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Microsoft to ship wireless hardware - next year?

Is it easy to set up a wireless network? No, says Microsoft; not unless you are doing a very simple installation. To make life easier for home broadband users, it will be launching a range of standard WiFi products, which might ship as early as Xmas, but probably not till early next year.

The new equipment isn't exactly the first Microsoft-branded hardware on the market - it already sells keyboards, mice, joysticks and the like - but it is a big breakthrough into the home IT supply business for the software company; and it's justified as "The New Standard for Ease" - it makes setup simpler, they say.

Many home users will perhaps wonder what the problem is. Most people seem to be able to buy a wireless hub, plug it into their home broadband machine, and switch on, without any difficulty. Microsoft reckons that the problems are for the people who do this, and don't get it right first time - and there are enough of them to make it worth the launch.

The Broadband Networking product line was developed "to give customers the easiest and quickest way to set up a WiFi wireless network to share their broadband Internet connections, files and printers among all the computers in their home or small office," says the official announcement, timed to coincide with a demonstration of the product at the Demomobile show

But though Microsoft has published a How To Buy page on its web site, don't rush to click; nobody is expecting them to actually ship this year. Inside sources said it was, just, possible that they might be released before Xmas, but there's no sign of the frantic preparation of pre-Xmas advertising campaigns that would need to be well underway if that were the case.

Chris Shipley, who runs Demomobile, praised the range: "With the Broadband Networking line of products, the company proves that 'easy networking' is not an oxymoron," she said. "These products will significantly improve the set-up experience for anyone who wants to install a wireless network." But she didn't say how ...

Events may overtake the range. BT Retail is spending a fortune advertising ADSL broadband now, and in the past, BT Openworld has been strangely coy about its ability to connect more than one machine to broadband. However, BTOW does already sell a neat Linksys-based package of WAP11 access points, and computer wireless cards, at pretty good rates; all it needs to do is actually advertise this, and Microsoft will have to then respond powerfully with a cogent argument as to why you wouldn't buy everything from your broadband supplier.

"Consumers today want to share their broadband Internet connection," said Microsoft's marketing blurb - a fact, and one which BTOW was very reluctant to permit, and even more reluctant to support.

"The process of setting up a wireless network has simply been too complex for the people looking to share their broadband Internet connection," said Bruce Lynn, Network Solutions Group Manger at Microsoft Ltd. "Our primary goal in creating these products was to help enable the scenarios that people see as important to their lives. This means giving users the freedom they need to access their information at any time and on any device."

We'll hope to have more information from Lynn shortly.

What we can tell you is that behind the scenes, there will be frantic negotiations proceeding, because the main feature of Microsoft's product looks to be a setup Wizard, which makes installation "a snap, by detecting the computer's Internet service provider (ISP) and modem settings and automatically configuring the Microsoft Broadband Networking Wireless Base Station and PC."

That can't be done without first compiling quite a complex database of information of who provides broadband, and what their settings actually are - and experience of broadband suppliers in the UK suggests that what they say you should do, and what their real-world settings actually are, may not be congruent.

Microsoft is also talking reassuringly about security; but in our experience, home users never turn wireless LAN security on, whether it's easy or not.

Pricing has been announced in the US, with the following products:

* Wireless Base Station (MN-500), $149.95

* Wireless USB Adapter (MN-510), $79.95

* Wireless Notebook Adapter (MN-520), $79.95

* Wireless Desktop Kit (MN-610; Base Station plus USB adapter), $219.95

* Wireless Laptop Kit (MN-620; Base Station plus Notebook adapter), $219.95

* 10/100 Ethernet Wired Base Station (MN-100), $79.95

* 10/100 Ethernet USB Adapter (MN-110), $29.95

* 10/100 Ethernet Notebook Adapter (MN-120), $39.95

* 10/100 Ethernet PCI Adapter (MN-130), $24.95

* 10/100 Ethernet 5-Port Switch (MN-150), $39.95

Interestingly, that list also reveals that for users who are interested in creating wired Ethernet or hybrid networks, Microsoft also is offering five Ethernet products to complement its wireless offering.

The annual DEMOmobile conference focuses on emerging technologies and new products, and the announcement of a product at any Demo conference is usually a good indicator that it won't ship for some months. Our guess is that product won't appear till after February - but Microsoft wasn't saying anything about release dates, other than "it will be a global roll-out." That, too, makes it a lot harder to anticipate an early launch.