Microsoft Soon to Offer Windows CE-Based Infotainment System to Automakers

The only questions that remain are, will TBox and Windows Automotive be easily upgradeable, and will the system offer easily

Drivers and passengers can now experience Microsoft technology in 25 preinstalled and aftermarket devices from 13 world-class automakers and suppliers. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

accessible components. After all, who wants to be driving a fully-functional three year old luxury sedan, hampered by a less than adequate three year old PC? Cars have a much longer shelf-life than computers, which makes the ability to upgrade critical.

No doubt, Microsoft wouldn't give up the opportunity to make billions more on software upgrades, so expect this to be priority number one. As for parts upgrades, expect TBox to feature hardware that allows Microsoft, and its development partners, the ability to get into upgrade action as well.

According to reports, Microsoft will be able to offer TBox and Windows Automotive for only a few hundred dollars per vehicle, which is critical according to Forrester Research in Massachusetts. Microsoft "has finally cracked the code with a working device that provides more

Microsoft Automotive will be the computing standard of the automotive industry, and alternative software developers, such as Apple and Netscape, will once again be left out in the cold. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

functionality at a lower cost than anything else available today", a spokesman said.

Whether you're a Microsoft fan or deem the multinational firm and its world's richest CEO, Bill Gates, empirial leaders of the "dark side," hardly matters. What looks only too real is that Microsoft Automotive will be the computing standard of the automotive industry, and alternative software developers, such as Apple and Netscape, will once again be left out in the cold. Most consumers won't care, however, as tomorrow's cars will finally be fully connected; something that consumers have been wanting since personal computing became a reality.