Well, it's dramatic in the little things, but not so much in the big things.
Cars now go 100,000 miles between tune-ups. They used to go, what? 10,000 miles?
Cars are much safer in collisions than they used to be.
Most cars now have air conditioners. I've driven in a car without AC in Arizona in July; believe me, AC can be a really big deal.
Most cars now have automatic transmissions, power steering, and power brakes.
And cars get much better fuel economy.
Driving from NYC to LA takes less time due to interstates and higher road speeds (and cars that can comfortably handle those speeds). Not half the time, but still a significant improvement.
And yet, most cars are not dramatically different as far as the experience of driving them is concerned. Nothing in the last 50 years looks revolutionary. It's been an accumulation of improvements, but there has been no game changer.
I suspect that the next 50 years in computing will be similar.
>Cars now go 100,000 miles between tune-ups. They used to go, what? 10,000 miles?
I'm curious what your definition of tune-up is, because I don't believe there exists a car that can go that far unmaintained without doing lasting damage to various systems.
After a quick Google, my impression is that most 2016 cars have a first maintenance schedule around 5k-6k miles. Some as low as 3,750.
I don't think an oil change is a tune up. Maybe it is.. My honda has 80k miles on it, and has had oil changes + tires replaced. That is it. Compare to a 1970s car and what it would need in the first 80k miles.
For even lower maintenance look at electric cars. I think Tesla has very very low maintenance requirements for the first years.
> I don't think an oil change is a tune up. Maybe it is.
It's not.
I have a couple of 60s Mustangs and several newer cars. My original '65 needs ignition service (what most people call a "tune up") every couple of years (of very modest usage). My '66, converted to electronic ignition, gets about twice as long (and 10x as many miles) before needing ignition service. They both end up fouling plugs because of the terrible mixture control and distribution inherent in their carbureted designs.
My wife's 2005 Honda CR-V gets about 100K to a set of plugs. (Fuel injection, closed loop mixture control, and electronic ignition are the key enhancements that enable this long a time between tune-ups.)
My diesel Mercedes and Nissan LEAF obviously never get tune ups.
No. I have the OM606 engine. Hydraulic lifters eliminate the need for mechanical valve adjustments as on the older diesels.
About the only thing I've done abnormal on the car in 7 years is replace two glow plugs. (And when the second one went, I actually replaced the 5 that hadn't been changed yet, since they are cheap and I didn't want to take the manifold off again to change #3...)
Cars now go 100,000 miles between tune-ups. They used to go, what? 10,000 miles?
Cars are much safer in collisions than they used to be.
Most cars now have air conditioners. I've driven in a car without AC in Arizona in July; believe me, AC can be a really big deal.
Most cars now have automatic transmissions, power steering, and power brakes.
And cars get much better fuel economy.
Driving from NYC to LA takes less time due to interstates and higher road speeds (and cars that can comfortably handle those speeds). Not half the time, but still a significant improvement.
And yet, most cars are not dramatically different as far as the experience of driving them is concerned. Nothing in the last 50 years looks revolutionary. It's been an accumulation of improvements, but there has been no game changer.
I suspect that the next 50 years in computing will be similar.