Sifry’s Alerts

C|NET news reports
that Microsoft is building 802.11b wireless home networking products
within the same hardware division that creates keyboards and mice (hmmm,
some of their best products, btw). This probably denotes a shift in
Microsoft’s rumored policy to only certify 802.11a/b combo cards with
their OS; if they’re going to be selling 802.11b access points, they’re
going to have to certify drivers for those devices as well.

Network Computing reviews the
state of 802.11a gateways. Their winner was a Proxim Harmony,
a fairly expensive unit at $695. Netgear and Linksys had poorly
performing units, costing well under $400 (for the SOHO market). The
Netgear is powered by an Atheros chipset, but I’m unsure what 802.11a
chipsets the other products use. UPDATE: Jim Thompson (Musenki wizard and former CTO of Wayport), notes that all of the reviewed designs are based off of the Atheros reference design.

Business week reports on the ways WiFi are putting broadband power in the hands of the people, and goes on to speculate on how this could reshape the broadband oligopoly. Personally, I think that citizen-controlled broadband access is a wonderful idea – but there are two issues (also read opportunities) here as well:

• Interconnect to the Internet: Which means that if people are going to violate their AUPs, oligopolies will attempt to squash them or at least paint them in a negative light. Note how the conversation in the mainstream media falls into the classic “Robin Hood” mold, talking about stealing from the bandwidth-rich and giving to the rest of us.

• Management of the mesh: Until enough of these devices make their way into people’s hands, there will be reliability problems and poor user experiences for the non-techie. And when deployment does become widespread, interference and spectrum use become an issue, especially in dense urban environments. For broadband to really reach all of the urban areas in the country, we’re going to need much smarter devices and we’re going to need some (loose-handed) management, especially at the network interconnect points. That takes time and energy, which means money.

Community broadband activists: We need to be careful about how the media portays us, lest we become painted with the same “hacker, cracker, pirate, lawbreaker” brush that the MPAA and RIAA love to paint users of file swapping services and internet radio. This starts with terminology and concrete example. Why do we call it wardriving, for example? Or Warchalking? Well, it sounds cool, and we techies like the sounds of the terms. It sounds cool and dangerous. But it plays into the monopolist’s hands.

We can battle this. Get involved in, and promote a low-income or egalitarian use of WiFi, like a project to wire towns in the Dominican Republic or set up wireless access at your local library.

Besides, it’ll feel good helping out, too.

This is just too funny. And while we’re on the topic of Joy of Tech, get this little Stallman pleaser.