I flew a DA-40 Diamond-Star with a fully integrated glass cockpit this weekend. WOW! George?, GEORGE! MR. LUCAS! Your ships in star wars need new cockpits... they suck! Now I know why you said it was a long, long time ago... Well, I guess the phrase "the lowest bidder" held true in the empire and rebellion as well. (at least the rebels had a financial excuse)

This thing was absolutely amazing. It alerted me to traffic in my vicinity and told me exactly where it was in reference to my position. I had a moving color map with all the terrain and airspace... I could physically see the approaches I would fly. All of the gauges were digital, but there is total redundancy. (Yes there are back up gauges for emergencies). It is phenomenal, and unfortunately expensive. But the possibilities for general aviation are outstanding. I believe it will increase the safety of flying by orders of magnitude, and I am totally serious!

Here is a link to the aircraft...
http://www.diamond-air.at/en/products/DA40/

And one to the G1000 Cockpit...
http://www.garmin.com/products/g1000

But you need macro-media to view it...