This year's Geneva Motor Show will see Fiat debuting its Microsoft-equipped cars.
Fiat and Microsoft, who have been working together since 2004, are taking the wraps off a number of models sporting a new product known as Blue&Me, based on the Windows Mobile for Automotive operating system.
Blue&Me allows Alfa Romeo and Fiat owners to connect their in-car systems to their phones and other gadgets using Bluetooth, with data displayed on a panel controlled by buttons in the steering wheel.
The new cars will also come sporting USB ports, to connect drivers' MP3 players to their cars.
Fiat and Microsoft are also working on a version of the Blue&Me software that will work with GPS kit. It's expected to be available in some form by the end of this year.
Talkback
The cars have enough problems with their electronics and build. Adding microsoft is only likely to make things worse.
Sounds like a good idea, but I have a bad feeling about this one.
What was that old joke about the Microsoft-built car that crashed for no apparent reason again?
I really thought Fiat was smarter than that. I guess we need to be thankful that MS OS will have nothing to do with controlling the engine, speed, or steering of the unit. Still, it makes one wonder about the sanity of Fiat's
owners ability to build a world class car and equip it with a piece of crap like M$ OS.
My car already has one of these smart, computer controlled nav/radio/climate/tea maker centres in it and it used to crash a lot, unfortunately closing all the windows didn't help, I had to reboot my car...
Doing a complete power down and reboot at 120mph isn't fun, don't do it children :-P
The problem is, when they crash, you are stuck with the temperature it feels you should have, white noise at high volume and the nav system not telling you that the exit you are screaming past at a high rate of knots is the one you wanted... The worst part is, these devices has a soft-power switch, so when they crash, you can't turn them off to reset, turning off the ignition also doesn't help. Luckily on most cars, turning the ignition back on temporarily cuts power to the computer to give the starter as much juice as it needs and this will usually cause a reset.
Blue Windscreen of Death!