RE: [Discuss-gnuradio] WLAN = Windows Wireless Networking?

[Ettus, Matt]

This is bad, but I think it's not SDR.  Winmodems come in 2 varieties, one
where all processing is done on the PC, and one where only the UART part is
on the PC.  I see this as being the 802.11 equivalent to the second.

Matt

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Schear [mailto:address@hidden
> Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 3:28 PM
> To: address@hidden
> Subject: [Discuss-gnuradio] WLAN = Windows Wireless Networking?
> 
> 
> WLAN = Windows Wireless Networking?
> By: Dan Jones | April  16,  2002
> <http://www.unstrung.com/server/display.php3?id=805&cat_id=2>
> 
> Microsoft Corp. is talking up a "soft WiFi" project at its WinHEC 
> conference in Seattle that aims to shunt most of the legwork 
> currently done 
> by wireless LAN (WLAN) cards over to the main processor of a 
> laptop or PC, 
> using networking software developed by the company.
> 
> In theory, this will make the whole experience of wireless 
> LAN networking 
> cheaper and easier for the user, because it will mean fewer 
> components in a 
> WLAN card. However, it could also have certain fringe 
> benefits for Redmond 
> -- such as shackling the emerging wireless LAN market 
> exclusively to the 
> Windows operating system [insert insanely evil cackle here].
> 
> Microsoft is proposing the creation of a software "radio" 
> that will handle 
> many of the tasks currently undertaken by a hardware radio 
> chip, which is 
> usually the most expensive component in a WLAN card. It is 
> not yet exactly 
> clear how all this will work technically, and Microsoft isn't saying. 
> However, the company is likely to initially support 802.11b with this 
> project, since the software is aimed at the home networking and small 
> business market. Implementing the processing in software could make 
> upgrades to the 802.11 standard easier, possibly removing the 
> need for 
> different card for each specification.
> 
> "This is a smart move by Microsoft, and they managed to do 
> the same thing 
> with printers," reckons Johan Montelius, senior analyst at 
> the Zelos Group 
> LLC. "The drawback is, of course, that WLAN cards will be 
> sold that only 
> work with a Windows OS."
> 
> In the long run, this technology could shackle 802.11 to 
> Windows, shutting 
> out the possibility of using the technology with other 
> operating systems. 
> "Will access points be 'windows only'?" asks Montelius. "If 
> all cards adopt 
> the Microsoft strategy, it will be harder for the Linux 
> community to get 
> the cards running, the same problem that they have today for 
> almost any 
> hardware."
> 
> This could be bad news for companies such as open-source 
> wireless access 
> point developer Sputnik Inc. Sputnik has developed software that can 
> convert an Intel-based laptop or PC with a wireless card 
> based on the Prism 
> 2 chipset into the central hub of a WLAN network (see Sputnik 
> to Put WLAN 
> Networking Into Orbit?). As it stands, it is not clear that 
> Microsoft's 
> planned WiFi software will play nice with Sputnik's software, 
> because it is 
> by no means certain that the Microsoft software will support 
> legacy WLAN 
> architectures such as the Prism 2 chipset design.
> 
> However, Arthur F. Tyde III, CTO at Sputnik, takes a calm and 
> measured 
> approach to the whole concept. "Ugh! Winmodems suck, smells 
> like Winmodems 
> to me" he says. "I expect to see the next Outlook virus 
> poking holes in a 
> company's wireless network by corrupting the WiFi software. 
> It's a scary 
> embrace and extend play. Run screaming!"
> 
> Sputnik is not the only company that could be affected by the 
> Microsoft 
> move. Industry darlings Boingo Wireless Inc. have also based 
> their wireless 
> network detection software around the Prism 2 specification, 
> so that may 
> have to be reworked as well. Boingo has just inked a deal 
> with GoAmerica 
> Inc. to offer enterprise wireless data over its network of 
> public WLAN 
> hotspots.
> 
> These conflicts could be just the tip of the iceberg: 
> Depending on how the 
> software "radio" is implemented, Microsoft's move could 
> affect a whole lot 
> of companies in the industry.
> 
> It's hard to say how easy it would be to rejig existing 
> software to work 
> with the Microsoft WiFi software. "One question is how much 
> [of the WLAN 
> radio processing] is handled in the OS and how much is placed 
> in drivers 
> provided by the card producer," says Zelos's Montelius. The 
> more processing 
> handled by the OS, the more difficult it will be to support 
> legacy systems 
> or wireless applications that are not "Windows approved."
> 
> Tragically, Microsoft could not find anyone to answer
> 
> 
> 
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