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: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."

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.