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Microsoft Backs Out Of Wi-Fi Equipment Market
Glenn Fleishman writes "Say it ain't so! Microsoft makes good consumer Wi-Fi equipment but is exiting the market, News.com reports. They'll sell out their inventory, but won't make new models or produce new product. I can't recall a case in which Microsoft had viable products and decent sales and exited instead of spending more money to compete more effectively. Or even when they had non-viable products (Pocket PC's original OS) and spent years and billions before they had something that worked. Perhaps competition from Cisco (Linksys subsidiary), NetGear, and even Apple (which has a disproportionate marketshare) made MSFT blink."
Clearly Microsoft is reeling under the impact of Linux, and is regrouping for a last stand.
perhaps it's a move toward their plans to make harware free*
Most likely they have determined that 802.11 technology can never meet the bandwith required to keep the patches up to longhorn.
I'm pretty sure that they left the Bob market some time ago.
. Ergo sum cogito - Yoda
Call me a tinfoil-hat user if you like. But how do I know they wouldn't be logging info I don't have access to and having it sent to their servers?
Just wondering, who is the official network equipment maker of the tinfoil hat wearers?
They're called microsoft, not microhard. Who would want their hardware? /typing on a microsoft natural keyboard.
How ya like dat?
It looks like you're trying to trying to configure your wireless router!
Would you like to:
After careful evaluation, the Microsoft hardware group has decided to scale back its broadband hardware and networking business," a representative said. "Instead, the plan is to apply the knowledge we have gained in that category to future products and services."
Translation: After offering a product based on actual standards, which offer us no way to develop a strangle hold on consumers, we've decided to drop this product in order to devote more time coming up with a proprietary solution...
I am now, and forever, scared by a mental image of Bill Gates in a giant red boufont wig and spandex pants.
_Eighteen_months_ from now a lawsuit will be filed by _a_networking_manufacturer_ claiming that Microsoft violated a private, previously undisclosed agreement to exit the _Wi-Fi_hardware_ market if this company would _(pick_from_list_below_)_
- end support for MS competitors
- allow MS exclusive license this company's new technology
- provide legal support in a Microsoft trial or contract dispute
In the light of Microsoft's business tactics since the agreement, this company now regrets the contract and believes that Microsoft _violated_the_spirit_of_the_agreement_.So thats it! Microsoft apparently is in the wrong business - they're really a great hardware company making lousy software!
You decide!
What is the difference between a small revolutionary change and a large evolutionary change?
It's a lot easier than trying to reinvent the wheel.