xcel
12-29-2006, 05:40 PM
“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,”. (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/NEWS99/61229012/1014/BUSINESS01)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/MS_Windows_Auto.jpgSarah A. Webster - Detroit Free Press - Dec. 29, 2006
In what might be the start of an exciting new technological future for cars and trucks, the struggling 103-year-old Ford Motor Co. and software giant Microsoft Corp. are expected to jointly announce in early January that new Windows Automotive software will soon be available in future Ford vehicles.
The project will finally bring together two industries that have long been expected to cross paths, allowing consumers to finally use their vehicles as a computer in key ways, with voice commands.
Ford and Microsoft are expected to jointly reveal the project at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which opens to the press on Sunday, Jan. 7, and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens to the press one day earlier, on Jan. 6, according to several electronic and automotive blogs.
“We’ve learned from a source close to Microsoft’s car-computer project that Microsoft and Ford are planning to announce the US availability of the system in 2007,” the technology blog site Engadget recently reported. The Wall Street Journal published a story today about the companies' plans, as well.
Ford officials refused to comment publicly on the reports.
But according to a concept Hummer H2 vehicle shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2004, the Microsoft technology works through a computer located on the vehicle that runs Windows Auto software. The computer uses Bluetooth to connect wirelessly with a mobile phone in the car, which in turn connects to the Internet. Motorists communicate with the system through a microphone embedded in the roof of the car.
Microsoft has already been working with Fiat, which does not sell vehicles in North America, to use Windows Automotive software in cars -- an infotainment project that was unveiled at the 2006 Geneva auto show and labeled “Blue&Me.”
Motorists can already use that system in vehicles such as the Fiat Grande Punto and the Alfa Romeo Brera, 159 and Spider models.
But the Microsoft project with Ford will be the first of its kind in the United States, Canada or Mexico.
The relationship between Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor, and Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, might have played a role in securing Ford’s leadership role in rolling out the technology here.
Some insiders at Ford call the executives “Bill and Bill,” and the two men have come together publicly on occasion.
On April 29, 2005, the two Bills announced a $1 million donation from Microsoft to the Henry Ford to support the continued transformation of the Dearborn campus and jointly hosted the Microsoft Global Automotive Summit at Ford’s Dearborn grounds.
The men laid out a vision for cars and autos that foreshadowed the Windows Automotive announcement expected in early 2007, according to the Associated Press, which covered the event.
Ford and Gates said 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.
Ford praised the way the industries were working together, saying engineers were bringing new ideas forward “faster than we can assimilate” them.
Microsoft owns MSN Autos, a website that provides information on vehicles and buying them, and Microsoft also has a business unit dedicated to working on automotive technology.
Microsoft also talked about the company’s “Performance Peak Initiative” - a line of computer systems to help the auto industry better coordinate supply chains, streamline design, production and sales and fill vehicles with computer gadgets. At the time, the company said its technology is currently in 25 vehicle devices from 13 automotive companies.
Gates, though, said the ultimate promise of computer technology in vehicles would be crash-prevention.
“That absolutely should be the goal,” Gates told a group of several hundred summit attendees. “The embrace of technology will be the key for the leaders of the industry.”
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/MS_Windows_Auto.jpgSarah A. Webster - Detroit Free Press - Dec. 29, 2006
In what might be the start of an exciting new technological future for cars and trucks, the struggling 103-year-old Ford Motor Co. and software giant Microsoft Corp. are expected to jointly announce in early January that new Windows Automotive software will soon be available in future Ford vehicles.
The project will finally bring together two industries that have long been expected to cross paths, allowing consumers to finally use their vehicles as a computer in key ways, with voice commands.
Ford and Microsoft are expected to jointly reveal the project at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which opens to the press on Sunday, Jan. 7, and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens to the press one day earlier, on Jan. 6, according to several electronic and automotive blogs.
“We’ve learned from a source close to Microsoft’s car-computer project that Microsoft and Ford are planning to announce the US availability of the system in 2007,” the technology blog site Engadget recently reported. The Wall Street Journal published a story today about the companies' plans, as well.
Ford officials refused to comment publicly on the reports.
But according to a concept Hummer H2 vehicle shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2004, the Microsoft technology works through a computer located on the vehicle that runs Windows Auto software. The computer uses Bluetooth to connect wirelessly with a mobile phone in the car, which in turn connects to the Internet. Motorists communicate with the system through a microphone embedded in the roof of the car.
Microsoft has already been working with Fiat, which does not sell vehicles in North America, to use Windows Automotive software in cars -- an infotainment project that was unveiled at the 2006 Geneva auto show and labeled “Blue&Me.”
Motorists can already use that system in vehicles such as the Fiat Grande Punto and the Alfa Romeo Brera, 159 and Spider models.
But the Microsoft project with Ford will be the first of its kind in the United States, Canada or Mexico.
The relationship between Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor, and Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, might have played a role in securing Ford’s leadership role in rolling out the technology here.
Some insiders at Ford call the executives “Bill and Bill,” and the two men have come together publicly on occasion.
On April 29, 2005, the two Bills announced a $1 million donation from Microsoft to the Henry Ford to support the continued transformation of the Dearborn campus and jointly hosted the Microsoft Global Automotive Summit at Ford’s Dearborn grounds.
The men laid out a vision for cars and autos that foreshadowed the Windows Automotive announcement expected in early 2007, according to the Associated Press, which covered the event.
Ford and Gates said 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.
Ford praised the way the industries were working together, saying engineers were bringing new ideas forward “faster than we can assimilate” them.
Microsoft owns MSN Autos, a website that provides information on vehicles and buying them, and Microsoft also has a business unit dedicated to working on automotive technology.
Microsoft also talked about the company’s “Performance Peak Initiative” - a line of computer systems to help the auto industry better coordinate supply chains, streamline design, production and sales and fill vehicles with computer gadgets. At the time, the company said its technology is currently in 25 vehicle devices from 13 automotive companies.
Gates, though, said the ultimate promise of computer technology in vehicles would be crash-prevention.
“That absolutely should be the goal,” Gates told a group of several hundred summit attendees. “The embrace of technology will be the key for the leaders of the industry.”