I was one of the architects working on Ford SYNC. Internally, Ford has a big problem with open source software from a legal stand point. You have a fortune-5

I was one of the architects working on Ford SYNC. Internally, Ford has a big problem with open source software from a legal stand point. You have a fortune-5 company here. Translation for you: They are a very large target for lawsuits. The open source software provides no indemnification. You also have to remember when SYNC was in the planning stages long before the public knew about it. I was part of the original team responsible for taking the whole concept to reality. I can tell you that internally, it was one of the most well run software architecture teams I was ever apart of. The middle level managers really know how to run software teams which is not something you might expect from a big old automotive company. But in many ways, our hands were tied. Recall about the time Bill Gates and Bill Ford riding around in a model-T. A lot of us didn't want Windows for automotive and were trying to champion Linux. Also, the iMX3 which was in the first generation SYNC modules was at the time a slow processor. And to top things off, a fair bit of the software running on the SYNC module is not written by Ford. Ford partnered up with a crappy company called B-Squared. The Maps are not Ford's either. When I was on the team, Ford had partnered with INRIX for Maps, traffic and direction. SYNC is just not a simple single board computer with some apps running on it. There is an entire eco-system build around the SYNC module because it's connected to the vehicle networks (CAN Bus). Microsoft & Ford being partners (Windows servers in data center), Microsoft wanted to handle some of the software development but when Ford asked Microsoft to sign off on some legal agreement asking MS to take any and all responsibility for things like inadvertently deploying an air bag, they backed off. Also, Ford SYNC as I said has an eco system of roughly 20-30 backend applications that support it. Some of these have to do with 911 assist and the TREAD act. The TREAD act is the US Federal Government's oversight on safety claims. Because via SYNC you can report problems and have your vehicle serviced, their is a lot internal logic that keeps track of what is called EOL (End of Line) data about a vehicle which needs to funnel into TREAD act reporting. Think about the not so long ago Toyota problem where they tried to blame floor mats for gas peddles getting stuck. EDIT: Also, the GUI is not Microsoft CE native. The WindowsCE is just the OS running on the SYNC module. The GUI was Adobe ActionScript. Trust me, many of us yelled very loud about how stupid an idea this was but because B-Squared own the implementation (not the architecture), they were aloud to chose whatever they wanted to meet Ford specs. The results are a history less: JD Powers gave it SYNC poor ratings and many of us (myself included) got the hell out of dodge. Middle managers, managing the day to day software architecture and specifications, were caught between a rock and a hard place with senior management (Allan Mullaly, Mark Fields, Bill Ford, Marcy Klevorn) pushing these partnership relationships we were forced to work within.