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Mr. Luddite

On 9/27/2014 4:32 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Sep 2014 15:35:38 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 9/27/14 3:18 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 27 Sep 2014 10:32:28 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

Actually I know you were talking about OMC the marine outboard company, but I thought I'd throw the AMC story in there to show that a lot of new stuff today was used years ago.

Yes the electric shift on the outboards was really cool and was reasonably reliable. My pontoons 85 horse Evinrude had it and I had no problems with it for the two years I ran it.

Mopar had it on the old Torqeflight tranny too.
It just seems like unnecessary complexity for a fairly simple
mechanism. My wife's Lincoln doesn't have electric shifting and it has
more doodads than anyone really needs.
Like I said, if I had trips or quads, it would make sense.
Maybe those are the boats that attract Harry's attention.
I look at them like fashion models. They are fun to look at but too
expensive and too high maintenance for me.

Again with the fallacious assumptions. None of the boats I saw with
electronically controlled engines were trips or quads. In all the year
I've been boating on the Bay, I doubt if I have seen more than a handful
of boats with triple outboards, and the only time I have seen a quad was
last spring down in Ft. Lauderdale. My guess is at the upcoming Miami
powerboat show, there will be plenty of outboard boats on display with
electronic controls. Not everyone disdains technological advances as
much as you.

The open question is whether this is actually an "advance". What
exactly are they advancing except corporate profits, something you
usually attack. They are fixing a problem that doesn't exist. They are
replacing a $40 cable with an $1100 electronic control option (the
difference in price on a Yamaha F200 with and without DEC) plus
whatever the difference is in controllers.

Probably just following Detroit's lead. When power windows and door
locks were first introduced they were a novelty reserved for high-end
car models. Now they are standard in just about every car, mainly
because the electric motors and solenoids are cheaper to manufacture
than a manual, crank powered window or lock assembly.