Okay, not really, but the picture is deserving of some kind of (attempt at a) witty remark. It’s not every day you get a image of the two greatest living oligopolists of their respective countries conspiring with each other.
Anyways, looks like Bill Gates came to Korea on Tuesday to meet with LMB, business leaders and talk about the future of the Internet and IT industries. He also came to town bearing gifts with an a promise to invest $147 million in Korea over the next five years.
Later that day, Bill Gates and Chung Mong-Koo announced an agreementby Microsoft and Hyundai-Kia to work together to develop a version of Microsoft’s “Sync,” the voice activated system currently used by some Ford (in North America) and Fiat (in Europe) cars. That’s fine by me as long as my car’s engine doesn’t stall in the middle of the highway because Microsoft’s software inexplicably decides to, uh- stop working.
Update: Evidently, PC Magazine thinks the MS/Hyundai alliance is a good idea. We’ll get cars with better cockpits, more multimedia integration and cheaper GPS systems.
I love ComputerWorld’s sub headline: “Hate Vista, laugh at Zune, dismiss Windows Mobile? You just might love Microsoft’s Windows for cars.”
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Followed by a dialogue box asking if you’d like to report the error to MS.
Brings a new meaning to the term car crash.
But really this is just a voice command system; all it does is read text messages to you or let you pick a song by name from your MP3 player. It certainly isn’t integrated with any car function such as ABS, power steering, etc.
“It certainly isn’t integrated with any car function such as ABS, power steering, etc.”
Uh… not currently. Who know’s how far Microsoft’s octopus tentacle like arms will want to extend into other industries and markets. 10 years from now you may just say “Car On” and the computer (and software?) onboard will recognize your voice patterns and fire the ignition.
Great, a car filled with some trojan virus — yeah, I could really use one of those. It is bad enough trying to get a repairman to work on a newer model car’s electronics and software as it is.
I am beginning to feel like a Luddite . . .
What’s it with Korean chaebols and Microsoft? It seems like they are dying to get a chance to sign LOIs with MS?
The Korean chaebols admire much about MS. Besides, Bill Gates also has a lot in common with chaebol bosses. He likes to unilaterally dominate industries, make excess cashflow in virtual monopolies and justify it all by promising to donate billions to society!
And he’s faithful to his wife and family, doesn’t hire gangsters to beat up people, isn’t pompous, got where he is because of his own smarts, and started a charitable foundation that he has extensively funded, and has already done a hell of a lot of good.
Yes, I certainly see the similarities.
Ha ha.. touche.
You have to admit though, MS products are crap and there are just not enough alternatives in terms of OS and office applications for the PC world.
Maybe they’re negotiating a secret treaty to keep the Korean version of XP alive for a little longer.
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[...] his whirlwind trip to Korea two weeks ago, Bill Gates came bearing gifts. He presented an XBox 360 to president Lee Myung-bak [...]