Microsoft Teams With Automakers To Put Windows, Office In Cars (microsoft.com) 196
An anonymous reader writes: Today Microsoft announced partnerships with several companies to bring Windows 10, Office 365, and Azure to cars. Volvo is having their Call Universal App integrate with Windows 10 smartphones and Microsoft Band 2 watches to let drivers interact with their cars. Harman, a company that builds infotainment systems, will allow drivers to access Office 365 services (while parked or while the car is driving itself). IAV, a similar company, will let users stream Windows 10 Continuum from their smartphone directly to a vehicle's dashboard. Finally, Nissan's LEAF and Infiniti models in Europe will run their telematics system on Azure. "The common thread between these announcements is that Microsoft is pitching Azure as an enabling platform, tossing in analytics and focusing on its core productivity strengths. Aside from the Microsoft Band 2 partnership with Volvo, Microsoft is taking an enterprise behind-the-scenes approach to the auto industry."
oh no. not that. (Score:2)
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a Volvo with Vista?
It would be even better if it were an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser [wikipedia.org], but, unfortunately, GM no longer makes them and Microsoft, as far as I know, no longer offers Vista.
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Cue joke about your car stopping in the middle of the highway and needing to open and close your windows to get your car going again. haha
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Yep, and this will become the bitter reality :
1. For no reason at all, your car will crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you will have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally, executing a manoeuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you will have to reinstall the engine.
4. When your car will die on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you boug
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>13. You will press the 'start' button to shut off the engine.
That's exactly how you turn off the engine in my wife's Hyundai. How did you know?
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I already do this. Technically, it's a 'start/stop' button, but I do this.
Re: oh no. not that. (Score:5, Funny)
It's gonna get interesting when talking about installing drivers.
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And you'll have to but a whole new car after 2 years because the OS that is there won't be supported any longer.
Then they will come out with Winford 2020 where the steering wheel becomes the brakes and the headlight switch controls the steering.
And all the settings will be changed so you have to search a half hour to figure out how to open the gas cap.
Just like OnStar got me to avoid GM vehicles, any car with Windows i
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... And you'll have to but a whole new car after 2 years because the OS that is there won't be supported any longer.
You joke, but this is very true. A well maintained car from the 1970's or earlier will run the same now as it did then* A new car with a touch screen infotainment system tied into the engine management system, tied into the cruise control/lane change warning/auto driving systems will become obsolete to the point the car is worthless.Selling a used car will be like selling a used computer. If you're lucky, you can give it to your nephew....
*yes there have been advances in fuel economy and safety, but the ca
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What about a parking garage with poor / no cell network the car get's suck in update loop and drains the battery / gas tank.
Or trip into canada 15K data roaming bill for a 1G (Score:2)
Or trip into Canada = 15K data roaming bill for a 1GB update.
Nobody fucking wants this (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, the entire idea of having a screen like that in any seat the driver can see is fucking idiotic and will cause crashes. But even ignoring that- I don't need my car to have a bunch of software that's always out of date and doesn't do what I want. If you're going to implement this, just let my phone screencast to it and take touch input from it.
Re:Nobody fucking wants this (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't worry, when the centre console fails it'll only cost you $1k or more to get it replaced. And seeing as how every car company out there also makes the entire thing responsible for important things like the heater controls and signal chimes, this is gonna be a real fucking mess.
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I guess that's the thing. The car-industry knows that with electric cards there will be much less for them to do and sell after they have sold the car so they need new business.
There will be fewer things that need regular maintenance in the first hundred-thousand miles absolutely, but there will still be cases for both repair and maintenance even in a simple electric car. Given the possibility of greater longevity there might be actual grease fittings on the suspension, to make the ball joints and tie rod ends last longer. There will be fluid top-offs for consumable fluids like windshield washer fluid. There will be tires and brake pads and rotors. There might even be greasing
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Of course, the downside of that is that when the car has major trouble, such as an electrical malfunction, or a dead battery bank, there isn't any fixing of the vehicle... the vehicle just will have to be replaced. Similar with car wrecks... more than just a "love tap" can cause the insurance company to just total the vehicle and call it done.
Electric cars have their place, and for a lot of people are useful... but until there is a better infrastructure for long distance trips, range anxiety will be an iss
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Given the possibility of greater longevity there might be actual grease fittings on the suspension, to make the ball joints and tie rod ends last longer.
I doubt it. They've had sealed units for decades now, and they generally last 100k+, easily long enough to last the warranty period. It doesn't cost that much to replace a ball joint or tie rod end. And things that need to be greased like that (when they have fittings) tend to actually need new grease more frequently, which won't exactly be popular.
Ther
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I guess that's the thing.
The car-industry knows that with electric cards there will be much less for them to do and sell after they have sold the car so they need new business.
Well my parents GMC Terrain('13) had it's centre console just give up the ghost one day on them. They weren't the only ones, there were so many consoles failing that there was on average a 9 week delay for a replacement. That's a lot of failures, even the warehouse where he worked a GM-NPDC, would get in 3-4k units per week and they'd all be gone in 48-72hrs all warranty repairs. For those curious the retail price is indeed 1k/unit, the dealer price is around $790cdn.
Even at that, a lot of dealerships ge
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Don't worry, when the centre console fails it'll only cost you $1k or more to get it replaced. And seeing as how every car company out there also makes the entire thing responsible for important things like the heater controls and signal chimes, this is gonna be a real fucking mess.
I guess that's the thing.
The car-industry knows that with electric cards there will be much less for them to do and sell after they have sold the car so they need new business.
Enter Windows and Microsoft and now people need to turn in their car the whole fucking time to fix various issues again ;)
(I'm not really so serious, it's a joke! Microsoft products doesn't necessarily have to be worse I guess.)
Ha ha only serious.
I always install Windows on my car (Score:2)
I really like having Windows on my car, if it doesn't come pre-installed I'll be sure to install it. My old car had 8 Windows installed, three on each side and one on the front and back.
Re:Nobody fucking wants this (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, the entire idea of having a screen like that in any seat the driver can see is fucking idiotic and will cause crashes.
Automakers have really jumped the shark. Control surfaces used to be basically entirely tactile once one learned the basic layout, one could operate all of the usual features without looking at them. One could change the HVAC settings, the radio station, next/back on the CD, control the heated seats, set the cruise control, operate all of the accessories without looking at them once once was familiar enough with them. Now, with touchscreens, there are no longer unique-feeling buttons to become accustomed to. One has to take one's eyes off of the road in order to change music or to set the HVAC controls.
This is completely insane. We wouldn't need so much lane-monitoring or collision-avoidance technology if people weren't forced to multitask on a computer in order to drive a car. Visual user interfaces beyond the passive feedback of speed, RPM, and characteristics of mechanical performance should be secondary, not primary. Primary should involve touch or speech to provide input and should use audio playback as the primary means of prompt or acknowledgement for all non-driving tasks that the car is capable of doing.
My car plays a tone if I've left the keys in with the engine off or if I've left the lights on with the engine off when I open my door. My car plays a tone when the turn signal or the hazard lights operate. This particular car plays a tone if I've driven more than a quarter-mile with my turn signal operating. Some cars play tones if the speed exceeds a certain amount without seatbelts on, or if the gauges read too far out of tolerance, or if it activates an idiot-light, or if one tries to drive with a door not fully closed. I've even seen a few like a buddy's older Grand Cherokee that alerts the driver if it detects that an exterior lamp's bulb is not working. These indicators don't take a whole lot of the driver's attention while they're driving compared to having screens to read.
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But now for no reason you can turn on the heater by having to press and hold a button on the Microsoft band then ask for the heater to be turned on. You, know, rather than the arduous task of simply turning a knob.
Progress!
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Tesla cars only have touchscreen and stalk controls, yet don't seem to be any more accident prone than other makes. That's despite their ridiculous performance and near silent operation at low speeds.
I think the key is the stalk controls. You can customise them to control anything you want, so you put say music and climate control there. Then you have tactile controls that you don't need to reach for and status displays either side of the speedometer.
You need to look at the speedo in EVs, which is why the L
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You need to look at the speedo in EVs, which is why the Leaf puts it right in your eye line. The usual audio feedback for speed isn't there.
Most normal modern cars I've driven have very little audio feedback for speed already. If I didn't have a speedo I'd have a hard job knowing whether I'm going 50 or 100 mph on a motorway.
I'm sure it's different if you're in a Ferrari or something.
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First off, the entire idea of having a screen like that in any seat the driver can see is fucking idiotic and will cause crashes.
It's a Microsoft product. Of course it will cause crashes. The good thing is, when your Microsoft Car crashes, just restart it and everything will be back to normal.
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My interaction on the daily commute in heavy traffic is lane changes and turns or taking over in cases of bad weather. I don't abuse it and keep my hands on the wheel (it yells at me if I don't) but I have very little I have to do while in the traffic crawl on the highway and my car isn't one of the fancy ones like the
Having little to do is exactly what I'm afraid of. Making it worse by adding distracting crap to cars is priceless.
Tesla that can do much more. Right now it's just chilling to audiobooks, but we aren't that far from large periods of being completely interaction free.
On Tesla forums customers have complained about random turns that would have caused death/accident if they had not been paying attention after firmware update unlocked new self driving features.
If competent self driving cars exist I don't care if you turn the windows into vid screens, install a microwave oven in the glove box and fix breakfast while playing GTA with other fellow drivers on th
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All real-traffic testing of the major fully self driving cars projects (type Google) have concluded that they already are far safer in practice than manually driven cars.
I am not talking about fully self driving cars. I'm talking about half-assed features like lane assist and adaptive cruise that enable people to zone out and consequences of coupling this with unnecessary "infotainment"
I don't know whether anyone has yet to develop a competent self driving vehicle. For example does driving like granny or not counting accidents averted by humans babysitting self driving car prototypes count as a realistic test? I don't know what the state of the art is currently nor am I
Will it come with Clippy? (Score:5, Funny)
It looks like you're trying to cause a 30-car pileup on the interstate. Would you like me to help?
brakes.sys has caused a system error hold start to (Score:2)
brakes.sys has caused a system error hold start to reboot.
It'll be out of date (Score:5, Insightful)
I keep my cars a lot longer than my computers.
My car was built in 2003, the year the Pentium 4 (single core, 4GB max addressable memory) was released and WinXP was mainstream, but only 2 years old, maybe my car would have had Win98 or WinME.
What are the chances that these "smart cars" will be getting software updates and have upgradable hardware. (and even if they do have hardware upgrades, will it be affordable? I replaced my old factory stereo with a new USB+MP3+Bluetooth+speakerphone player for $150 - the OEM AM/FM/CD-only replacement costs $500)
Manufacturers of "smart cars" should be required to publish full programming and interface specs so third party manufacturers can release alternative hardware.
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I keep my cars a lot longer than my computers.
Oh, don't worry -- Office 365 will be in the cloud and kept current by MS.
Of course your car may stop or lose vital features if you don't have internet access and can't confirm your MS login, but everyone is always connected, so it won't be a problem.
Re:It'll be out of date (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmm an 06 corvette needs a map disc that's juuuuust 179.99 + 3.95 S&H and they dropped support and now the last map update came out in 2013... Good luck finding those roads from 2014 & 2015....
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My car's speed database maxes out at 74, but most western states have speeds of 75 on the freeway. And some have posted speed limits of 80 or 85.
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I think that I am just going to have to make my 96 Honda Civic and my 98 Dodge 3500 Ram Van last forever.
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Bluetooth audio and Mirrorlink should be mandatory. Then no matter what you will be able to upgrade the head unit, either by connecting your phone or by adding a little embedded system box.
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Well, considering that updating maps in the built-in satnav of my boss' BMW can cost around 800 euro (old car, proprietary satnav, proprietary maps, not user updatable, so service costs on top + margin), this is just going to be a nightmare.
The good thing is that these idiocies will be targeting primarily the premium (= expensive) car segment. The low end clunkers most people drive will be stuck with "tablets" for their AC controls at best.
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LOL,
My 66 Mustang would be running on Vacuum tubes.
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My car's the same age as Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.
But does it crash as often?
Start menu (Score:3)
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Just put it in a Toyota, then you wouldn't expect it to stop.
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Will you have to open the Start menu to stop the car?
Stopping the car is only available in the Enterprise version.
Only if you're lucky (Score:2)
reboot;
call err_msg;}
Que the jokes (Score:4, Funny)
I still get a chuckle about the time when Windows crashed and took down a battleship [wired.com]. If cars crashed like peoples' desktops, it'd look like a crash-up derby on the city streets...
The joke used to be, "The day Microsoft starts making a product that doesn't suck is the day they start making vacuum cleaners."
To be fair, Macintosh used to be an acronym for Most Applications Crash If Not The Operating System Hangs.
Old Joke had to be repeated (Score:5, Funny)
If Microsoft were GM
Microsoft should make cars, GM should make software:
At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon."
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating the following: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:
For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would accept this, restart, and drive on.
Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart; in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought 'Car95' or 'CarNT.' Then you would have to buy more seats.
Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was more reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.
The oil, water, temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single 'general car fault' warning light.
New seats would force everyone to have the same back-end size.
The airbag system would say 'Are you sure?' before going off.
Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more.
Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
You'd press the 'Start' button to shut off the engine.
Re:Old Joke had to be repeated (Score:5, Funny)
and if a car were designed like Linux?
- The mechanic would tell you to "RTFM and fix it yourself!"
- The brake pedal would be on the right and accelerator on the left.
- You'd have dashboard buttons with names like "bt", "nrf", and "xs2".
- You push "xs2" to see what happens, and the car accelerates forward without warning.
- Only 15% of all seat covers would fit and you'd have to drive to New Mexico to find tires that fit.
- Sometimes the brakes don't work, and TFM tells you to enter "stop -pd -V" in the command line as an alternative.
- You accidentally type a lower case "-v" in the above command set, and the car goes faster instead of stopping.
- You then smash into a brick wall at 70mph, and oddly the engine can still run.
- You'd get beat up by Linux Car fans if you dare criticized it (or modded to hell, like I'm about to be).
- The fans above usually take the body and dashboard off, and drive by pulling and splicing wires.
- They actually drive better that way.
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I'm sorry you got Troll for this. I'm a big Linux user / fan and I found this immensely funny.. :)
I laughed at this, as a Linux fan (Score:2)
Longtime user of Linux, don't advocate it for everyone but love it myself.
Still found this post both clever and funny. Keep it coming!
that's gonna end well (Score:5, Funny)
"What was the cause of the accident?"
"Um, I was looking for the 'What-If Analysis' feature in the Excel ribbon, officer."
"Data tab, sir."
"Oh! Thank you!"
"You're welcome, sir. Step out of the car, please."
Update 1 of 32,000 (Score:2)
Redundent (Score:2)
Between smartphones, tablets, and laptops... why would I put LESS portable computer in a car with a distinct data plan etc?
What I'd prefer is to have the auto people work on the bluetooth integration a bit more so that we can just screen cast our mobile phones to a car screen and integriate features... touch commands etc.
The car doesn't really have all this wizbang app bullshit in it. Its just slaving its interface to the phone.
And before someone says something like "what if the car gets hacked by malware f
The Crash Before the Crash (Score:2)
Oh come on. I use Windows too, but it has not place where reliability is needed.
Gives new meaning to... (Score:2)
nooooooooo...the Volt, only worse? (Score:4, Informative)
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The Chevy MyLink is actually based on QNX (what Ford just switched to), not Microsoft.
I'm not sure how, but that's still Microsoft's fault.
No! (Score:2)
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Get a Mazda. They're all running an infotainment system now made by Johnson Controls which runs on Linux. The root password is "jci". While Slashdotters are busy whining about cars being unhackable, Mazda enthusiasts are busy hacking their cars on the Mazda forums.
I'll admit, it's not the greatest system (but then, which car's infotainment really is?), as it's laggy at times, probably because a lot of it is implemented in JavaScript, but it's entirely hackable.
OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, IT'S A CAR! (Score:4, Insightful)
FUCK THAT SHIT!
Listen carefully, people: It's a car, not a lifestyle! It's transportation. You do not need Windows 10 in your gods-be-damned car; you need to forget all that, and put away your gods-be-damned phone, too, and PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!
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FUCK THAT SHIT! Listen carefully, people: It's a car, not a lifestyle! It's transportation. You do not need Windows 10 in your gods-be-damned car; you need to forget all that, and put away your gods-be-damned phone, too, and PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!
Other than that, you have any strong feelings on the matter?
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Other than that, you have any strong feelings on the matter?
Sarcasm noted. :-)
Why should I be lukewarm about my opinions? XD
I'm just glad that I like driving a small pickup truck. You can always get those with a 5-speed stickshift and pretty much bare-bones so far as accessories go, because they're working vehicles. All I ask for is air conditioning, maybe cruise control, and a decently-working, decent-sounding AM/FM stereo. When the day comes that I can get one in a plug-in electric version with decent range on a full charge, I'll do the Snoopy happy-dance.
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Other than that, you have any strong feelings on the matter?
Sarcasm noted. :-)
Why should I be lukewarm about my opinions? XD
Oh I do agree. It was just your post was so BOOM!, so I had to have a little fun with it. But I do feel the same as you. That's why I have my little Jeep. While the Grand Cherokees are completely modernly screwed up, My rather spartan guy doesn't spy on me, can't be disabled by OnStar or whatever version Jeep is using for their high end stuff, and it has some real gauges and stuff. The most advanced thing it has is traction control and ABS. And the traction control works so scary well, that I'm okay with th
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It was just your post was so BOOM!
You know, I've been noticing, more and more, that I get that sort of reaction out of people online; telling me to 'calm down' when I'm not even close to 'not calm', accusing me of being 'angry' or 'upset' when neither is the case. It's really making me wonder: is it my writing style, or, sociologically-speaking, has everything become such and emotional flatline in the post-2000 era, that expressing yourself in a no-nonsense, forthright manner now considered 'extreme'? I hate 'beating around the bush' so-to-
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It was just your post was so BOOM!
is it my writing style, or, sociologically-speaking, has everything become such and emotional flatline in the post-2000 era, that expressing yourself in a no-nonsense, forthright manner now considered 'extreme'? I hate 'beating around the bush' so-to-speak, if for no other reason than it takes considerably longer to create text than it does to just speak. What do you think, do you have an insight?
It isn't a criticism, since I occasionaly get into a little extra salty emphasis, sometimes depending on my mood that day, but yeah, you're occasionally strong.
But the second "but" in the whole thing is that after reading your other posts, I get used to your communnication style - and others as well. I think after we get used to each others styles, its all good.
All in all, I'll take blunt and direct over wordsmithing and avoiding the point any day. I've had a few discussions in here with people who w
This will give a whole new meaning..... (Score:2)
lolwut? (Score:2)
Volvo Cars will showcase new concepts that integrate Microsoft Band 2 with a Windows 10 smartphone and the Volvo on Call Universal App, creating new ways for customers to interact with their vehicles. From the new Microsoft Band, a Volvo owner can press and hold the action button and say, “Volvo, start the heater of my car,” among many other options.
Or they could just simply turn the dial to heat rather than requiring a $250 device to accomplish the same task?
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Volvo Cars will showcase new concepts that integrate Microsoft Band 2 with a Windows 10 smartphone and the Volvo on Call Universal App, creating new ways for customers to interact with their vehicles. From the new Microsoft Band, a Volvo owner can press and hold the action button and say, “Volvo, start the heater of my car,” among many other options.
Or they could just simply turn the dial to heat rather than requiring a $250 device to accomplish the same task?
You forgot the part where they tell the radio to turn off. One more step
But I've seen this kind of crazy shit so many times. Replacing something easy with something more difficult, or at least twice the work.
Nope! (Score:2)
My car has Windows and I love it (Score:3)
Yeah, but how about Office (Score:2)
Yeah, but how about adding an office into it? Complete with swivel chair!
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Ad so it begins (Score:2)
read manual, update manual, required safety featur (Score:2)
Following on the path of backup camera's any new feature which can be marginally considered a safety feature can be promoted over and over until it becomes a mandatory requirement that must be maintained. The path to (4) profit is clear.
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Following on the path of backup camera's any new feature which can be marginally considered a safety feature can be promoted over and over until it becomes a mandatory requirement that must be maintained. The path to (4) profit is clear.
Equating a backup camera with windows is pretty silly. They are much more than marginally adding safety. I personally know two people who backed over one of their children, killing them. They were in the blind spot right in back of the car. All my vehicles have backup cameras in them, and I use them all the time. They've come in handy sometimes as well. They are even a great thing to have in the woods, as some times I'm backing up near cliffs.
Some people were really pissed about turn signals and brake li
Brand (Score:2)
>Microsoft Teams With Automakers To Put Windows, Office In Cars
Good thing Volvo isn't on my list of cars I would buy, anyway. But I currently have an Infiniti. Would hate to have to throw them out in the future...
Just like I'd never buy a car produced by GM (Score:2)
[Obligatory] Microsoft Car (Score:2)
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating, "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash
Usual MS wankery in comments. (Score:2)
So I guess because this is Microsoft, we just make all the jokes that stopped being funny, or true years ago? Then the tinfoilhatists with the "any new tech is loaded to the gills with sly stuff and will steal your life. Any intelligent discussion going on here?
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That is sort of what I was thinking.
The fact is, Microsoft is already in a lot of cars. I have taken road trips in cars with a Microsoft system and it seemed fine.
The only thing that concerns me with "the cloud" being in a car is the added expense of maintaining a data link... I am sure it is "free" for some amount of time, but who wants to pay $50+/month to run Office apps ON THEIR CAR DASHBOARD?
I am sure that Azure will allow for all kinds of cool things, (I mean, if you haven't taken a look at powerbi.co
loltstic headline (Score:2)
"Microsoft Teams With Automakers To Put Windows In Cars"
Wow, that's some innovation. What's next, doors? A roof? Tires? Pedals?
Wait, is that putting Windows and Office into (Score:2)
But they didn't upgrade older models. (Score:2)
I have a Ford F-150 with Microsoft software in it and it really sucks. In fact, Ford motor company ditched Microsoft in favour if QNX in 2014.
Me, too.
I used to think that Microsoft had finally done something halfway right. Then I found out that the parts that were "right" were Ford applications running on top of the parts that were "wrong", which were the Microsoft platform (which still screws up in some of the usual ways, just not quite as often, and doesn't kill the whole car when it fails). Oh, well...
Re: Microsoft office is for Cars which lock you in (Score:3)
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Can't wait for the first ransomware. "Please pay X if you wish to drive to work this morning"
"Please pay X if you wish the brakes to resume functioning. Otherwise, brake and acceleration control will not be available to the user."
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"Please pay X if you wish the brakes to resume functioning. Otherwise, brake and acceleration control will not be available to the user."
How would that change anything? That's basically how a Volvo already works.
I have to say though, it is fitting that they pair the shittiest smartphone platform with the shittiest car company. That is the ultimate form of trolling for customers who don't read the JD Power reliability ratings before buying their cars. Well done sirs, well done.
Different Judgement Criteria (Score:2)
Interesting - the US survey puts Volvo near the bottom, but the UK survey near the top... maybe surveys like this are just flawed.
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Not likely. One of the biggest weaknesses in the auto industry is its strength in this regard. The auto industry does not work with integrated wholes when it comes to electronics - everything is a separate unit, because the auto industry is based around bolting together various completely independent boxes from various manufacturers onto a frame. It's normally a huge weakness because it means a huge amount of component duplication, unneeded power draw (ever notice how much power cars draw these days?), h
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I fear that we are in for more lock-in. With the fact that ECMs are getting more controlled, with more exotic defenses against chipping, combined with the talk about having cars require software upgrades, not to mention having the -software- not transfer when a vehicle is sold (so one has to pay for a relicense to have the ability to start the vehicle, much less use stuff like climate control or the audio system), it gets worrisome. Think consoles and DLC as an example.
I don't know what is worse. Vehicle
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If people are dumb enough to willingly buy into this business model, I don't see what the problem is. Cars like that (with non-transferrable licenses) will likely have horrible resale value, so we'll probably see a more severe version of what we've already had: Japanese cars avoiding this silliness and holding their resale value extremely well, and American cars implementing these ideas and having awful resale values. (I'm not really sure which way Euro cars would go, probably more like the Americans but
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Maybe, but I honestly doubt that it would go that far. I could see certain brands doing that, and getting away with it. Others will avoid it because their customers won't accept it, or they might try it and it'll end up in disaster because it'll be like phone makers trying to copy Apple and finding out the hard way that Apple buyers just buy Apple stuff and their own customers don't want an Apple clone.
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One of the biggest weaknesses in the auto industry is its strength in this regard. The auto industry does not work with integrated wholes when it comes to electronics - everything is a separate unit, because the auto industry is based around bolting together various completely independent boxes from various manufacturers onto a frame.
Sometimes. Basically all of the European cars have basically all-Bosch electronics, including the PCM, ABS, and probably some other major modules as well. Nissan, Subaru and Mitsubishi used to all have PCM and TCM from Hitachi. Most cars up until they got more than five or six speeds had a TCM from the same manufacturer as the PCM, but these days the transmissions are complex enough for the manufacturer to need to do the TCM themselves... Fairly tight integration is required between the PCM, TCM, and ABS be
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2013 Fusion here. I have to agree that Ford's *interface* design is fairly intuitive. I'm a bit less impressed with its implementation -- too much doesn't work reliably, and I'm *really* unimpressed with the fact that the system had to remove features with each new iteration of the software, just in order to improve stability. The clock changes when you change time zones, based on the GPS, but it *doesn't* support daylight savings time? Really? (It used to...)
I was glad to hear that the next version of
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You are all Cars which lock the drivers in. You can't get out! No! Noo! Nooo! No you cant get out, no! No says the car which doesn't let you out. YOU MICROSOFT CONTROLLED CARS!!!
Someone's made a news year's resolution to avoid mentioning cows.
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when your desktop fails, it isn't traveling 70mph....
your application brakes has failed, click ok to continue...
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gstoddart, if you are so anti-Microsoft, then why are you posting from a machine running Windows 10 and using IE11? .
Holy hell, someone uses Internet Exploder 11?
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In a couple years they'll probably switch the IE rendering engine to WebKit anyway.
Then it won't matter whether you're using IE, Firefox, or Chrome, since they'll all render the same, look the same, and have the same extension library.
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exactly the wrong paradigm for developong software for cars.
Is that anything like beer pong? Count me in!
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I feel the same way about those self-driving Google cars. If I got in one I'd have to kick my own ass.
Self-driving cars don't need Windows.