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Microsoft takes the plunge: announces Wi-Fi gateways: Microsoft today announced its several wireless products, along with some related wired gateway hardware. The offerings, as expected, aren't very exciting, mimicking the commodity consumer gear on the market already. Where Microsoft might be able to make a difference is in their massive technical support operation. One of the consistent complaints about consumer Wi-Fi products is the inability to get solid tech support time after time. Whatever you think about Microsoft, they wrote the book on accountability and follow-up for technical support, and we'll see if they can execute on that with Wi-Fi gear as well.
Frank Catalano deconstructs Wi-Fi [may required Yahoo login; permanent URL coming next week]: Segment by segment, veteran tech reporter Frank Catalano deconstructs Wi-Fi's current state and potential. This article is a model of conciseness, without losing any of the most important details. One dispute: none of the conferences that I know about on Wi-Fi are pushing public hot spots as a profitable idea, but are rather examining whether they could be profitable by themselves or as part of larger plans. The other point: none of the conferences are making anybody rich (yet), as they're all still ramping up.