Ford and Microsoft team up for in-vehicle operating system
By Rumble
@Rumble (523)
United States
December 30, 2006 6:14pm CST
"Ford Motor plans to unveil a deal with Microsoft in January that will put the software company's technology into some of the automaker's cars, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter," Reuters reports.
"The system, to be called Sync, includes a hands-free Bluetooth wireless system and an in-vehicle operating system that eventually will be an option for the entire Ford brand lineup, the Journal said," Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, "Sync is designed to enable hands-free mobile-phone communication and other wireless information transfers in the car, including e-mail and music downloads, the sources told the paper."
The technology will debut next year as an option on at least two Ford brand models, the Focus and Five Hundred sedans, a person familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Lets hope it performs better than the regular Microsoft software and doesn't crash all the time.
3 people like this
16 responses
@hockeygal4ever (10021)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Scary thought.. it will come up in the middle of a big turn on a mountain, shut down and reboot your system! lol
@shyam4uall (1002)
• India
31 Dec 06
Two giants are comming together and it will be great to see how the two giants works together to take out the software ..It will be a new page written in both their history respectively..and will begin a new world for the software giant Microsoft to explore it..
@ethaniverson (72)
• Philippines
31 Dec 06
Thats good news specially nowadays that the rate of vehicular accidents caused by drivers using their celphones while driving is getting higher. Thats a very helpful innovation by Ford and Microsoft. Hope that would go well.. More power to those companies and thanks to you for this info.
@kgwat70 (13387)
• United States
31 Dec 06
That is just great as another way of causing more traffic accidents and long delays is coming out. I think this is ridiculous and they should not be installing computer software into automobiles. We already have people talking on cell phones while driving and causing accidents. If the technology is in the backseat for a passenger to use I do not have as much of a problem with it but for the driver to use things like that should be banned and outlawed.
@tambdy (1967)
•
31 Dec 06
A dealer managment system you mean, i used to see these although it will be hard to hit the 2 main players in this field one being Kerridge (who have recently been purchased by ADP) and the second being Pinewood who are the largest system in the world. I think with the money these 2 have the could certainly challage but i am suprise FORD are going with microsoft they have always been close partners of Kalamazoo and MMI.
Good post +
@rakeshdas (427)
• India
31 Dec 06
wow !!! thats great man
Two tycoons tied the knot !!!
Now we can rely the quality of the car and the operating system both. Waiting to see the product with my eyes
lets hope the product will rock the world \m/
@brunobolinha (888)
• Portugal
31 Dec 06
Very good, we will see great cars from there.
I wish I can drive one , but maybe I don´t have money for that =(
regards to you.
@masterminds (352)
• India
31 Dec 06
The move is Ford's latest attempt to spruce up its U.S. product portfolio and follows the company's recent decisions to expand satellite radio offerings and introduce features such as connection jacks for Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL) iPod music player. The new system, to be dubbed "Sync," will allow for hands-free cellphone communication and other wireless information transfers inside the car, including the ability to receive email.
In many cases, the technology will be integrated into a navigation system. The technology is based on Microsoft's automotive operating system, which has been under development in recent years.
Ford's Sync system will debut next year as an option on at least two Ford brand models that are to be refreshed in 2007 - the Focus and Five Hundred sedans, according to one source briefed on the company's plan. The auto maker plans to offer the system as an option on the entire Ford brand lineup, including trucks, starting in the 2008 model year, according to that source. Eventually, the Lincoln and Mercury divisions are expected to have the option.
