Monty Python and the Holy Sync

[RonTCat]

In the beginning, there was Ford and Microsoft. "Make us a simple and clean information display, so that our customers can by duly informed." And Microsoft complied. At it was good. And the peasants rejoiced.

"We must improve upon this wonderful system". Microsoft pondered, but they wanted many pence. An agreement was not to be. Ford looked east to country with a billion people not named China. "We shall go forth and build Sync 2". And it was terrible. No, really bad. The peasants revolted.

"What have we done? The peasants are now farting in our general direction." Faces were long at the Glass House.

"Who will save us?" It it us, 300 mighty former Blackberry developers. We shall build Sync 3 from the holy QNX, and it shall be good. And it was.

"Thank you, oh mighty Canadians! Thou shall be rewarded handsomely, and awarded Sync4 development." We shall include HTML5 goodness, and smite the evil Tesla GUI.

The end.

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[zhackwyatt]

In the beginning, there was Ford and Microsoft. "Make us a simple and clean information display, so that our customers can by duly informed." And Microsoft complied. At it was good. And the peasants rejoiced.

"We must improve upon this wonderful system". Microsoft pondered, but they wanted many pence. An agreement was not to be. Ford looked east to country with a billion people not named China. "We shall go forth and build Sync 2". And it was terrible. No, really bad. The peasants revolted.

"What have we done? The peasants are now farting in our general direction." Faces were long at the Glass House.

"Who will save us?" It it us, 300 mighty former Blackberry developers. We shall build Sync 3 from the holy QNX, and it shall be good. And it was.

"Thank you, oh mighty Canadians! Thou shall be rewarded handsomely, and awarded Sync4 development." We shall include HTML5 goodness, and smite the evil Tesla GUI.

The end.

Brilliant.

Although my understanding is that neither Ford nor Microsoft actually coded the MFT system. Microsoft provided the OS and some services but not UI. I would love to know the details of the MFT system and specifically what the cause of problems were.

 

[timbop]

Brilliant.

Although my understanding is that neither Ford nor Microsoft actually coded the MFT system. Microsoft provided the OS and some services but not UI. I would love to know the details of the MFT system and specifically what the cause of problems were.

The answer is in the question: Microsoft

microshaft sux

 

[JamieGeek]

The answer is in the question: Microsoft

microshaft sux

Actually MFT/Sync 2 was developed by a 3rd party who fell on their face. MS picked up development which is when MFT started to be useable.

In addition: I believe Sync 3 was in development using QNX before Blackberry purchased QNX.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Actually MFT/Sync 2 was developed by a 3rd party who fell on their face. MS picked up development which is when MFT started to be useable.

In addition: I believe Sync 3 was in development using QNX before Blackberry purchased QNX.

one thing that's generally ignored in all of the "QNX replacing Microsoft" analysis - Windows for Automotive was CE based, and CE was already essentially dead (and I'd be amazed if Ford didn't know that long before it was public)... Microsoft was already moving their phone platform to an NT base (Windows 10 Mobile), Windows 10 IoT was already planned to replace CE for larger embedded and the Thread-X acquisition was already on the way for smaller embedded... so unless Sync 3 was going to be on Windows 10 IoT, which honestly wasn't likely for a lot of reasons, QNX or custom Android (like say Honda) was already going to have to happen.

 

[zhackwyatt]

The answer is in the question: Microsoft

microshaft sux

 

[Jolteon]

one thing that's generally ignored in all of the "QNX replacing Microsoft" analysis - Windows for Automotive was CE based, and CE was already essentially dead (and I'd be amazed if Ford didn't know that long before it was public)... Microsoft was already moving their phone platform to an NT base (Windows 10 Mobile), Windows 10 IoT was already planned to replace CE for larger embedded and the Thread-X acquisition was already on the way for smaller embedded... so unless Sync 3 was going to be on Windows 10 IoT, which honestly wasn't likely for a lot of reasons, QNX or custom Android (like say Honda) was already going to have to happen.

There's a reason Ford launched 2016MY vehicles with 3G modems and months later asked customers to come back when the app stopped working so they could disassemble the interiors and swap the modems for 4G due to 3G signals being decommissioned.

They're perpetually a few years behind in really every tech except engine hardware.

They claim to be moving faster nowadays - we'll see how the OTA support is on the Mustang Mach-E. My SYNC 3 cars never got any bugfixes that were meaningful, to the point where I bought the Tesla that gets updates every ~20 days on average.

 

[Shayne]

In the beginning, there was Ford and Microsoft. "Make us a simple and clean information display, so that our customers can by duly informed." And Microsoft complied. At it was good. And the peasants rejoiced.

"We must improve upon this wonderful system". Microsoft pondered, but they wanted many pence. An agreement was not to be. Ford looked east to country with a billion people not named China. "We shall go forth and build Sync 2". And it was terrible. No, really bad. The peasants revolted.

"What have we done? The peasants are now farting in our general direction." Faces were long at the Glass House.

"Who will save us?" It it us, 300 mighty former Blackberry developers. We shall build Sync 3 from the holy QNX, and it shall be good. And it was.

"Thank you, oh mighty Canadians! Thou shall be rewarded handsomely, and awarded Sync4 development." We shall include HTML5 goodness, and smite the evil Tesla GUI.

The end.

Wonder if they can move stuff around on the monitors? I would propose the cruise information comes out of hiding and more to the middle of the dash screen. Bigger font with all that real estate would not hurt either.

6' with seat all the way back and down and have a hard time adjusting the steering wheel for comfort and so I can also see the corner of the small front displays where the cruise info is. Dash display is higher than most cars I have driven and I would say 1" too high for future. A suggestion to make good better. First one where gauges can be shifted. Gadgets and let us drag them where we want them is coming

95% two way highway here and so far after 3 months I am still in love with driving this vehicle. Range is good it is still cool up here but I have seen 18 - 20 KW/100 km highway (105 to 110 km/hr with a few 130 - 140 passes in there). Drives well and it sitting and charging I am hoping soft/firmware will be able to help. Sandy has started to confirm some of our hunches; good job goes to Ford.

 

[Jimrpa]

I’m speculating, but I think Ford has a problem that isn’t TOO different than that faced by spacecraft. The software and computers in cars have to be reliable for YEARS. Particularly the computers. Customers aren’t going to tolerate going into their car dealer every couple of years and plunking down a couple thousand dollars for the latest processors, upgraded memory and storage, and graphics engines. Hence, if you’re expecting Xbox series X performance on your in-car systems, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Never going to happen. A car maker needs a single, stable, unchanging platform that’s rugged and can be put in the field for 5+ years before any significant upgrades. Otherwise, it’s too expensive to maintain.

 

[Shayne]

I’m speculating, but I think Ford has a problem that isn’t TOO different than that faced by spacecraft. The software and computers in cars have to be reliable for YEARS. Particularly the computers. Customers aren’t going to tolerate going into their car dealer every couple of years and plunking down a couple thousand dollars for the latest processors, upgraded memory and storage, and graphics engines. Hence, if you’re expecting Xbox series X performance on your in-car systems, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Never going to happen. A car maker needs a single, stable, unchanging platform that’s rugged and can be put in the field for 5+ years before any significant upgrades. Otherwise, it’s too expensive to maintain.

Lots of XP machines out there that preform the task they were designed to do. Speed of processor is not required if the code does not bloat. The mach does not need to make coffee or get the mail it has a certain function for most with a few frills thrown in. I think it does that fairy well right now and with a few software tweaks can be gr8. I have seen it get better in 3 months. Coding font size and screen graphics location should not take too much more ram.

I watched a ford.ca vid today that informed me that google is already actively involved with ford and sync 4 is that accurate? She also told me I have 491 Km of range and can travel highway distances with that.

 

[Jimrpa]

Lots of XP machines out there that preform the task they were designed to do. Speed of processor is not required if the code does not bloat. The mach does not need to make coffee or get the mail it has a certain function for most with a few frills thrown in. I think it does that fairy well right now and with a few software tweaks can be gr8. I have seen it get better in 3 months. Coding font size and screen graphics location should not take too much more ram.

I watched a ford.ca vid today that informed me that google is already actively involved with ford and sync 4 is that accurate? She also told me I have 491 Km of range and can travel highway distances with that.

I hope none of those XP machines are connected to the internet ?
Seriously though, that’s precisely my point. If people hop into their car, see a 15.5” display, and are expecting the same type of graphics and responsiveness they get from their Xbox connected to their 77” OLED at home, they’re going to be very disappointed.
It is possible to produce attractive GUIs that don’t require too much horsepower. Just remember, there’s a bunch more besides the GUI. There’s navigation (and the associated data and rendering for that), there’s whatever’s required for the audio system, there’s voice processing (we learned that Tesla offloads that, which helps reduce onboard processing requirements. Let’s hope Ford never takes that approach).

 

[Shayne]

I hope none of those XP machines are connected to the internet ?
Seriously though, that’s precisely my point. If people hop into their car, see a 15.5” display, and are expecting the same type of graphics and responsiveness they get from their Xbox connected to their 77” OLED at home, they’re going to be very disappointed.
It is possible to produce attractive GUIs that don’t require too much horsepower. Just remember, there’s a bunch more besides the GUI. There’s navigation (and the associated data and rendering for that), there’s whatever’s required for the audio system, there’s voice processing (we learned that Tesla offloads that, which helps reduce onboard processing requirements. Let’s hope Ford never takes that approach).

First 10 years of the internet we never ran virus protection and never a problem even in the low districts. Computers do not double click. Lot of those XP's are at your check outs and are not the gateway. Not sure about xbox but an i7700K OC'd running win 1809 type of responsiveness would be adequate.

Yes seriously I do not need the attractive gui and was just mentioning getting the cruise display out from behind my steering wheel would be kool. Little suggestions that may help. Sync runs pretty good now they just need to build on that and simple (small) is best; a straight line approach. It has a simple task and a GUI never helps too much with that. Never really about the looks for me it is plenty pretty now.

 

[Jimrpa]

First 10 years of the internet we never ran virus protection and never a problem even in the low districts. Computers do not double click. Lot of those XP's are at your check outs and are not the gateway. Not sure about xbox but an i7700K OC'd running win 1809 type of responsiveness would be adequate.

Yes seriously I do not need the attractive gui and was just mentioning getting the cruise display out from behind my steering wheel would be kool. Little suggestions that may help. Sync runs pretty good now they just need to build on that and simple (small) is best; a straight line approach. It has a simple task and a GUI never helps too much with that. Never really about the looks for me it is plenty pretty now.

I think there are lots of opportunities for optimization in Sync to make it a bit snappier, and obviously to improve the UX.

 

[CHeil402]

I feel like I'm the only one that liked the Sync 2 UI. It certainly could have been improved for response times, but I much preferred the screen space usage better than Sync 3.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I feel like I'm the only one that liked the Sync 2 UI. It certainly could have been improved for response times, but I much preferred the screen space usage better than Sync 3.

I've been very direct about liking MFT a lot more than Sync 3. The permanent dark mode, the alignment of the quadrant colors with the dashboard right-side LCD colors, the clearer font...

but I also know that we are very much in the minority.

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