[Discuss-gnuradio] WLAN = Windows Wireless Networking?

[Steve Schear]

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