Daily Podcast: Are We Not Carmakers?

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

The less resources available to a group that needs them, the more fierce the competition for those resources becomes. If you're a consumer and the fight's for your dollar, this is a good thing. For the companies chasing your custom, the struggle to compete can exhaust their resources and lead to extinction. Which is good for you and a bad for them. (Survival of the fittest and all that.) All of which is a preamble to the fact that the deals on GM wheels are getting seriously serious. Regional GM dealers– including Cadillac and Saturn— are offering "pull ahead" leases until March 15. In other words, they'll forget six months of your GMAC Smart Lease to get you into a new lease. If you fancy a Chevrolet Silverado, well qualified (i.e. vertical) buyers can pick up a pickup on a 60 month zero percent loan. Can GM afford to offer these kinds of incentives? No. But they can't afford not to offer them either. Darwin, eh?

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Redbarchetta Redbarchetta on Mar 07, 2008

    I figured he used a Mac, I was refering to the places you can't control whos software is running your life, work, phone, car, etc. And the fact some applications just wont run on anything else because of their monopoly. I miss the Unix Sun Spark stations we used to have at RPI. Thanks Robert Schwartz is this a stand alone Linux-type OS that doesn't require a DOS foundation like in years past. I just reformatted my laptop and reinstalled a fresh version of XP and it's still running like sh*t so I think I will try this, can't be any worse. Don't anyone suggest Vista, that overly expensive bugged continuation of MS tradition.

  • Frank Williams Frank Williams on Mar 07, 2008

    You have to hand it to Microsoft, though. What other company has millions of beta testers finding all the bugs in their products for them?

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Mar 07, 2008

    Redbarchetta: Ubuntu Linux is indeed stand alone. It is very simple to install and run.

  • Mike Solowiow Mike Solowiow on Mar 07, 2008

    The [s]Camaro[/s] GTO (there are always two on either side to avoid the jet wash), follow the U-2 on take-off to pick up the wing wheels after they detach. They then throw the wheels in the trunk, and speed off the runway before the next jet needs to take off. Then upon landing, the GTO shadows the plane (with wing wheels in the trunk), and "talks" the plane down on the radio. i.e.... "Dragon 01, you are 10 ft.... 5ft..... 3, 2, 1, touch down...." since the pilot has such poor downward visibility. Then as the plane slides to a halt they pop the wheels out of the trunk, attach them to the wings, and then it can taxi off to the parking ramp. I rode in the Camaro, and it is very addictive! Massively fast, so I can only imagine the LS2 powered GTO.

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