Microsoft i alle biler?

Microsofts software er allerede installeret i 23 forskellige bilmodeller, herunder biler fra BMW, Citroen, Daimler, Fiat, og Volvo. Der er mange spændende og sikkerhedsforbedrene fordele at opnå, ved at indlejre computerteknologi i biler. Men spørgsmålet er, om ikke ulemperne mere end udkonkurrerer fordelene. En alvorlig ulempe er f.eks. at moderne biler er så spækket med elektronik, at det er blevet nærmest umuligt at foretage andet end de mest banale reparationer selv. De fleste almindelige mennesker har fornuftigt nok forladt sig på professionelle mekanikere til at reparere deres biler, men principielt har det været muligt for den teknisk indstillede at lære meget af håndværket og teknikken selv, og at anskaffe de mest nødvendige redskaber. Men sådan er det ikke længere. Selvom man måtte besidde den fornødne teknologiske kunnen, og den nødvendige portion vilje og nysgerrighed til selv at give sig i kast med at reparere dele i sin moderne bil, der er afhængig af avanceret elektronik (og det er faktisk de fleste dele), så er det sjældent muligt. Elektronikkens servicegrænseflade er lukket for andre end autoriserede værksteder, der besidder det rette måleudstyr. Et nyligt eksempel der har været fremme i medierne, er Mercedes&´ såkaldte sorte bokse- en elektronisk enhed, der registrerer forskellige parametre for bilens drift. Ikke engang politiet kan gennemtrænge sikkerheden i denne boks, hvilket i nogle tilfælde måske ville have kunnet hjælpe politiet til at afklare forholdene omkring en ulykke.

En anden alvorlig ulempe er naturligvis, at elektronik ofte fejler på en mindre gennemskuelig måde end mekanik. Mekanik slides, og "gammeldags" biler signalerer som regel i god tid før det bliver alvorligt, at mekanikken ikke fungerer optimalt. En trænet bilist kan udlede en mængde om sin motors tilstand, blot ved at lytte til den, eller ved at mærke på vibrationerne i bilen. Kileremmens hylen eller ventilernes klapren eksempelvis. Motorens forbrændingsindstilling kan aflæses af, hvordan tændrøret sværtes. Men elektronikken behøver ikke at komme med advarsler, før den vælger at lukke bilen ned, midt i en overhaling på motorvejen. Det får mig til at mindes denne vidunderlige anekdote, der efterhånden er nogle år gammel:

At a computer expo 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 the following.

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 re-install the engine.
  • Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT". But, then you would have to buy more seats.
  • 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 only run on five per cent of the roads
  • The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car fault" 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 lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed 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 percent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Dept.
  • Every time 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 the old car
  • You'd press the "Start" button to shut off the engine.