Microsoft To Make Wireless Networking Hardware

traskjd writes "Microsoft are looking to increase their strength in the hardware market with wireless and conventional networking hardware according to this story on cnet. Microsoft has always been slow at moving into the hardware market... could they be testing the waters for making things like switches and routers in the future? Lets hope not..." There's also a Reuters article. There was a story last year that mentioned Microsoft was working on Win-WiFi - 802.11b hardware that exported some of the processing to the CPU in much the same manner as a winmodem, and thus was cheaper to produce. These stories don't mention anything about that, so probably these are conventional 802.11b devices.

Comments

Re:Welcome to our Monopoly

[krugdm]

Not to be a troll or anything, but how different is this from Apple and AirPort?

M$ just wants to see if they can get a piece of the WI-FI pie

I'd only be concerned if they decide to come up with their own flavor of 802.11 that only works with the latest version of the OS and forces you to upgrade to be able to keep using it.

This should have been expected

[MouseR]

Given Palladium, one should expect MS to start making networking hardware.

by producing hardware that refuses entry from any non-certified applications and hardware, they further secure their world (aka, pockets) within the constraints of their Palladium (money-making) scheme.

Re:A new meaning for BSOD

[cdrudge]

Yes...I get one about 1 a week. Random BSOD that don't seem to follow any particular pattern. I notice it slightly more occasionally when running WinMX then other applications, but not often enough to conclude it's the application. And I'm running your typical system, not 75 fibre channel drives like the other guy is.

2K and 98SE never seemed to have any problems with the same setup.

Re:MS Hardware?

[gosand]

What is up with all the negative articles on MS Hardware? Take a look at your mouse! Have you ever used an MS Joystick? Sure, lots of you have complaints with MS's OS's. Some of you hate the whole "Major Corportation" thing. But, damnit, MS MAKES GOOD HARDWARE! I've used MS Mice, and MS Sidewinders for YEARS and they still work GREAT!

Sorry, keyboards, mice, and joysticks don't control your data. Bottom line is I don't trust Microsoft - for very good reasons. They have continuously proved they are untrustworthy, before/during/after being found guilty of illegal monopolistic practices by the Department of Justice. I don't trust them - not because I am some zealot - but because they have proven over and over again that I have no reason to trust them.

Yes, I use one of their mice, because
a. it is a good product
b. it doesn't have anything to do with security

Microsoft sucks at security, they even admit that their products aren't engineered for security. Sure, that was in reference to their Operating Systems, but do you think they will suddenly see the light when it comes to hardware? Microsoft is crafty, they wouldn't be getting into networking hardware at this stage of the game just for the sake of doing it. There is a reason, and they are trying to weasel their way in to gain control. Period.