|
|
Post by birdguy on Aug 24, 2009 11:16:30 GMT -5
For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have / or have not enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (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 $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a 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 of the 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.
11. When GM’s new model is a lemon, in order to obtain the old model you must first purchase the new model (which you will park in your driveway and never drive) and then you can purchase the old model. After all, it’s your fault that you don’t like their new model and you should pay twice the amount.
PS - I'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by ashaman on Aug 24, 2009 11:47:03 GMT -5
 The fact is... reading about it attentively... that I don't know if to laugh my a$$ off, if to cry in sadness, or if to get really mad at how true all this sounds...  GM really let out a tactical nuclear strike on M$ with this, anyway. ;D |
|
|
|
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Aug 24, 2009 20:37:26 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm just going through the hassle of a computer crash (Windows, not my hard drives). A repair and a "simple" reinstall did not fix it - probably virus related. I have managed to download and create a boot CD that is allowing me access to my files, so I can copy files that I hadn't backed up (of course). I have a new computer, but it's taking all my time just getting it set up so I can do what I did with the old one. After I'm satisfied that I have all the files I need, I'll wipe the hard drives and reload Windows...
|
|
|
|
Post by Randy_Cain on Aug 25, 2009 4:03:26 GMT -5
Hi, ROFLMAO! ;D I hope you don't mind if I borrow that for my wall on Facebook. It's the first thing I've seen worthy of posting there since I've had my account. Yours,  |
|
|
|
Post by birdguy on Aug 25, 2009 9:00:28 GMT -5
I sympathize with you Tom.
Every once in while I get the 'bug' to buy a new computer, but like when I was a young Marine trying to decide if I wanted to get a tattoo or not I always back down.
I'm still using XP and FS2004. It works fine at 25FPS. I don't need more than that. I have an old copy of WordPerfect for my writing and it works well. If I want to send things to other people (not many have WordPerfect anyomore) I publish to PDF so everyone can read it.
I do my panel drawings and graphics on a copy of Corel draw that is so old it won't allow filenames of more than 8 characters.
I do have a more recent copy of Corel Photo Paint for processing my photographs and it does pretty well for my purposes.
One of the problems with upgrading to a faster computer is also upgrading to the latest version of your application written for it. And because the computer is faster they load more and more 'stuff' on the application so that it runs slower than the old one did on a slower machine.
Whenever I get a popup for my applications that say 'a new version is ready for installation' I always decline it. As long as my ap is running the way I want it to run I see no point in upgrading it.
Noel
|
|
|
|
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Aug 25, 2009 9:07:51 GMT -5
I agree completely - I'm still running XP (I bought the new computer this last January to be sure that it would be the OS), PSP 7.0, Word 2000, and Access '97. I think the only program I've changed in the past few years is to use EZ Scenery instead of Rwy12!
The next big change for me will be to start using the new ADE9X instead of AFCAD. Much more capable (I can make curved AI approaches, for example) and eliminates a few bugs that AFCAD suffered. Luckily, you can set up the compile to BGL process so you end up with a file that is AFCAD compatible (for those of you that love to tinker) and another file with the ADE-only stuff.
Take care,
|
|
|
|
Post by circleman on Aug 25, 2009 13:17:20 GMT -5
tom~
I hit the same situation you described.
I have my xp disk but I may need the boot cd files you mentioned.
any pointers?
thx
cman
|
|
|
|
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Aug 25, 2009 14:16:34 GMT -5
Hi, You need to have a working computer to make the disk; I used my new computer for this. I downloaded the program Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows from: www.ubcd4win.com/You burn a boot CD using your copy of Windows XP (faster if you copy it to your HD). Then you boot your broken computer with the CD, and I simply used My Computer (icon in the upper left) to copy the desired files onto USB flash drives (you plug in your flash drive, then use the Start menu/System/Load USB Devices command). Use the View/Refresh command in My Computer to see the drive. I could also use my USB Zip drive too, if I wanted to (but flash drives are bigger). My 500 GB external USB drive didn't work though, unfortunately. Hope this helps, |
|
|
|
Post by garryrussell on Aug 25, 2009 14:34:17 GMT -5
I had that famous message recently when booting up No keyboard detected Press F4 to continue  Garry |
|
|
|
Post by okami on Aug 25, 2009 18:08:08 GMT -5
That reminds me of the helpful voice of the girl from the callcenter (for some reason speaking with a Morrocan accent - I kid you not!):
(She) Dell callcenter. Can I help you?
(Me) Erm, yes. I hope so. I should think so. My computer seems to have crashed, and refuses to start.
(She) Have you tried contacting our online helpdesk?
(Me) Erm... hello? Computer? Crashed? Remember? That's why I'm calling...?
(She) [after a véééry long and painful silence] Erm... heh. Oh. I see...
|
|
|
|
Post by sunny9850 on Aug 25, 2009 19:12:35 GMT -5
Great Response by GM...even though Bil certainly has a point at least to some degree. As for the PC troubles...get a full system backup program such as this one www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm which I use both at work (comes on our machines) and personally for my FS PC. Once the FS PC is running perfect I run Snapshot, save the SNA file on a bootable USB drive and if disaster strikes it's a matter of a half hour or so and all is back where it was. Not counting time for a format of the drive or replacement of the disk. Finally....as someone who does Techsupport I can only say....trust me the girl would have had a thousand stories of really stupid things that people have called on. I certainly do...and we deal with industrial machines, with trained operators......and I have plenty  And I do have a few where I had a brain fart like that....hope they never make the net ;D ;D Stefan |
|
|
|
Post by pilotgod on Aug 26, 2009 11:03:49 GMT -5
That reminds me of the following:
A pilot is flying over a foggy Seattle when he loses all avionics. With no ground reference and the visibility dropping he is anxious to figure out his exact position and locate an airport to safely land at. As he is flying he sees a building down below him so he circles and soon a small crowd has formed to see what this looney pilot is doing. In order to communicate, he writes "Where am I?" on each of the air-sick bags he has and drops them. After a couple of minutes the people on the ground have written in large letters on a sign, "In a plane!". With this, he turns and lands at Boeing Field without further delays.
When he files his report with ATC, the controller asks him how from the stupid response of the people at the office building he figured out his location. "Well that was easy. Since the answer I got was technically correct, but of absolutely no help to me at that time, I figured I must be over the Microsoft headquarters, so I turned from there and found the airport."
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2009 1:38:43 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm just going through the hassle of a computer crash (Windows, not my hard drives). A repair and a "simple" reinstall did not fix it - probably virus related. I have managed to download and create a boot CD that is allowing me access to my files, so I can copy files that I hadn't backed up (of course). I have a new computer, but it's taking all my time just getting it set up so I can do what I did with the old one. After I'm satisfied that I have all the files I need, I'll wipe the hard drives and reload Windows... Tom, Pardon a noob butting in. I had a nasty virus attack a while ago (never let your daughter's friend use your PC  ). Computer wasn't dead, but was on the critical list. I got great assistance from people over at bleepingcomputer.com They assigned me a case manager, analysed my problem and walked me step by step through the fix. All at no charge! I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but am extremely grateful for the assistance. |
|
|
|
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Aug 27, 2009 9:16:38 GMT -5
Thanks, I'll give it a try.
|
|
). Computer wasn't dead, but was on the critical list.