My first car was a 1953 Oldsmobile. You could work on it without a problem. It got 23 mpg on the hi way and 6 mpg in the San Francisco, where I was born and raised. Then I got a 1969 VW Bug. The marketing hype said, “109 changes since the 1968 Beetle”! Well, one of those changes was the alloy the case was made of. This caused the engine to blow up at about every 20,000 miles. Not fun. Changing the muffler on my Beetle was a total pain!

Cars have improved enormously in many areas over the years. Safety, economy, lower emissions and so on. The reality is that automobiles of today get better gasoline mileage than in previous decades. This is accomplished by the use of electronics and other methods. If a car of today has a problem you will have to take it to the shop. They are too complex to fix at home in the majority of cases.

One difference between cars and computers is that computers have so many dependencies. Cars may be dependant upon computers to run but the onboard computer has little to do. A PC has many things the owner may want to do and the software and hardware vendors control the end product. What software works with what operating system, what operating system works with what hardware, etc.

Back in the FoxPro days it was said that one computer in 500 would not run a FoxPro application regardless of what you did.

Having worked as an electronics engineer and involved with computer design (amongst other things that were really exciting), and now working as a programmer for Toyota/General Motors, I find myself near retirement.

My new Compaq/Vista computer is keeping me on my toes. Much of my software and hardware does not work with Vista. So it is time to punt. With each iteration of a new product – software – hardware – automobiles – comes change.

In a few years cars may not use gasoline. Then we may lament for the “good old days”. Remember when gasoline was 28.9 cents a gallon? The service attendant even checked your oil, water level in the radiator and cleaned your windows! How times change! :)