[BC] Re: Delphi Bankruptcy

[Cowboy]

On Tuesday 18 October 2005 12:36 pm, Rich Wood wrote:
>------ At 02:26 AM 10/18/2005, R J Carpenter wrote: -------
>
>>It's the low tech "iron mongering" that would be likely to go.
>
>According to Bill Gates that's the car itself. Much like the IBUZ 
>discussions. The internal combustion engine is primitive technology, 
>says Gates. Compared to computer technology.

 That's quite true, but it's also true of a glass of water.

 Personally, and I have been described as a hi-tech sort of guy,
 it seems quite unnecessary to me, to have an internet connection
 wired to my 'fridge, or washing machine, though both are
 relatively "primitive" technology.

>I wish I still had the  
>text of a speech made by a GM exec. responding to Gates' comment.
>
>"Would you buy a car that crashed twice a day?"
>
>Would you buy a car where you often had to reinstall the engine for 
>no apparent reason?"
>
>Those are two I remember.

 That pretty much sums it up, as a comparison to M$ Windows, but
 not to most other worlds of computing.
 When was the last time you had to re-install the operating system
 in the ECM computer in almost any car since about 1985 ?
 Like M$ Windows, features have been added, but they still don't crash.

 Only once was it necessary to re "install" the OS in a Martian rover,
 and that was done remotely.
 ( obviously, it is not running M$ windows, even though
 it is Intel hardware )

 One of my current projects, "fueled" by $3 / gallon gasoline, is
 hacking the ECM computer in my truck.
 By me doing it, it may well crash a time or two before I get it right.
 Cars are about as hi-tech as it gets these days, and becoming more-so.
 True, a 1980 "almost anything" internal combustion engine is quite primitive
 by comparison to today's machines.

 Comparing computers to internal combustion engines today, would be
 a serious misnomer, since computers are now integral parts of
 internal combustion engines.

 We can say that about the machinery of radio, too.

-- 
Cowboy

http://cowboys.homeip.net

Real programmers disdain structured programming.  Structured
programming is for compulsive neurotics who were prematurely toilet-
trained.  They wear neckties and carefully line up pencils on otherwise
clear desks.