1. The Magic Black Box: Perceptions & Reality

Computers are simply marvelous inventions. They sit on our desks happily churning away, day-in, day-out in order to make things easier for us. How many of us really understand what's going on inside those little black boxes? Most of us can confidently list some of its contents: wires, plastic, probably some metal, maybe a couple of precious gems, a fairy, and most likely a gremlin or two. It's what makes all those things work together (or not, as the case may be) harmoniously where our knowledge suddenly hits a brick wall.

I'll spend a lot of time in these articles comparing computers to cars. Both are near and dear to my heart, and both have a lot in common. As the joke goes, thank whatever benevolent deity that Microsoft never went into the car business*. Both cars and computers are iconic, both are complex, and while most people can use them, it generally takes someone professionally trained to be able fix them or use them to their fullest.

The average person knows the following about their car: You put gas in it when it needs some, you change the oil regularly, you keep decent tires on it. If you fail to do these things, the car will sooner or later quit going or become dangerous to use. Common sense, right?

When is the last time you thought of computer maintenance? Computers require maintenance just like your car. If you don't manage its upkeep on occasion, it will either quit working or become dangerous (to your data and possibly others') to use. While this might seem obvious, how many people actually do it? Most people never consider maintenance on their computer. Part of this is the fault of the computer/software companies that have marketed computers as appliances or consumer electronics. A computer can be many things, and it is far more complex and requires more from you, its owner, than your TV or refrigerator.

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*Via Snopes.com

At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: “If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release (by Mr. Welch himself) stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would havde to reinstall the engine.
4. When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought “Car95” or “CarNT”, and then added more seats.
6. Apple would make a car powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five percent of the roads.
7. Oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single “general car default” warning light.
8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
9. the airbag would say “Are you sure?” before going off.
10. Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna.
11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of road maps from Rand-McNally (a subsidiary of GM), even though they neither need them or want them. Trying 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 Department.
12. 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.
13. You would press the “start” button to shut off the engine.