Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:49 am Post subject: What happend when Microsoft build cars
At a recent computer expo, 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 Bill’s comments/General Motors issued a press release stating the following: “If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would 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 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 ‘Car95′ or ‘CarNT.’ Then you would have to buy
more seats.
6. Macintosh would make a car that’s powered by the sun, more 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 butt size.
9. The airbag system would say ‘Are you sure?’ before going off.
10. 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.
11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps, even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car’s performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more.
12. Every time GM introduced a new model, 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.
13. You’d press the ‘Start’ button to shut off the engine. _________________
really do try to keep up with the news, but somehow I missed this little nugget of recent history. And it is a pretty darn interesting nugget if I may say so. GM, pretending they actually care, put out on the road high quality electric cars. Then, just as quickly, forced them out of the hands of those who had leased them and destroyed them. This film puts on its liberal do-gooder hat and tries to get to the bottom of just why these cars are no longer on the road. Suspects such as the oil companies, the auto industry, and consumers are all tried and found guilty. The documentary itself is on task and never resort to cheap shots (I'm looking at you "Super Size Me"). Martin Sheen provides the narration and does a pitch perfect job of it as he conveys a calm yet serious tone.
With the combination of great ideas and great editing "Who Killed the Electric Car" is a powerful and educational film. Add to that the great footage that they have and you realize that the film is also a hoot to watch. We get clips of George W. Bush (Mr. Wrong Side of History himself) showing up to shovel some dirt onto the grave of the electric car. There is a flyover of GM's testing grounds in Arizona that showed all of the electric cars that had been secretly smuggled away from the public eye so they could be demolished. My personal favorite was that of an old news reel from back in the day when oil was initially discovered in Iraq. The clip hypes all of the great things that are to come to the people of Iraq because of this discovery. I guess if you count civil war, foreign bombs, and George W. Bush's military as great things then they were right on the money. Near the end we get to watch as protestors try to block the remaining EV1's from the grave, but luckily for GM the fuzz arrives to take the side of the monied interest. It should serve as a reminder that the system wants you and me to be as dumb as Dax Sheppard's character in "Idiocracy," and if we let them know that we are smarter than that then their reaction is always to sick the cops on us.
The film makes the point that people can be convinced to buy anything and that the auto companies should use that for good not evil. Just because people are sort of stupid and have been known to pound their chest and demand more speed doesn't mean that they should have a Hummer marketed to them. The interviews were informative and energetic. Not that I needed more reason to hate Ronald Reagan, but I had fun listening to how he found it necessary to take the solar panels off the White House that Jimmy Carter had placed there. Even if he wasn't going to use them wouldn't it just be easier to leave them there and pretend that he cared about the environment? At the end Sheen tells us that not all is wrong in the world. GM is obviously killing itself by only thinking short term and those consequences will be starting sooner rather than later. This film gets a high recommendation from me, nobody should refuse to watch it. ***1/2 _________________
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