If Computers Were Cars

Okay, so I was going through an unnamed forum, saw the old "If Microsoft Made Cars" thing misquoted -again-, and decided that it was time for a different side of the argument. If you've never seen it before, here's part of the post:

If Microsoft made cars, they would be sold without any type of warranty, once it left their lot.

It would be common place for buyers of new cars to find that after only a few months their car needed major repair, such as a new Engine or transmission.

Cars would only Run on Microsoft Brand Fuel and all other Gas stations would be incompatible.

Their cars would have major Recalls every other month and owners would have the choice of paying for the extensive "Repairs" out of their own pocket or continue to drive an unsafe vehicle if they cannot afford that "Service"...

How many people would tolerate a Car maker acting that way???

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Well... If Microsoft Made Cars,

Most drivers :
- would expect the biggest dealership to have the best cars.

- would buy the cheapest car they could find, never take it for a test drive or look under the hood, and expect it to be a Ferrari.

- would never know what's under the hood of their car.

- would continue to use the acessories that came with the car, even though much better accessories were easily avialable for free.

- would pay for accessories to make their factory accessories useable, even though much better accessories were originally avialable for free.

- would leave the keys in their car and the doors OPEN at all times.

- would pick up hitch-hikers without even asking where they're going, and never bother to check if they got out.

- wouldn't know how many people were in their car.

- would try to put everything they owned in the trunk, and then not understand why the car doesn't have the same performance.

- would ignore the warning lights and assume that if the engine worked once, it should always work.

- would refuse to read the owners' manual because "I can never learn how this works" yet continue to drive on the highway. (Okay, so maybe this is a lot like with real cars, too).

- would buy a car with a set of tools and a spare tire in the back but if a tire blew or a tail-light went out, would keep driving and comment on how "the car's riding funny today".

- would get their 10-year-old neighbour to do major engine repairs because he "likes cars".

- would expect any service to be done by friends and family members for free.

- would assume that if someone can fix a car, they can do it over the phone, too.

- would buy a new air-freshener/set of fuzzy dice/dashboard hula-dancer every week , and then put it over the old one. When there were so many air fresheners in the window that they couldn't see out, they'd buy a new car.

- would readily and unquestioningly take the advice of strangers on any subject about their car, even if they didn't think they had a problem in the first place.

A number of people would choose to use other forms of transportation. Many of these people :

- would preach endlessly about how their choice was the only right one, and how they were obviously better than anyone who didn't choose the same as them.

- wouldn't listen to any argument where their choice of transportation wasn't declared to be perfect.

- would assume that anyone who said anything negative about their choice was lying or trying to apologize for Microsoft.

- would choose their transporatation because it "looked cute" or matched their stereo.

- would answer any question about cars with "this wouldn't be a problem if you drove ___".

- would answer any question about cars AT ALL, even if it wasn't directed at them.

- would quote theft statistics for cars without considering that most car drivers leave the keys in their cars and the doors open all the time, and that it's far easier to steal an unlocked car with keys in it than something else.

- would assume I'm only talking about Macs, and get angry at this list.

- would come up with their own list where other forms of transportation were declared the right choice.