In response to Bill’s comments，General Motors issued a press release stating：
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft，we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics：
1.For no reason whatsoeverwhatsoever 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 your car would die on the freewayfreeway for no reason，and you would just accept this，restart and drive on.
4.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 reinstall the engine.
5.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.
6.If you tried to get your car to a mechanicmechanic，you’d make a long distance call，be put on hold for three or four hours，when you finally got the mechanic，you’d be told how to fix it yourself，and the mechanic would hang up before you even tried his or her suggestions.
7.People would get excited about the “new”features in Microsoft cars，forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.
8.The airbagairbag system would say “Are you sure？”before going off.
9.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 grab hold of the radio antennaantenna n.天线.
10.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.
11.Your car’s owner’s manual would have been written by someone for whom English clearly was a second language.
12.If you were involved in a crash，you would have no idea what happened.
13.Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM，and play Microsoft Cassettes.
14.If you still ran old versions of car （ie.CarDOS 6.22/CarWIN 3.11），then you would be called old fashioned，but you would be able to drive much faster，and on more roads！
15.If you couldn’t afford to buy a new car，then you could just borrow your friends’and then copy it.
16.Whenever you bought a car，you would have to reorganize the ignitionignition for a few days before it worked.
17.You’d press the “start”button to shut off the engine.
如果微软造汽车
据说在一次计算机展览会上，比尔·盖茨将计算机行业和汽车行业作了一番比较，并说道：“如果通用（汽车）的发展能像计算机行业一样的话，那今天人人都能开着仅售25美元的汽车，而且一加仑汽油可以跑1，000英里。”作为对比尔这番话的回应，通用汽车发布了一份新闻稿，声明：如果通用像微软那样发展技术，那我们驾驶的汽车都将具有以下特点：
1．每天汽车会无缘无故地撞车两次。
2．每一次道路标线重画时，你就得买一部新车。
3．有时你的车会莫名其妙地在高速公路上熄火，你也只好认了，然后重新发动，继续上路。
4．有时，驾车完成某个动作，比如左转，可能会导致熄火，而且无法再次发动，这种情形下惟一的解决方法是重新安装引擎。
5．每次汽车里只能有一个人，除非你购买的是95型或NT型，不过那样一来你就得加座椅。
6．如果你想要请一位机修工帮忙，就得打长途电话，还得在线上等三到四个小时，好不容易通上电话后，他会告诉你怎样自己维修，而且在你还没来得及试试他的建议之前电话就被挂断了。
7．人们会为微软式汽车的新性能而激动不已，全然忘记了许多年前其他公司的汽车就已具备了这些性能。
8．车里的安全气囊弹出前，会先问“你确定吗？”
9．有时候你的汽车会无缘无故地将你锁在外面，除非你同时拉着车门把手，转动车钥匙，再抓着车上的收音机天线，它才会让你进去。
10．每次通用推出一款新车时，买主们就得重新学一遍开车，因为新款与旧款的操作方法完全不同。
11．你车上的“驾驶员手册”可能是由某位母语显然不是英语的家伙编写的。
12.即使撞车你也不知道是怎么回事。
13.微软式汽车会配有专门的收/放音机，但它只能收听微软调频台，只能播放微软磁带。
14.如果你依然开着老式车（也就是说，DOS 6.22型车或WIN 3.11型车），那你就会被人称为“老土”，但你的车（和新式车相比）能跑得更快，能上更多的路。
15.如果你买不起新车，干脆借朋友的车，复制一下即可。
16.每次你买了车，都得先花上几天时间改装调试点火开关，然后它才能正常工作。
17.关掉引擎的办法是按下“启动”键。
But Is It Useful？
The Web is useful.You can find old friends online.You can research and book flight reservationsreservation.Check the weather.Check out your high school or college alma mater.Find breaking news.Research political issues.Follow your stock portfolioportfolio.Place a classified ad.And，of course，more and more vendors are setting up shop on the Web.Books，CDs，computers，even cars.You can learn how to do some of these activities in later sections of this tutorial.
The Internet is also fun.You can write to old friends.Or check out their web pages.Enjoy webbased soap operas.Laugh at online parodies and jokes.Join in a live Net Event.Chat with other Internet surfers.Pick a fake stock portfolio.Check to see if your name appears anywhere on the Web.Do wacky random searches.Millions of users log on to the Net every day，and it’s not just to do research.There’s a lot of fun out there.That’s one reason it’s called web “surfing”.
但这有用吗？
万维网确实是有用的：你可以在网上找到你的老朋友，你可以了解并且预订飞机票、查询天气、查询你中学和大学母校的情况、得知早间新闻、了解政治事件、随时获悉你的股票价格、刊登分类广告等等。自然，越来越多的商人在网上开起了商店，出售书籍、CD、计算机，甚至汽车。这份指南材料的后面的一些章节会指导你学会一些这类活动。
因特网也很好玩：你可以给老朋友写信，或查看他们的网页；欣赏网上电视连续剧；网上还有模仿的滑稽剧和笑话让你开心；你可以参与实况网络动态节目；与别的因特网冲浪者聊天；模拟跟踪股票价目；查看你的名字是否出现在网上的任何地方；进行任意搜索。每天都有数百万人上网，而且不仅仅是搜索，那里有很多有趣的事情，这是被称为冲浪的原因之一。
I’m Just Browsing
Of course，the first step to using the Web for business or for fun is learning how to work a “web browser.”If you’re new to computers，it may take awhile before you are completely comfortable with your browser.Don’t worry.You don’t have to be a computer whiz.The basics of a web browser are very much like the basics of modern computers—learning how to point and click with the mouse （or trackball or trackpad or other pointing device），learning how to scrollscroll up and down a page of text （use the mouse to move the marker along the shaded bar at the right of the page，or just hit the space bar on your keyboard），and learning how to use pulldown menusmenu.Again，be patient.There’s no time limit on web surfing.Give yourself a chance to explore the browser itself while you explore the Web.
我只是浏览
当然，要利用网络做生意或取乐的第一步应该是学习怎样操作网络浏览器。如果你是一个新手，你得花费一定的时间才能完全自如地操作浏览器。不要着急，你不必是一个计算机能手。网络浏览器的基本操作跟操作现时的计算机非常类似。你只要学会点击鼠标（或点击跟踪球或点击跟踪垫或点击其他的点击工具），学会滚动每一页的内容（使用鼠标上下运动屏幕右边带阴影部分的标志按钮，或敲击键盘上的空格杆），学会使用下拉菜单。再说一遍，你应该耐心，在网上冲浪无时间限制，让自己在搜索因特网的时候有机会去探索一下浏览器本身。
Bookmark Your Territory
