Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has never been shy of sharing his love for Ford with the world and, as of May 26, 2009, he has yet another reason to do so. This because Ballmer is the proud recipient of a Ford Fusion Hybrid. Ballmer is of course one of the wealthiest people worldwide, among the world's top 100 billionaires. But the Ford Fusion Hybrid he got is no ordinary $20,000 one. By no means! It is a testimony to the success of a Microsoft and Ford collaboration that debuted at the start of 2007.

At that time, still-full-time Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced that the Redmond company and Ford had inked an agreement to equip a range of Ford vehicles (including Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks) with Sync, a technology based on the Microsoft Auto platform. In this regard, the car received by Steve Ballmer is no less than the one-millionth Ford vehicle equipped with Microsoft Sync produced by the US car manufacturer.

The Ford Fusion Hybrid was delivered to Ballmer by Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, and you will be able to see the reactions of the two in the video embedded at the bottom of this article. Sync is designed as a system allowing users to control a variety of devices via voice commands from the car. Ford Fusion Hybrid owners can connect not only mobile phones, but also storage media, portable digital media players and additional devices to the car and leverage Sync in order to perform the most mundane of tasks, such as hands-free dialing, or having text messages read aloud to them while driving.

“Now, Sync with Traffic, Directions, and Information connects you to everything you need while you're on the road. Personalized traffic reports with text-message traffic alerts. Precise turn-by-turn driving directions. Business search, news, sports and weather – all at the tip of your tongue,” reads the description of Sync.