Microsoft Corp. today announced that the BMW 7 Series, the line of cars introduced last month in the United States, features Microsoft’s real-time embedded operating system, Windows CE. This announcement comes shortly after Microsoft’s Automotive Business Unit launched Windows CE for Automotive v3.5, the newest version of its telematics software platform based on Windows CE, and announced an end-to-end solution to enable the auto industry to cost-effectively implement and maintain advanced automotive telematics. Siemens VDO Automotive AG, the preferred navigation supplier of BMW, is using the Microsoft Windows CE operating system in the Control Display, which is part of the innovative BMW iDrive concept.
Microsoft Technology Hits the Road in BMW 7 Series
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Cars should be a simple mechanical system. The mechanical technology is the most appropriate to the job. It’s easier to fix, less expensive to produce, and more reliable.
A paper map isn’t too hard to use, is easy to get, is robust and portable. Why are companies moving towards gratuitous digital doodads? Perhaps I’m missing something; someone please tell me.
“When we heard about BMW’s telematics vision, we knew the exceptional quality in Microsoft technology would fit hand-in-hand,” said Bob McKenzie, general manager of Microsoft’s Automotive Business Unit. “The iDrive concept is a unique one, and we’re proud to power the graphical user interface in the Control Display.” <p>
This is just freaky that they talk like this….
what Mercedes Benz will use?!
A pc crash wasn’t spectacular enough, which is why we’ve installed win into our BMWs. We’ve replaced the blue screen with a white light!
Had another thought… If they installed XP instead of WinCE, will we have flying cars? (that constantly fall from the sky for no apparent reason?)
I work for one of the automakers in Detroit, and Microsoft got LAUGHED completely out of the business here. Automakers rely on strict deadlines, and huge acountability for their product. Neither one of which Microsoft knows anything about. I doubt it will be easy to apply a service patch to an automobile. I just wait for the day when a MS automotive product ties up the vehicle communcations bus and renders your car inoperable.
And I was looking forward to buying one of these babies! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to go with the Kia 🙂
Considering back in 1999 or so, BMW had an add campaign which included a picture of a red BMW convertible with a large, bold font over the car reading “OUR HARDWARE RUNS BETTER WITHOUT WINDOWS.”
Ah well. Guess somebody’s been holding meetings in the paint room again. Someday some exec will be stuck out in an obscure section of the Balkans, and wish he didn’t just have to learn what a segmentation fault is.
BMW and mercedez are both lousy cars….i drive so many ofthem daily..
Lousy OS for Lousy cars i suppose
You can’t even afford one in your dreams.
The new BMW 7 is a really nice car.
I wouldn’t mind what OS the onboard computer uses
as long as it drives 🙂
I wouldnt even want a BMW if i got it for free…..Cheap Plastic lousy parts steretypic car……a……wannabe I drive a volvo…..much better car
“Windows CE for Automotive is an open platform that allows developers to quickly create powerful in-car computing solutions.”
Can anybody give me one good reason why I would want Windows in my car? I don’t know about you, but I use my car for going to different places. I type emails and surf the web at home with a damn computer. Sometimes I even print out a map before I go somewhere. “Technologies” like this are a distraction that need to be somewhere else besides the driver’s seat.
And people thought cell phones were dangerous…
Ohmyghod!
As if Windows didn’t crash enough, now it can crash at 300Km/hour!
Please say it isn’t so…
It does, however, bring a new meaning to, Illegal Operation
& Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD).
I just don’t want to be driving when it has a “Fatal Exception!”
If i was on vacation and i had been driving for 3 hours down the coastline and then stopped @ some resting place….i wouldnt mind having a small comuter in my car.. (laptops in cars + me dont mix and celluars can become a little small) but then again..it depends on what the os in the car does (what it controlls) and which os it would be (certanly not windows! Funny that blue screen joke up there
It’s obvious why this has happened…
The Automotive industry has always been jealous about the built-in obsolescence of computers. Every 12 months, people need to get a new one for the latest OS upgrade.
Now, we have innovation at work! Oh dear – a new OS upgrade has come out. Time to upgrade to BMW XPensive!
yeah maybe they oughtta think that restarting dont work in life as good as it does with computers
Restarting works easy, MPX!
Quite simply, you need to put your foot on the brake pedal, press the horn and open the glove box simultaneously.
gotta do it twice
“I work for one of the automakers in Detroit, and Microsoft got LAUGHED completely out of the business here. Automakers rely on strict deadlines, and huge acountability for their product. Neither one of which Microsoft knows anything about. I doubt it will be easy to apply a service patch to an automobile. I just wait for the day when a MS automotive product ties up the vehicle communcations bus and renders your car inoperable.”
I worked for a company doing industrial automated machine and having legally the PLC maker legally bound to software glitch (or unexpected hardware) failure was a requirement to include their PLC.
If you ever did read window licence you see that they don’t want another firestone fiasco!
The only good thing is that because car usually don’t run more than 12h in a row, crash might be less than in server because you have more shutdown/booting.
Imagine having the nerve breaking window opening sound when you start your car
And with all the super M$ security i can already see the evil knight2000 virus taking over all black camaro
Forgot about the viruses…can see accidents already happening-..
“A paper map isn’t too hard to use, is easy to get, is robust and portable. Why are companies moving towards gratuitous digital doodads? Perhaps I’m missing something; someone please tell me.”
A paper map can’t use GPS to figure out where you currently are, and can’t dynamically generate routes to get you where you want to go. For example, I’ve seen the ’99 Lexus navigation system. You’d enter in where you want to go (via an intelligent, “narrow it down the more he types” system, much like hitting ‘j’ in Winamp), and then it’d generate a good route. Then, as you were driving, there’d be a little view showing how far away you were from the exit you wanted, or whatever. When you neared an intersection, the left speaker would cut out (if you were playing music) and say, “Turn left at the T-intersection” or whatever it was. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but for an infant technology, it was already rather useful. It was great, for example, when we were going to a club in a city we hadn’t been to before.
I’m presuming that BMW is pursuing more advanced versions of this kind of thing. While I certainly wouldn’t call it a necessity, it’s definitely above “gratuitous,” even in this relatively young state. And it doesn’t take too much imagination to think of other uses for the technology.
I can see it now people…
‘sorry this car requires activation’… or …
‘you’ve put new oil in, this copy of windoze is no longer valid’…. or …
…
‘you’re running a pirated car, its going to blow up in 10 seconds as a penalty’…
<p>
hey here’s an idea, perhaps M$ are looking to extend their monopoly to cars? Now that the browser wars are over might they be looking for a new fight?
<p>
Ohh this gets good
“Fatal errror….reformat C:” (in 200 kmh the brakes dont work nothing works)
As you see: first the action of M$ over Internet browsers world, free as they said…
Then .NET to take over every bit that you develop, and each transaction of each purchase/rent of services.
Now Automotive Windows.
And the lawyers are focused on “open” windows code, ha!
Don’t sounds like Pinky & The Brain stuff: ‘Take over the world!’???
Nothing that do M$ is free, now they are distribution the .NET framework for “free”, as they said.
Looks like a conspiracy, maybe, but sounds possible.
“BMW and mercedez are both lousy cars….i drive so many ofthem daily..”
… and yet you still can’t spell Mercedes 🙂
It’ll be at least that long until cars I am likely to afford and actually purchase get such “technology”…
I’m more concerned that car companies find a way to instill their own “shrink-wrap licenses”… “Sorry sir, when you purchased the car you agreed that we are not responsible for the quality or performance of the product. See that section that reads ‘AS IS’ and the section that says ‘the entire risk of the purchase is on you?’ Have a nice day.”
Oh yes, cuz americans cars are so………………
so
so….i don’t know so….shitty cars….
Maybe its cause i dont live in a super-high class family, but i happen to think that BMW and Mercedes _are_ nice cars. I dont think that a “real” OS such as WinCE belongs in a car though, even though it would be fun (and damn dangerous too). If you want to write email, buy a pda and a foldable keyboard, it will cost you less (im guessing).
Now to take part in the windows bashing:
“Windows has encountered an unexpected registry error. Please reboot your car, if the problem persists use the GPS which you cant get to, to find help.”
Microsoft Corp. today announced that the BMW 7 Series, the line of cars introduced last month in the United States, features Microsoft’s robust, real-time embedded operating system, Windows® CE. This announcement comes shortly after Microsoft’s Automotive Business Unit launched Windows CE for Automotive v3.5, the newest version of its telematics software platform based on Windows CE, and announced an end-to-end solution to enable the auto industry to cost-effectively implement and maintain advanced automotive telematics.
————
Do any other OS vendors have an “automotive business unit”? If not, why not? If there are better alternatives for this sort of thing, where are they? Or is it truly a case of more MS overhyped crapola?
Is Apple flogging a similar system? Is anyone else? A video review would be interesting.
So windows will crash cars at 300 km/hr? Win9* used to be very unstable, but all of that has changed with Win2000 and WinXP. In terms of stability, both of these systems are relatively solid, which shows that Microsoft is taking the feedback, alias criticism, to hearth. With WinXP, you can whine about security, but no more can you enjoy the stability argument: No more can you say: Linux is stable, windows is not.
The only technical thing left for MS to fix is security. That, too, they will fix. People think that MS is just doing PR when they leak Bill’s security memo. In reality, MS does realise that the security issue can be an obstacle in this .net age. So they will fix that problem too, and they will fix it real good. Why not? They have the money, the drive, the brains, and every incentive to do it. And they will do it. Before you know it, Windows could become the most stable, secure OS out-there.
So stop scoffing and using cheap arguments. Becos, like it or or not, MS is out for business. Mercedes and BMW are big carmakers, so how can anyone ever underestimate this move? I don’t windows on my car damnit, but scoffing and dwelling on yesterdays arguments won’t save the day. If the competition keeps whining instead of making competing products, MS will score on this one too
The only technical thing left for MS to fix is security. That, too, they will fix. People think that MS is just doing PR when they leak Bill’s security memo. In reality, MS does realise that the security issue can be an obstacle in this .net age. So they will fix that problem too, and they will fix it real good. Why not? They have the money, the drive, the brains, and every incentive to do it. And they will do it. Before you know it, Windows could become the most stable, secure OS out-there.
———–
You made some good arguments that I agree with, but saying MS has ‘every incentive’ to fix security is a bit much. How many people out there do you think know that Media Player is spying on them? Not a hell of a lot, I’d say. Recently reading that some ppl on this board didn’t even know about it. The only incentive MS has to fix anything is when it gets bad press and it starts affecting their image, and therefore, their bottom line. Then they make changes.
Media Player was already spying on users habits before anyone knew about it. They have your IP, they have your likes/preferences, and who really knows what else. And they didn’t rule out not using this information in marketing/profile-building/exploiting in future. How many people would have agreed to this if they had been informed of this in advance of using Media Player?
Since MS already controls media channels, and is buying more and more (cable internet, etc), how much avenue is the Average Joe gonna have for unbiased news & fair criticism of its products? None, I say. How much incentive will they have to fix things? Same.
I’ve actually worked on the implementation of PC based controls for vehicles. In my case it was the worlds largest rubber tire front end loader (http://www.letourneau-inc.com). We actually used an embedded PC on a CAN-bus network to control the entire loader with the exception of the automated ladder and lights for that walkway and the e-stop system. Real time NT was discussed–very breifly. We ended up using a real time DOS. More stable and less overhead. Oh, these loaders do run 24x7x365.
Now, back to the topic at hand. Win CE will NOT cause these cars to crash. They are just adding a computerized GPS/mapping and are controlling the entertainment system and climate controls. NOT the operation of the car. It would be silly if it did. What would you gain? Another component to fail? I turn a the steering wheel that turns a potentiometer (or encoder) which is read by a computer to decide how far to steer the wheels?? The advantage of having a computer control your car will only be realized when the computer actually drives your car itself. “Car take me home” and it whisks you off while you nap. That is still a LONG ways off, not in feasibility, but in public opinion. I ENJOY driving. I don’t want to give that up. I definatly won’t pay large sums for it. Safety is, of course, the other big public opinion problem.
Later,
Randal
If you are interested in the actual specs and features of what Windows CE for Automotive 3.0 has got, go to this page and dig around a little:
http://www.nex-tek.com/english/index.html
Looks pretty slick to me. I want one.
Microsoft Automotive Business Unit?
While we play xbill on our little open source operating systems BILL is busy slapping windows onto everything that moves.
To quote a character on TV ‘holy crap!!!’
Red Hat Automotive Business Unit rhabu
SuSE Automotive Business Unit sabu
FreeBSD Automotive Business Unit fabu
I don’t think so.
Maybe in time but time is something we have very little of. ‘We’ who are ‘we’? We better decide and soon. From the little bit of searching I did this move by microsoft is real and it is here to stay. Hate the thought of having to pay not only for the gas to run the car but also a monthly subcription for the software running the cars computers. I don’t know about you but that scares the crap out of me.
Nex-Tek is Korean, not Japanese.
Most serious businesses will use proven solution – QNX anyway, so what is the point. Look e.g. here:
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr/mar04_02_ibm.html, http://www.qnx.com/news/pr/feb19_02_am3.html
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr/nov20_01-telall.html
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr/dec11_01-most.html
should I continue? With WinCE, I can imagine that our managers will call us to fix their cars too 😉
-pekr-
As of this moment how many different types of products does microsoft have an OS running?
Of course computers, and PDAs.
Cars, video games(xbox), tablet PC,
cash registers, ATMs, cell phones?(nokia)
whats next?
Microsoft refrigerators?
TVs?
vacuum cleaners?
coffee makers?
stereo systems?
space shuttles????
calculators?
Just wondering.
A little alarmist I know. But I can’t help it.
>And the lawyers are focused on “open” windows code
I now have a picture in my head of a programmer driving with the top down
open-source -> open-hood
3 scientists in a broken down car.
Chemist: Probably fuel contamination, lets analyse the petrol ( Gasoline for US readers ) for impurities
Engineer: Nahh, dont be silly, bet its the fuel pump or the electrical circuits, a visual inspection will identify a fault
Software coder: Before we get our hands dirty, lets all get out of the car, shut the doors, get in and try again. It might work then.
It’s all our fault that Micros~1 has got this end of the market – incredible when you think about it! sheer genuis on their part!
Embedded operating systems in cars are nothing new however! – my mate’s got one in his oldddddd Merc, its so old it tells you the engine size(7 litre!!) on the boot!!!
iDrive i thought that was a apple thing.
Hi.
I am your onboard computer speaking. In frooont of you is a truck, driving at 50 Km/h. You are travvvvvvvvveling at a speed of 250 Km/h. In 3.2 seconds you will hit the truuuuuuuuuck. You must breake. (Driver tries to breake)
ERROR: You don not have enough free diskspace to performe operation. Remove some files and try again. Have a nice day.
Is this where we are hedding? Cars that suddenly get BSOD and crash here and there? So much for road safety…
If the folks at BMW had some brains they would use QNX
real-time embedded operating system. It beats the hell out of Windows CE.
our local government is trying to get the new BMW 7 series outlawed.
The intricate iDrive system is considered to be far too complicated for everyday use.
Tests have shown that the idrive system confuse people more than talking on a cellphone (without a hands-free set), so we will have plenty of BMW 700 wrecks within a few years..
Thought you would like to know…
Aside from jokes about crashing cars, the truth is that I neither want nor need Microsoft involved in every area of my life. I think it’s just a little scary that one company has its fingers in everyone’s pie.
And I have to wonder if, while looking at the GPS map to see where you need to go, if ads will start popping up. Because if there’s one thing I detest more than Microsoft being in my face 24/7, it’s heavy-handed advertising.
In addition to that, I like my cars simple. You know, if they break down you might be able to fix it without bringing it to a high-tech shop to have the computer fixed along with everything else.
And finally, just a little nitpick: The car in Knight Rider was a Trans-Am, not a Camaro. Although that comment was still funny. However, no need to worry since GM is killing two American icons, the Firebird and Camaro this year.
M$ stinks, they want monopoly in all regions of the markets, in XP all apps lead you to: buy books from M$ buy CD’s from M$ even the 404 error is intercepted by the OS so they can redirect your info to their databases. Now the spy in Media Player, all standards they want to destroy if it is not M$ and so on and on and on. Even a blind can see that.
We are partly to blame for that because we keep using their shit, I’ll bet more than 80% is reading or typing this from an M$-OS. I try to keep living my life without an hotmail-account or any soft/hard/spy-ware shit that this obsessed power freak tries to sell or give me.
My next pc will be a MAC my next OS OSX my next car a VW my next gameconsole will be PSIII and so on.
This guy may be rich but he never got a dime from me and that makes me feel good.
And who still thinks 2000 or XP is stable, no f*cking way. Why I always have the crashes??? It is probalby me ( only 23 years computing eXPerience ).
Sorry for the buttkissing M$ disciples who read this, grow up!
BMW Customer: “hello is this BMW tech support ?? ”
BMW Tech support: “Yes, it is. What can we do for u ?”
BMW Customer: “Well, my brand new BMW just crashed with a BSOD !! I can’t even get the car to start !”
BMW Tech support: “Ok, can you restart the car in Safe Mode, try holding down the gear stick as you start the engine up. ”
BMW Customer: “Tried that .. just goes BSOD’s as soon as you turn the key.”
BMW Tech support:”Sorry, mate, not much that we can do, you ‘ll have to reformat and install the OS again.”
BMW Customer: “What the f**k ?? R u crazy .. !!”
BMW Tech support: “Nope, its a microsoft product so its designed to crash like that. It keep our service centres nice and busy. Bye the way did you apply the latest service pack via windowsupdate?? You just hit the accelerator pedal while ur driving and it updates everything for you.”
BMW Customer: “So now what ???”
BMW Tech support :”If I were you … just part ex it for a nice new Mercedes or Audi, they use QNX or linux or something and if your really lucky BeOS. That way u’ll never have a BSOD again.”
BMW .. they must be compelety nuts.
HarjTT
: o )>
1. Sorry for my grammar.
2. I hate these companies, they pushing their stupid products until someone get killed and then “oh, sorry, didn’t we said that this could happen?”
“And people thought cell phones were dangerous…”
He is right. I think the most important thing is focus on driving in a car and not to browse the internet on a red light.
Error! Thie car has performed an illegal operating, plase wait while brake.sys and engine.exe restarts…
Can’t wait for Microsoft to release Windows CE for Sex Toys… users will really be screwed…
Let’s get ready to dual boot this baby! Install Linux, configure LILO to default to Linux…can’t wait!
Let’s get ready to dual boot this baby! Install Linux, configure LILO to default to Linux…can’t wait!
lol!!!
“Is Apple flogging a similar system? Is anyone else? A video review would be interesting.”
BMW has some videos on it’s german site http://www.bmw.de
How many times has your PocketPC crashed?
I rest my case.. bye bye
Antiskid systems operate by temporarily disabling brake hydraulic pressure on the wheel calipers. When the pad-to-disc brake friction is larger than the tyre-to-road wheel friction, the wheel locks and becomes uncontrollable. To keep the wheel spinning, the brake power is reduced for a quick moment. Now with modern ESP, this has to be integrated with a complex logic that can also apply brake power, going beyond the standalone ABS of former days. This could be an attack point for malicious software that, given any criteria, like, say, speed over 100 mph permanently uncouples the brakes at all four wheels.
This is positively NOTHING that I’d ever want to be coupled with any software by Microsoft, that possibly even is accessible through mobile telephony…
OTOH, it’s likely that the *important* systems are still supplied by Bosch. I think the close distance between the German MS HQ in Unterschleissheim and the BMW offices in Munich just gave way to some buddy-ism at the UI front.
I can’t stand BMW and much of the folks who drive’em anyway, so I don’t really care.
Rich
ps Does mobile Windows come with a EULA? Do you have to delete the software when you sell the car?
pps Another interesting automaker/OS statistic: In a recent (unscientific ad-hoc) Poll among seven Lotus owners, one was computer-agnostic, and the other six were Mac users. Would it be inappropriate to say “Driven by a desire for the best without regard for the taste of the masses”? (sorry…)
And notice that none of those devices works slawlessly except the X-box. I mean, anything more torturing than a handheld with WinCE? Or anything as broken as an ATM with a BSOD or just frozen?
There was a project for Linux powered car about 2 years ago.
The onboard Linux system was controlling steering, acceleration and brakes. I think it was in Italy – some engineering students. They run a good trip for a test and computer controlled about 95% of driving.
I cannot find it now and I guess they took it off internet as they finished their project and graduated.
Before Alzheimer gets to me so I forget which way is forward I’ll be driving stick shift no matter what OS is put into the car.
it has Gree screen of death, already seen pics of it in gaming sites.
The pics floating around are of a development unit,,,
And mine has never crashed.
My friends never crashed and he has no life so he plays all day…
But my computer crashed, It was running linux (SuSE 7.3) kept locking up and freezing, then it would reboot itself.
Windows XP runs fine on the same machine.
My Compaq Ipaq doesn’t crash on me it dies if the battery goes dead, but it doesn’t matter what os is used battery dies it dies.
I’ve just read through all of the comments above and have to say that it appears that only about 2 people actually bothered to read the press release properly. The system doesn’t offer Internet access or e-mail, this is what the press release says – “The iDrive concept and the Control Display enable easy operation of, and convenient access to, the myriad of features at the driver’s disposal, including the navigation, telephone, climate control and entertainment systems”. Most of the comments here are plain FUD.
say what you want, if suse 7.3 crashes just phone the support and complain with them about that. SuSe is a COMMERCIAL distro, but is _STRANGE_ that it locks up or freeze.
I have an hand tailed distro and it works fine even if I try and test most of the unstable and testing software out (starting from the kernel and ending with the wm)
if your Xpox is fine for you live with it. I simply hate it since is a crappy&cripled PC with some architectural faults.
a Ps2 is better (I hope to get it with the HD and the devel/linux kit soon, err as soon as the kit is shipped on europe)
And it is obvious that you cannot take a joke.
I can a joke as well as anyone and had a good laugh over some of the comments about BMWs crashing at 300Km/h, but the point remains that the serious comments over concerns with proving Internet and e-mail facilities in-car are unfounded as that isn’t what the Microsoft/BMW deal is about. On reflection, I suppose I am taking things a little too seriously, but I work in the in-car telematics industry and it is concerning that people immediately assume that a dashboard computer is going to be for browsing the web or reading e-mail.
As history has shown, every time MS gets into anything it grows like a virus and takes over. So, if we project that trend onto the Automotive industry, MS will start with just controlling climate, radio, and map systems. Then it will add functionality like Heads Up Display, verbal commands, and perhaps hands-free driving. Wireless networking will come soon, with email, live traffic reports, etc. But, with the feature sets, you will probably get a few hidden freebies as well. Soon, you will have directed advertising, coming from MS radio stations, and your driving habits, speeds, etc. will be reported via that wireless connection to MS. Perhaps you will even get a ticket for speeding, courtesy of your MS car computer. Big Brother is working his way deeper into our lives every day. Nice isn’t it?
When one buys a M$ product(software) you have to have a license to use it. So if you want to use your newly bought M$ product on more then one machine you have to buy more licenses. So how about this.
Let’s say that the license for Win CE costs $200 and every car has to have a license, every computer needs one. BMW probably produces around 50000 BMW 7-series a year.
50000*1 license á $200 = 10000000 USD a year.
10M US Dollars a year for Win CE.
Yea great deal.
I dont have to spell mercedez(S) right cus i dont like it..its a lousy car (as any real good mechanic with some brain and some experience would know….no offence) and volvo isnt american Thank you very much
the old sl 300
Let us hope that some regulatory body somewhere retains enough sense to keep a close watch on what features Microsoft put into their in-car systems. The automotive industry is heavily regulated already (certainly in Europe, I’m not too sure about the US) and Microsoft would have to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops to be allowed to legally sell an in-car system that periodically required attention from the driver, as in a system that displayed click-through ads or whatever.
“I dont have to spell mercedez(S) right cus i dont like it..its a lousy car (as any real good mechanic with some brain and some experience would know….no offence) and volvo isnt american Thank you very much”
Relax. Some of the models are no longer built in Sweden because it’s not economical, and many parts are from Germany, France and who knows where else. BTW, I drive an 850R Volvo, but at least a new Mercedes is rear-wheel-drive.
BMW probably gets volume discounts on WinCE so it’s
not as expensive.. the 7 series sells for about
100,000 euro in the netherlands so I don’t think
they worry to much about it.
I got a 240 (rear wheel drive , 150 hp)…Im gonna buy a 262C Ti by Berthone 78 (?) Model…right now im just rallying mine
…Btw today i crushed a BMW in a race
Not that I was planning to buy a BMer in the near future (more like Toyota) but the sheer fact of MS code slithering somewhere in the mechanism which can move at 250 kmph makes me afraid of any new Bmer esp. those with iDrive (or whatever). Could not they go with QNX e.g.?
IMHO MS is not experienced enough with embedded systems – Cassiopeas and iPaqs are OK with me, but sports cars – I do not think MS has it to go there …yet.
It’s a shame for them to install that crap, wondering who got cash for that deal. Come on!!!
Jeez,
I still don’t like the idea of an MS-run box in my car, especially hooked up to a GPS!
Microsoft’s new slogan:
“We Know Where You Are Going Today…”
Actually, even scarier:
“Microsoft: We know where you have *been* today! Muahahahahaha!”