SEATTLE: Both are American icons, built on supplying the masses.

Both have a chairman named Bill.

And both have a reputation for being difficult to work with.

Aside from those few facts, Ford Motor Co., led by Executive Chairman Bill Ford, and Microsoft Corp., led by Executive Chairman Bill Gates, had very little in common as they embarked in April 2006 on developing a system called ''Sync.''

That's the new wireless technology that will allow drivers to control their cell phones and digital music devices through the car while driving all with voice commands that help keep hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road.

Sync will be available in the 2008 Ford Focus and other Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles soon.

In fact, the companies that jointly produced this technology are mostly a study in contrasts.

The struggling, 104-year-old Ford, with its historic offices scattered about Dearborn, Mich., is part of the serious, early to work, old-fashioned business set. Executives wear little blue oval pins on their suit lapels.

In leafy green Redmond, Wash., by contrast, the successful, 32-year-old Microsoft is known for a casual work culture that fosters innovation.

Everyday khakis, not exclusive pins, are their team uni

form. When people roll in at 10 a.m., that's OK.

So, to bring these two clashing worlds together and create Sync in less than two years, it took more than just the say-so from ''the two Bills,'' as some call the chairmen of the two companies.

It took a shared, and motivating, vision.

To describe that vision, Ford executives use corporate-sounding words like ''seamless integration.''

But in Microsoft style, Mark Spain, director of the company's automotive business unit, explained the vision.

Imagine, he said, that your digital devices are clouds. There's one, say, that represents your home computer. Another for your work computer. And more still, for your music player, cell phone and whatever ''they'' think of next.

The data and capabilities in those clouds should follow you wherever you go and be accessible whenever needed, without hassle or distraction.

In this vision, your digital life should all be easy and breezy. ''You should just be able to get in your car and connect to your cloud,'' Spain said. ''All of your contacts, songs, everything you expect . . . is just there.''

Of course, this vision of complete connectivity is not so visionary in today's universe, some Ford and Microsoft leaders freely admit.

Society has steadily been evolving toward and craving more integrated technology that elegantly talks and syncs with other components for some time, consumer research shows.

Today it's clear, Spain said, that ''consumers really want to do these things.''

But back in 2006, when the Sync project began, the companies weren't positive that's where this digital highway was headed.

''It was a fairly big gamble,'' said Martin Thall, general manager of Microsoft's automotive division. ''We asked: 'Do people really want to be able to do these things in a car?'''

A few years earlier, Bill Ford had his doubts.

''There's a limit to how much invasion they really want in their car,'' he said in 2003. ''A lot of people don't necessarily want to have their e-mail read to them and a lot of interactive things going on while they're in a vehicle.''

As time passed, though, it became clear that this interaction is what a lot of people, especially younger ones, want.