Slashdot Mirror
Near-Future Fords to Feature Windows Automotive
dpbsmith writes "The Detroit Free Press reports that a Windows Automotive software suite named Sync will be featured in some cars available Spring 2007, all 2008 Ford models, and Lincoln and Mercury models later. The software does not, apparently, run the engine or do anything directly connected with transportation. It will, rather, allow the user to 'use their vehicle as a computer in key ways, such as hands-free cell phone calls or downloading music or receiving e-mail.' Bill Ford and Bill Gates were reported as saying that having high-definition screens in vehicles, speech recognition, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment with directions and road conditions will set car companies apart from their competitors in the future. 'There are going to be those who have it and those who don't. And even those who get it later are going to be a generation behind,' Ford said."
add an entirely new meaning to crashing your car.
In corporatist USA, Microsoft crashes YOUR car *ducks while chairs are being thrown*
Are you sure you want to turn right?
Yes/No/Cancel
An unknown error has occured. Please tell Microsoft about this problem.
------
beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
Shades of Microsoft-Novell: I wonder if this is just a ploy to get into automobiles and then claim trademark infringement on the transparent material surrounding the passenger compartment?
Nah, updates will be done automagicaly via wireless internet. Just make sure that you don't drive near a hijacked wireless router that is masquerading as a Trusted patch source. You don't want porn-popups while your mother is driving.
Considering that Ford owns a big piece of Mazda....
Zune, Zune!
IF MICROSOFT BUILT CARS.....
1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.
2. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail and you would have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you would accept this too.
4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT" Group Licence. But, then you would have to buy more seats..
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was much more reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive - but would only run on 10 percent of the roads.
6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars, which would make their cars run much slower.
7. The oil, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.
8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
9. The airbag system would say "are you sure?" before going off.
10. If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.
11. We'd all have to switch to Microsoft (tm) Gas.
The meaning of the acronym FORD will now changed from Fix Or Repair Daily to Format Or Reboot Daily
In keeping with the resource hogging of Vista, Windows Automotive's System requirements:
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
What are you going to have to do to restart your car? Honk the horn, Run the wipers and open the passenger door?
Found On Road DoSed.
KFG
"There are going to be those who have it and those who don't. And even those who get it later are going to be a generation behind," Ford said.
No, idiot, the ones who get it later will be a generation ahead.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
My old girlfriend would talk for hours on the phone, that doubled when she went cordless and then dummy me bought her a headset and I never got to talk to her again.
I'm married, where can I buy one of these headsets?
Rich
a new owner will have to obtain a new license in order to drive the car if he buys it used?
The system can update itself while you are driving without you turning off and back on your car. Even better, I hope if the navigation system updates, you don't have to go back home and start over.
In the future news:
Detroit - The first windows based automotive crashed when the driver refused to update the system, filling the windshield with several pop-ups and finally automatically restarting the engine for the commuting driver in the expressway.
Can we just go back to drunks? Their driving skills may have been impaired, but at least they had driving skills.
You know, that's actually a valid point. Drunks, at least some of them, KNEW they were drunk and at least TRIED to stay on the road.
Our new cell-phone-blabbing, mp3-playing, makeup-applying, pizza-munching bunch of road-hogs is not even aware that they're supposed to be driving, it seems.
and fight every day for my right to run Linux. Now Windows comes back in my car. I suppose I'll have to build my own car now to keep Bill Gates out of it.
When I get to be 89 and need an artificial heart and I see them about to stick it in my chest and it has a Windows logo, I suppose that's when I'll finally snap and just start choking people.
I've never seen a ford without windows!