generation, Microsoft still hopes to convince at least some home users that "Vista" PCs aren't as bad as they think.
Microsoft invited 140 San Franciscans who had never used Vista but heard that it "sucked," to a demonstration of a new operating system named "Mojave." The crowd was blown away, they loved it. Then Microsoft told them that "Mojave" was really "Vista." They probably could have wowed this crowd with a clever presentation of "Windows 95." The "Mojave Experiment" will be prominently featured in Microsoft's ad campaign this summer and fall. It should be fun to watch.