Interesting facts/stories, Evan, that I don't doubt for a minute. My brand new 1991 Caprice was back in the shop 6 times in the first 3 months for "cosmetic" deficiencies and I was some pissed off. No real problems since, though, and I still have it!

But I do think you got the point about cars each being a tangible unique instance while software is all exact copies of the single original. And cars are subject to recalls while software never is (at least not by an external agency).

I've always thought that GM must kick itself for being in the wrong business. They're product weighs tons and sells for several thousand dollars while (a few years ago) the PC industry product weighed pounds and sold for several thousands of dollars.

Cheers,

JimN

>(snip)
>Imagine if GM said 'yea, we sometimes deliver a car without it's steering wheel (or working brakes or engines or transmissions or whatever) because it was just too complicated to get it there on time that time'.
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>Jim, you've obviously not been around the automobile industry (BG).
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>I grew up in the Detroit area, and knew many people who worked at some of the larger assembly plants for GM, Ford and Chrysler. My first roommate built bearing housings and torque converters for GM HydraMatic transmissions for over three years. In addition, I sold both Dodge and Oldsmobile vehicles part-time for a few months each while in college (and that's a job I don't EVER want to go back to).
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>You would not BELIEVE how many cars show up at dealerships with items broken or improperly attached during assembly, incorrect color matches (one gray seat, one tan seat), or parts that are just plain missing.
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>Back when I was selling, it was about one car in thirty. At Dodge, we would constantly get "Aspen/Volares" where one side of the car said Aspen (Dodge), the other said Volare (Plymouth). The Dodge Diplomat would often arrive without all the radio speakers connected. GM would send us Olds Starfires without spare tires all the time, and about every tenth Olds Cutlass had a windshield that was so optically distorted it needed to be replaced before the car could be sold. I couldn't begin to count the number of missing window cranks, improperly attached radio knobs, bent hood latches, nonexistent tailgate rods, and parts that didn't match what the sticker read that came through those shops in only a few months -- and one of those dealerships was company-owned.
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>I'm sure it's gotten better since then (this was in the mid to late 1970's), but anytime you're making a product with a huge number of parts, there's going to be problems in the production process.
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>Oh, just as a comparison -- how many times do you think the Pinto, one of the most popular vehicles of all time, was recalled by Ford (read: service pack) to repair a problem that developed *AFTER* the car was released?
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>Answer: eighteen times.
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>And you couldn't just download the new part and install it while sitting on your duff in your home office, either. You had to take it in and give up a morning or a whole day to get it fixed (they didn't offer loaner cars for warranty service back then). The biggest one was the fuel tank design fix -- that took *three days per car* if done according to Ford specs.
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>Presents some food for thought, eh?
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>Parting shot: What's the definition of *really* bad luck? Pulling up to a tollbooth behind a Pinto and in front of an Audi 5000...(g,d&r)