October 5th, 2021

Not from inside the Redmond Reality Distortion Field: Microsoft Streets and Trips support for ferries

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

The Washington State Ferry System is the largest in the United States and the second-largest in the world, but ferries are generally speaking not really a big thing in most parts of the United States. When you asked Microsoft Streets and Trips to generate a trip, one of the options was whether you wanted to include ferries. For one of my colleagues who lived in Texas, this struck him as oddly amusing. “There are boats that carry cars?”

It turns out that this was, for once, not a case of the Redmond Reality Distortion Field. What ultimately became the Streets and Trips product was acquired in 1994 from NextBase, and in England, ferries are kind of a big deal. So what you really have is the England Reality Distortion Field.

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
History

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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  • Michael Spam

    We in England (and France I suppose) also have trains that carry cars. Google or Bing: euro tunnel car
    Mind blown no doubt.

    • Todd C · Edited

      Hardly. The US has had auto trains 20 years before you did, in the 1970s. It makes sense due to the need of having a car in many metro areas, particularly vacation spots in Florida. They even let you carry trailers with boats, campers (caravans), and other recreational equipment. Search term: Amtrak Auto Train.

      Besides that, the US has a much better freight rail network than Europe, and particularly the UK does. The loading gauge in...

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      • Danielix Klimax

        If Motorail began in USA in 70s, then Germans have you beaten by some years (1930 Deutsche Reichsbahn).

        As for freight rail network, evidence? (And even if true, it is at extreme expense of passenger service)

  • Rob Keeney

    The only ferry I’ve used is in Galveston, TX

    • Brian MacKay

      And that ferry is part of a state highway (and, as a result is free). Like the Peugeot Sound ferries, it’s over salt water; Texas does have a sea coast.

  • a name

    Sure, this is a reasonable way to get a car across a small body of water. I am a Brit and I dated a nice Texan girl, and she flew across the ocean to visit me but had never actually seen the sea. So of course we went and dipped our toes.

    Raymond, I have once or twice wanted to post suggestions but there seem to be just a few old "suggestion posts" where comments are...

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