At COMDEX 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 (by Mr. Welch
himself):

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we
would all be driving cars with the following
characteristics:

* 	For no reason whatsoever your car would crash
		twice a day.
		
* 	Every time they repainted the lines on the road
		you would have to buy a new car.
		
* 	Occasionally your car would die on the freeway
		for no reason, and you would just accept this,
		restart and drive on.
		
* 	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.
		
* 	Macintosh would make a car that was powered by
		the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice
		as easy to drive, but it would only run on five
		percent of the roads.
		
* 	The oil, water temperature and alternator
		warning lights would be replaced by a single
		\"general car default\" warning light.
		
* 	New seats would force everyone to have the same
		size butt.
		
* 	The airbag system would say \"Are you sure?\"
		before going off.
		
* 	Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car
		would lock you out and refuse to let you in until
		you simultaneously lift the door handle, turn the
		key, and grab hold of the radio antenna.
		
* 	GM would require all car buyers to also
		purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps
		(now a GM subsidiary), 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% or more. Moreover,
		GM would become a target for investigation by the
		Justice Department.
		
* 	Everytime 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 in the old car.

* 	You\'d press the \"start\" button to shut off the
		engine.