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Ford has a better idea inside those CarWindowsFord and Microsoft Sync
Filed under: Miscellaneous, Ford
Even though “CarWindows” might be a more descriptive name for the product, Microsoft will dub its new operating system for in-car computers “Sync.” Set to début in two 2007 Ford models, with expansion across more Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln vehicles in 2008, this OS will run systems such as hands-free cellphone calls, downloads of audio files into the car’s audio system (and perhaps video files for the back-seat DVD players, on models so equipped), e-mail, and navigation updates.
The actual announcement will have to wait for the Consumer Electronics Show on January 6, which takes place after the following day by the announcement to the automotive press assembled at the Detroit Auto Show. Fortunately for all of us, Microsoft is not going to be controlling critical internal and driving functions with this software; we’ll all sleep safer at nights knowing that the dreaded Blue Screen of Death won’t display on the dashboard when the windshield wipers were turned on. “WIPER.EXE has performed an illegal operation in module CARSYSTEM32.DLL”—can you imagine that? What Microsoft founder Bill Gates did say, however, was that he hoped that Sync-equipped vehicles would be able to “have features such as HD screens, voice recognition, electronic calendars, cameras and navigation systems that include road and traffic conditions.”
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