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If operating systems ran your car.

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  • Posted to: alt.folklore.computers
  • From: David Zykin
  • Date: Thurs, Nov 3 1994 3:02 am
  • MS-DOS: You get in the car and try to remember where you put your keys.
  • Windows: You get in the car and drive to the store very slowly, because
  • attached to the back of the car is a freight train.
  • Macintosh System 7: You get in the car to go to the store and the car drives
  • you to church.
  • UNIX: You get in the car and type GREP STORE. After reaching speeds of 200
  • miles per hour en route, you arrive at the barber shop.
  • Windows NT: You get in the car and write a letter that says "go to the
  • store". Then you get out of the car and mail the letter to your dashboard.
  • Taligent/Pink: You walk to the store with Ricardo Montalban, who tells
  • you how wonderful it will be when he can fly you to the store in his Learjet.
  • OS/2: After fueling up with 6000 gallons of gas, you get in the car and
  • drive to the store with a motorcycle escort and a marching band in
  • procession. Halfway there, the car blows up, killing everybody in town.
  • S/36 SSP (mainframe, obv.): You get in the car and drive to the store.
  • Halfway there you run out of gas. While walking the rest of the way, you are
  • run over by kids on mopeds.
  • AS/400: An attendant locks you into the car and then drives you to the
  • store, where you get to watch everybody else buy filet mignon.
  • Additional postings:
  • Amiga Workbench: You buy the car with wheels, engine and seat, add
  • dashboard, windshield, tires and trim (that almost matches). Then you
  • speed easily toward downtown while combing your hair... except that an
  • unseen mosquito dive bombs you leaving the car in pieces again.
  • AIX: you think you can drive it because it _looks_ like the car
  • you learned on, but none of the controls work right.
  • SunOS: runs great, but sometimes you wish you'd paid extra and
  • got the windshield/brakes option package.
  • Solaris: after three weeks, you go back to the dealer and
  • demand your trade-in back.
  • Linux: you install a new stereo and the engine starts knocking. Fortunately,
  • you've rebuilt it 54560 times already so it's no problem.
  • HP/UX: As you proceed to the store at breakneck speed, you marvel at
  • how solid and smooth things are despite how hard you beat on your car.
  • On the way home you have a small problem with the glove compartment lock,
  • but HP won't help you with it because when you got new tires last month
  • they weren't HP brand so now your entire car is "unsupported".
  • AIX: You get in the car and start driving around. After six months
  • of getting used to the funny controls, you find that there's no way to
  • work the cigarette lighter. You call the manufacturer, and they send you
  • part number 2233ab-55dqz-1854@zbf{]^Z..11, which gets attached to the
  • air filter. Now the cigarette lighter works, sort of (it glows, but
  • doesn't get hot enough to actually *light* a cigarette.), but the stereo
  • is broken. They send you part number 77nnbds7450-ll;94bbx])..99Q, which
  • you affix to the lower right tie rod. It fixes the stereo, but the lighter
  • still doesn't work.
  • After two years of applying fixes to the suspension, the exhaust, the power
  • seats, the windows, the rear defogger, the fuel pump, the radiator, and the
  • fuel injectors, you *still* don't have a working lighter.
  • Then the manufacturer tells you that they no longer support your outdated
  • gasoline powered car, but that if you would care to buy one of the new,
  • improved, methane powered vehicles, all your problems will be solved.
  • GEOS: You get on your motor-scooter and drive to the store quickly and
  • smoothly, enjoying the scenery and getting great gas mileage. When
  • you stop at the auto parts store on the way home for a spare tire,
  • they look at you as if they don't know what you mean.
  • Fully Expanded Mac System 7: (that is, with everything from Greg's
  • Buttons to StuffIt MagicMenu) You get in the car, wait half an hour for
  • it to load all the modifications to the brakes, the transmission, the
  • dashboard -- and can't get to the store, because your gearshift isn't
  • compatible with your tailpipe anymore.
  • Mac System 7.5: You drag the "me" icon to the "store" icon, and the car
  • drives you to church ... IF the Church GX extension is installed in your
  • Chooser!
  • [One of the main features of System 7.5 is "drag-and-drop" printing
  • through QuickDraw GX. This lets you drag a region of text to a "desktop
  • printer" icon.]
  • Mac System 8 / MacOS: You get in the car and it drives you to the store,
  • to church, to your ex-girlfriend's place in Vermont, to Radio Shack, and
  • to hell -- simultaneously, in Millions of Colors. And your car will run
  • on anything from a dirt road to a superhighway.