Vehicle computer system with open platform architecture

1. A vehicle computer system comprising:

a housing of a size suitable to be mounted in a vehicle dashboard;

a computer mounted within the housing;

an open platform operating system executing on the computer; and

multiple vehicle-related applications executing on the operating system to control operation of components in the vehicle.

2. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein the housing has a form factor of a single DIN.

3. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein the vehicle-related applications are selected from a group comprising a navigational application, a communications application, a vehicle security application, and a vehicle diagnostics application.

4. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 1 further comprising one or more non-vehicle-related applications executing on the operating system.

5. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 4 wherein the non-vehicle-related applications are selected from a group comprising an entertainment application, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, and an appointment/schedule application.

6. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a storage drive to load individual applications from a storage medium onto the computer.

7. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 1 further comprising an Internet wireless link to download individual applications to the computer.

8. A computer network system for an automobile, comprising:

a network;

at least one client computing device connected to the network; and

a vehicle computer connected to the network to serve content to the client computing device, the vehicle computer having a housing of a size suitable to be mounted in a vehicle dashboard, a computer mounted within the housing, an open platform operating system executing on the computer, and multiple vehicle-related applications executing on the operating system to control operation of components in the automobile.

9. A vehicle computer system comprising:

a support module having a bus;

a computer module connected to the bus, the computer module having a processor;

a faceplate module connected to the bus;

multiple applications stored on the computer module and executed by the processor.

10. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 9 wherein the applications comprise vehicle-related applications.

11. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 9 wherein the applications comprise both vehicle-related applications and non-vehicle-related applications.

12. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 9 further comprising a multitasking operating system stored and executed on the computer module.

13. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 9 wherein the applications are selected from a group comprising a navigational application, an entertainment application, a communications application, a vehicle security application, a vehicle diagnostics application, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, and an appointment/schedule application.

14. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 9 wherein the support module has a form factor of a single DIN.

15. A computer network system for an automobile, comprising:

a network;

at least one client computing device connected to the network; and

a vehicle computer connected to the network to serve content to the client computing device, the vehicle computer having a support module having a bus; a computer module connected to the bus, the computer module having a processor; a faceplate module connected to the bus; and multiple applications stored on the computer module and executed by the processor.

16. A vehicle computer system comprising:

a computer;

an open platform operating system executing on the computer; and

multiple applications executing on the operating system, the multiple applications including at least one vehicle-related application and at least one non-vehicle related application.

17. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 16 further comprising a storage drive to load individual applications from a storage medium onto the computer.

18. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 16 further comprising an Internet wireless link to download individual applications to the computer.

19. A vehicle computer system as recited in claim 16 wherein the applications are selected from a group comprising a navigational application, an entertainment application, a communications application, a vehicle security application, a vehicle diagnostics application, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, and an appointment/schedule application.

20. A computer network system for an automobile, comprising:

a network;

at least one client computing device connected to the network; and

a vehicle computer connected to the network to serve content to the client computing device, the vehicle computer having a computer, an open platform operating system executing on the computer, and multiple applications executing on the operating system, the multiple applications including at least one vehicle-related application and at least one non-vehicle related application.