Cost of Computing

Back in March, Bill Gates of Microsoft testified before a congressional committee that if automobiles had enjoyed the same gains in productivity that computers have achieved in the last 10 years, then we’d all be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 miles to the gallon.

He forgot to mention a few things:

Your car would crash two or three times a day, sometimes just sitting in park.

Apple would make a solar powered, highly reliable car that would be twice as easy to drive, but it would only run on 10% of the roads.

Every time the transportation department built a new road, we’d have to buy new cars to travel on it.

Then, if we bought a new car, the brakes, accelerator, and steering wheel would all be in different places,

Every time you put your foot on the brake, a message window would pop up on the dashboard and say: Are you sure? Yes No

Once or twice a week your car would stall in the middle of the freeway. Then you would have to call a mechanic in another city who would tell you over the phone how to remove and reinstall the engine.

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