Have you rebooted your car lately?

that's just what we need...more distraction while driving.

, This has to be a joke. A bad one at that. Come on? You got intel chips going into cell phones then probably cars next, now windows? Geeez

i guess the Blue Dashboard of Death is coming.

My car is toooooo old for all that. good ol '79. no electronics thank you.

I rebooted my truck. No kidding. You disconnect the battery and it resets the computer. Then you reconnect, start it up and recalibrate. Hmm, sounds like my motherboard.

i don't even have a computer. I feel left out I think.

That's all we need---Microsoft enabling more people to chat on the phone, surf the 'Web and check their e-mail all while supposedly driving their vehicles. Since the Mr. Pukey emoticon is no longer available to us, guess I'll have to use this one---

I just thought of something. You'll also have to download security patches to run your vehicle. Can you imagine if a hacker got into your system? Hmm, I'm not sure if I'm up for that. World wide virus in car. No cars run that have Microsoft. It's world wide chaos. Their one saying would be like "For $200 you can upgrade to the newer version of WinCar to get all those latest features". So, if the software glitches and have errors. Does this require a tech or a mechanic still?

Honest officer, I was just driving along checking my email and there was this one with an attachment. I selected it and suddenly my airbags deployed, *then* I hit the telephone and caused a 10 car pile up.

OMG! Car Hackers!

That's old news. Microsoft have been making car computers for a few years now. Hum, first I heard of this must have been in 1999 or so. Yes, it can be freaky.
Imagine when you'll be able to have your car on Autopilot, guided by GPS with radar detection of obstacles and surrounding cars. It will come, there are already some prototypes, but I sure hope Microsoft doesn't make the OS. :/

They use it mainly for navigational systems.

Cars have been using computers for quite some time. How do you think those "idiot" lights come on (you know, the ones that say "service engine soon" or "change oil soon", etc.)? They are thrown trouble codes from your cars computer. I have a little reader at home that I can plug into my car and read and reset my cars computer. Same thing that mechanics have to do to find out what's wrong with your car. Pretty handy, actually.

being able to pull computer codes helps, but too often the system which kicks the code is not the source of the problem:

Oxygen sensor starts failing and always reads lean ( computer pours more gas into engine => idle RPM drops => computer makes idle speed control motor push throttle and restore RPM => computer checks idle position of Throttle Position Sensor which is now out of tolerance, and a TPS error code is logged when the O2 sensor is kaput.
Still the codes give you somewhere to start.

I'm soooooo happy I choose to buy a older car.

I think we sortof got off track a little. Yea, all cars but the oldies have computers but they have basic programming. But the thought about "WINDOWS" into the cars computer system is another issue. I doubt that they will replace the computer alrighty there with Microsofts. They will be seperate systems. One controls the car like it always has and the other is a onboard display system. It would be cool if you could access a prog though in the onboard display to view all your preformance stats. But that would be bad. Think of History. If a cop wants to check to see if you normally speed in your car, they would access the history speeds recorded and put in a string like this (>50) or whatever the normal is. And it will show the date, time, speed, and possible location. Hmm...

Hey, I only clicked once

Computer "crashes" would suck and probably cause a real crash.

> #6 by kona0197 - 3/28/2003 7:07:46 AM
> i don't even have a computer. I feel left out I think.

reading this on an electronic forum just struck me as funny is all.

Did any of you actually read and understand the article? It is clear that no one who commented understood what "Microsoft's Windows Automotive 4.2" or what part of the car "telematics" are.

#6 by kona0197 - 3/28/2003 7:07:46 AM
> i don't even have a computer. I feel left out I think.

I meant a computer in my car.

forgive us

Please don't flog us

heh - i know, kona, but it just struck me as funny

What's funny is I am a computer tech turned bicycle tech and I hate windows but I'm using windows.

I want a computer in my car, but first, I want a car. But obviously, I need a driving licence first. And to do that, I need to be 17 (UK). And I can't be 17 until I've had my birthday. And to have that, I gotta wait until the 19th of April. And I am impatient!!!!