Hollywood disagrees. :-)
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...

I'd agree with you if Tesla had done anything meaningful prior to Elon's involvement. Using your analogy, Tesla wasn't even a little backwater restaurant that got investment—it was just a couple of guys who thought it would be neat to make hamburgers.

If you exclude the six months spent looking for capital, Musk was there from the very beginning. Before Musk, Telsa was just a couple of guys looking for capital. Musk WAS the capital. He was Tesla's very first investor and has always been Tesla's dominant shareholder.

Did the incorporated entity do anything consequential in those six months—other than searching for Elon Musk?

Umm, LastPass? LogMeIn owns LastPass.

It's astonishing that this wasn't mentioned in the Slashdot summary.

Add this to the list of rubbish software by Google. People just assume that because a small number of Google projects have legitimately impressing programming prowess that this standard of quality is consistent among the ~30,000 engineers at the company. In my experience, Google software tends to be fairly poor on average.

Legitimately good:

* Some parts of Android
* Chrome (due in no small part to the architectural origins set by KHTML and Apple)
* V8

Assumed to be good because the results are great but who the fuck knows what sort of hacked up garbage is under the hood:

* Google search
* Google maps
* Advertising networks
* ChromeOS

Was already good when they bought the company that made it:

* Google Docs
* Google Earth
* SketchUp

Hot garbage:

* Many parts of Android
* Most of the Android SDK
* Google Desktop, Toolbar, Talk and countless other pieces of shit Windows software

Yep, it's works until you disable the operating system's protection mechanisms and install shithouse software.

Unquestionably. Tesla are still mid-tier when it comes to materials, fit and finish etc. That said, it's all relative. Compared to other cars made by Porsche, I think the Taycan is fairly ugly—those drippy melty headlights are distractingly hideous. Whereas the Model 3 looks quite nice for an American car.

(I might have bought a Tesla 3 but for the all-glass roof. I hate sunroofs and where I live, the sun is very hot in summer. Also my current car is perfectly fine.)

The quantity of battery isn't just important for range, it also determines the maximum number of watts that can be pulled by the motor—and thus the upper limit of performance.

This is why the upcoming Tesla Roadster is said to have a 200kWh battery pack. It's for performance, not range.

(MAYBE you could replace some battery with comparatively lightweight supercapacitors, but then you've only got max power when the caps are charged. The electric equivalent of turbo lag, perhaps.)

And it doesn't even pivot! Lame!

Hence why a exceptionally good education system is necessary for a democracy to endure.

The glue matters too? So let's call it POSIX/Linux then. Or perhaps Intel/Linux? Or how about Semiconductor/Linux?

Slightly off-topic, but what is stopping Tesla from establishing a franchise store in Texas? What stops Elon Musk from personally establishing an dealership like any other?

Indeed they have.

"Ozturf grasses have been scientifically tested by the CSIRO for strength and long term ultraviolet stability."
(http://www.ozturf.com.au/products.html)

Swings and roundabouts -- if the mining boom collapses, our dollar will crash and exports will pick up some of the slack. On one hand, we'll have more expensive imports and perhaps less tax revenue, on the other hand, we'll see an upturn in manufacturing and local services.

30% of... ten million theoretical dollars!