Almost everything I saw from Microsoft at the show was pretty impressive. But Sync was underwhelming.
Sync is Microsoft's technology for integrating technology into cars. It's a great idea. But the execution is the problem.
The Sync issues are similar to the issues I have with Windows Mobile. Over-engineering, design by committee and inelegant.
Their demo of voice recognition really highlights the klunkiness of the system. (paraphrased)
Person: Phone
Car: Phone ready
Person: Dial Mom
Car: You said Mom, correct?
Person: Yes.
Car: Did you want to dial Mom on cell phone or home phone?
Person: cell phone
Car: You said cell phone, correct?
Person: Correct
Car: Dialing mom cell phone.
...
In between each of those transactions is a beep the user must wait for to begin speaking.
It's just tedious. I much prefer to just use the on-screen display to dial whomever. But almost everything in Sync struck me as being needlessly catered to very possible user. One can almost imagine someone in a meeting in Redmond saying "Oh, we really should also include support for X" resulting in everything being more complicated.