The mirror feature would be nice at least on the passenger side. Tilting down to show you you're not about to run over anything. I don't do a complete walkaround my vehicle every time I get in it. As for auto door locking, why would you not want it to do that? I see no reason to have to press the button on either the remote or door every time. The thing can do it on it's own, as well as roll the windows up when you get out and the doors lock. It would be a nice feature, I think.
Actually, it is equipped to do them. It's a computer that does all these th> I can't really imagine WANTING a truck to do those things, and if it's
not equipped to do them, it ain't gonna.
>--
>Steve
>=======================
>Remove the not dot from my address to abuse my email box "Billy J. West
>> I just picked up my '03 Silverado Z71. Anyone done any hacking on this
>> thing? Is it possible to activate some of the electronic features not
>> ordered (mirrors tilt down while backing, auto door locking, etc)? Any
>> way to make it do other things like roll up the windows when the doors >> lock?
Door locks and powered windows controled by computer??? Yeah right :-) Controled by your finger it is :-)
Maybe, MAYBE, on some vehicles equipped with memories for different drivers you will have the powered mirrors controled by some kind of memory device... but I'm not sure it can be called a computer ;-)
Where YOU been, slick? GM functions such as lights, indicators, door lock, windows, seat memory, mirror postions have been increasingly controlled by the body computer starting in 1999. Initially, those functions had to be added or changed by having the computer reprogrammed at the dealer and there have been many threads here over those years about people complaining how much dealers charged for something as simple as changing the speed at which the doors locked. Current models have allowed much more programmability by the owner.
Amen to that one! If you buy a vehicle that "can have" Onstar, do you get a choice about whether or not it is on that vehicle? That is to say, is Onstar optional?
Lack of Onstar is part of the reason I chose an S-10 over a full size truck. It may be invalueable to have Onstar if you lock your keys out, but the control they can exercise over a vehicle gives me (excuse the pun) the willies.
I'm not paranoid about it or anything, but I do think that money can play a big part in things. I'm sure nobody including the people at Onstar ever know where all the vehicles are exactly (after all, that is a LOT of vehicles to keep track of!) but I wouldn't be surprised if details about vehicles or their approximate locations was compiled in aggregate, supposedly anonymous form and possibly even sold for marketing purposes.
here's a better example... download ad aware and look at the list of people compiling data on you everytime you connect to the internet. If you've got kazaa, you've got spyware called cydoor and BDE projector.
Heh...you guys, with your computers plugged into the internet, surfing and posting to newgroups, your computer sending all kinds of data about your computer use to Microsoft and god knows what other organizations. Census takers, cell phone companies state, local and federal record keeping, credit card companies, banks, real estate agencies.....
And you are worried about some guy in GM's ONSTAR center? LOL...
Point taken. But let me issue you this friendly challenge....you come up with as many instances of vehicle theft from ONSTAR-related incidents as you can, and I will inundate you with instances of credit card or identity theft from computer security problems. My point is that sitting there at your computer connected to the internet, you have exposed yourself to a VASTLY greater overall security risk with FAR worse consequences than ONSTAR ever could.
Spyware is nothing, and you surely don't think your computer is secure just because you run Ad-Aware every time you start getting annoyed by pop-ups. Check out Windows Update on your computer and find out how many security flaws Microsoft has had to address in their various OS's and in Internet Exploder over the last 6 months. If you haven't run Windows Update in the last couple of weeks, I'd bet you'll find a Windows or IE security update. If you run a Mac, or Linux, you are more secure from direct hacking, but the online stores you visit aren't.
I'm not a huge ONSTAR fan. I've never paid for their premium service, and IMHO it's doubtful that the basic annual resubscription fee is worth what you get. However, security *from* ONSTAR is not something I drive down the road worrying about. Unless you can demonstrate to me that ONSTAR has
*caused* practical, documented vehicle security problems, I'm going to save my paranoia for the waitresses I hand my credit card to, or my online shopping activities, or Bill Gates.
I agree that Mac or Linux are as hackable as Windows, but what I meant was that the liklihood of getting your Mac hacked is lower than for a Windows machine simply because the prevalance of Windows implies the prevalance of Windows hackers.
I have to disagree on this one. You most cirtenly are more secure from "direct hacking" with Linux (not sure about OS-X). Linux, by default, does not allow for root access over anything other than local terminal. Without root access, your prety much limited as to what you can do to the system. Windows, on the other hand, defaults to allow everyone full access to the system from anywhere. It may be true that a default Linux distribution install may have some insecure openings, but the kernel itself is locked down pretty tight and the system as a whole can be locked farely easaly. Windows, even with the weely patches, is unsecurable without a good firewall in front of it. I'll not get into what can be done to an XP system.
Actually Bill, according to the nix guru's I have talked to, Linux can be breached by a savvy hacker as easily as any other OS. It just isn't. We will have to agree to disagree on this one. Regards, JR
P.S.- Linux is THE most hacked platform, ask anybody in the know. WIth thousands of people connected by the open source, the vulnerabilities tend to spread like wildfire.
If Linux as a company was 1/8th the size of MS, we'd hear about the latest and greatest attack/hack/vulnerability. Since Linux is nothing more than a dying fad these days with a niche market, there's ne reason to go public on all the media outlets with news of them.
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