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

Wow

[Phil the Canuck]

Microsoft...entering...wireless...market...
too...many...security...jokes...
head...exploding...

I don't know about you guys..

[ChronoZ]

but usually Microsoft hardware isn't bad at all. I like their USB mice quite a bit, and their natural ergonomic keyboard is pretty cool. So as far as their hardware record, they've had a good reputation (IMHO).

I'd predict that their wireless networking hardware may turn up to be a good quality product.

Re:I don't know about you guys..

[nakaduct]

There was an article in Wired a couple of years ago about this: they use a "manufacturing contractor" (not sure if that's the right term). MS does the design, they take the plans to Flextronics in Mexico, who recommends small changes (use a different-size screw here, etc.), quotes a per-unit manufacturing price, and then builds and packages the gear.

Re:I don't know about you guys..

[blixel]

but usually Microsoft hardware isn't bad at all. I like their USB mice quite a bit, and their natural ergonomic keyboard is pretty cool. So as far as their hardware record, they've had a good reputation (IMHO).

1. Wireless networking equipment uses an encryption scheme known as WEP. If Microsoft jumps into this line of hardware, I gurantee you they will make "MS-WEP" which is virtually incompatible with standard WEP. Such was the case with CHAP and MS-CHAP. They do this because if their version of the encryption scheme becomes widely used, it will become the defacto standard and that just becomes one more element of computing that you have to pay Microsoft tax on. Granted WEP has it's problems, but come on... are you really going to trust Microsoft to get the security right?

2. I highly doubt Microsoft makes their own Mice/Keyboard hardware. So if you want to give out props to someone, give it to the real manufacturer of their products, not to Microsoft. Microsoft just sticks their name on it for marketing reasons because their name is more likely to sell then if it said "Chuwing Yokung Inc."

Re:I don't know about you guys..

[Otterley]

Actually, MS-CHAP is a rather interesting protocol, and its origin is best explained by expressing the limitations of CHAP in general.

It's not that Microsoft had any burning desire to supplant CHAP with a fundamentally incompatible protocol for evil, monopoly-furthering reasons.

Instead, they were attempting to deal with a limitation in that CHAP is unusuable if your passwords are stored encrypted on your system (i.e. CHAP can't be used to authenticate yourself when your credentials are in an /etc/passwd file).

Microsoft stores its passwords in much the same way (encrypted on the server) and so they needed to develop a protocol that would send the passwords encrypted across the wire yet be usable to authenticate oneself against a SAM database -- hence the development of MS-CHAP.

A new meaning for BSOD

[The Slashdolt]

Blue Sky Of Death. Those aren't clouds, they're core dumps and stack traces. I can see Fatal Exception right there next to the cloud that looks like Bill Gates giving you the middle finger.

Re:A new meaning for BSOD

[laserjet]

Yes, try plugging in 75 hard drives (5 JBODs) into a fibre channel HBA (emulex) and watch windows blue screen within about 10 seconds.

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.

MS Hardware?

[FortKnox]

could they be testing the waters for making things like switches and routers in the future? Lets hope not.

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!

Re:MS Hardware?

[inkfox]

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 said many a time that I look forward to the day when Microsoft is fondly remembered as "that rather nice mouse manufacturer."

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.

I heard this on NPR

[teamhasnoi]

When you buy a MS Wireless Router, it comes packed in powdered chalk.

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.

Re:EULA

[Jondor]

The moment you install a windows machine with the network the could do that already anyhow..

On the other side, I can imagine the little LCD screen saying "Packet recieved, please reboot to continue."

And once in a while a LCD-Gray screen of death..

(hmm.. or where the routers the ones with the blinking leds.. oh well.. they can do "please reboot in morse")

I just can't believe it!

[Dutchmaan]

I just can't believe Microsoft will be making hardware for people who warchalk..

They must be thieves!

For those who may be humor impaired, this post was tongue in cheek

More NEW MS Innovations

[BurritoWarrior]

New bookmarks:
http://nouters.windowsupdate.com
http ://security.microsoft.com/routers

New Licensing:
Your router subscription has expired. Would you like to pay another $79 dollars for the next 12 months?

New Animation:
Paperclip: Hi! I see your trying to access the internet. Can I help you?

New Monitoring:
We have deteted a P2P application running on your network. Your router has been disabled. Please call 1-800-RIAA-Pal to correct this.

New Dialog boxes:
You are using an inferior browser. Are you SURE you want to do this? [Yes] [No]

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.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Like who?

[Andy Dodd]

Usually when some manufacturer OEMs something, you can find the noname OEM version elsewhere if you look.

Have *YOU* ever seen a mouse that looks like the Intellimouse Explorer? If MS just OEM-brands other people's hardware, then why were Microsoft mice the only all-surface-optical (As opposed to the old Sun grid-optical) mice for quite some time until Agilent's optical mouse reference chipset/lens design came out?

If MS is rebranding their hardware, show me proof. Show me WHO they're rebranding other than saying, "oh, I think they're rebranding someone". It's usually pretty easy/obvious due to the hardware being physically identical to a few others on the market. (All those cheapie opticals are all the same, but MS and Logitch mice are all unique)

Good examples of OEMing that's easy to find:
Palm III/IBM Workpad. (I think some Workpads were Palm V clones too) - Same shape, the Workpads happened to be black instead of grey.

Compaq printers - These are obviously rebranded Lexmarks.

AT&T printers - This was MANY years ago, but their dot-matrix printers were either rebranded OKI or Epson printers, can't remember.

I normally dislike MS, but their input devices division is the only portion where all the crap they spew about innovating is true. They DID come up with the wheel idea. (Which I passed off as a gimmick until I played with one at work - Now I can't survive w/o the wheel.)

Very dangerous.

[IGnatius T Foobar]

This isn't a mouse or a "natural keyboard" we're talking about here. This is stuff which requires actual drivers. Complicated drivers.

Keep something in mind: when Microsoft released its previous generation of hardware (mice, keyboards, joysticks, etc.) they weren't thinking about Linux at the time. They felt confident that they owned the PC space. Nowadays, even though they still have the monopoly more or less intact, they do know that Linux is looking to break into that space, and has a better than fair chance of doing so.

Microsoft needs to de-commoditize the PC platform.

The best way to de-commoditize the PC platform is to turn it into the Windows PC Platform. Palladium is a big part of this, to be sure. Whatcha wanna bet that these new Win-Fi(tm) devices are going to tie into the Palladium infrastructure for security? And of course their chipsets will be full of Innovative Microsoft Patented Technology. Try to write a Linux driver... get smacked by the DMCA.

Over the last year or two, some of the WinModem chipset makers have started to warm up to Linux -- by releasing specs or by writing actual drivers. You can be sure that if Microsoft is the chipset maker, the binary-only, Windows-only drivers will come directly out of Redmond.