Microsoft has joined with Harman to announce a project to link your car with Microsoft Office in the cloud.
Sorry to pour cold water on all this but the announcement doesn’t include any products. In fact, there’s little of substance in the press release.
We can look forward to having an internet connection in your car with software to link with Office 365 hosted data. There’s a single image of how a future product might look with a Skype video call.
“With access to relevant Office 365 services through intelligent personal assistant software, drivers can complete tasks without compromising safety, including scheduling meetings, hearing and responding to emails, automatically joining conference calls without having to manually input the phone number and passcode, and seamlessly managing events and tasks throughout the day. Drivers will also be able to hold Skype calls and conferences when in park, or on the road with autonomous vehicles.”
All the talk of making PowerPoint presentations from your car is pure hype.
It’s not even new. Over a decade ago, Office Watch was at the CES show in Las Vegas. Back then, Microsoft had an announcement about adding their technology into cars. Nothing came of it.
Of course, in the meantime there’s been an explosion of connected phones and tablets. These can be used while driving (allow for local laws and commonsense). It would seem that the future is more likely to be portable devices you can use anywhere, including a vehicle.
It will be interesting to see what products Microsoft and Harman come up with.
