auto industry vs. software industry.

A few days a go a friend sent me the below email:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industrywith the auto industry and stated,

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, wewould all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issueda 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 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 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. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent ofthe 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.

**********here's my reply:

my rebuttal to the GM cat:

why then do so many people feel the need to buy Microsoft products and not their competitors?

why then do so many people feel the need to buy Toyota and Honda instead of GM and Ford.

Microsoft products have their problems, but they listen to their customers and release updates accordingly. Each update is an evolution....not merely a new year's model.

GM and Ford release new updates once a year (instead of as needed), without focusing on the user's needs.

Instead of the guy defending himself against the man who became the wealthiest man in the world because his product is so good, the GM guy should be taking a page out of microsoft's book and evolving.

bottomline is who is more credible:

the guy who founded the company that changed the world more than any other company in the last 100 years, or a guy who assumed role of a company who can't sell their only product, and who's company is facing bankruptcy.

I'll go with Gates.

if the question is who drives a nicer car....I'd bet its the GM guy. If the question is who changes the world....its Gates.