Is Prius the new IBM?

PC is so interesting, I spend a couple hours a day out of my busy retirement reading posts and gleaning information in anticipation of the day when we get our own package 2. It just struck me that there may be a connect between Prius owners and the early days of the IBM personal computer (also, eerily, abbreviated as PC).

Back in the day, personal computer users fiddled with the open architecture and shared information on ways to improve its performance. Those fiddles almost always became part of the standard operating procedure (OP; see the connect to PC OP -- original post?) of the next generation (did you twig to that connection?) of computers. They hacked the hardware and software (connect allusion breaks down here -- Prius owners call them mods) to make improvements or just have fun with changes.

The big difference between the two cases is that Prius owners create and distribute a lot of technical information that was not often seen generally among non-technical users -- then again, the modern personal computer allows that to be done more easily).

So, can we posit that Prius Chat is the vanguard of an explosion in hybrid technology, in mods, in a brave new transportation world? Can anyone predict how the hybrid/non-oil car industry will appear in 10 years, 20 years?

And, finally, who will be Steve Jobs, devising the Apple of the industry?

 

Apple doesn't allow for hacking either, so can we say your wife is the Apple of your eye?

 

I read something that California leads in Prius sales, followed by Florida and North Carolina. Only two dealerships in Panhandle west of Destin, maybe two in Panama City. Of course, Tallahassee has 2 or 3, and Mobile and Montgomery have some. So within three hours driving are enough to draw from. Probably because we're interested, we're noticing more in our immediate area.