Hoping to soothe the Bluetooth community’s fears over last month’s announcement from Microsoft Corp. that it would not support the wireless technology in its upcoming Windows XP platform, Widcomm Inc. said it would provide a software upgrade to computer manufacturers allowing them to add Bluetooth capabilities to desktop and notebook computers running the new Microsoft operating system.
Rajiv Kumar, chief technology officer for Widcomm, said it made sense to provide the product because the company received so many requests from personal computer manufacturers looking to implement Bluetooth onto the Windows XP platform, including Compaq, Acer and Dell.
“The computer vendors know that XP is the next big thing for them to leverage, and they need to maintain relationships with their developers,” noted Kumar. “If they cannot come up with Bluetooth, it makes them look bad.”
For those original equipment manufacturers, Widcomm will deliver kits allowing developers to write Bluetooth applications for the XP platform. The kits include Widcomm’s application program interfaces, complete toolsets and full documentation. Widcomm also sells an embedded protocol stack that includes an evaluation kit.
Widcomm currently provides its Bluetooth for Windows software for Windows 98 SE, Me and 2000 computers.
While Microsoft is still a charter member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the committee that sets the standards for Bluetooth specifications, the software giant’s omission of Bluetooth was a sound warning to the industry. While other wireless networking standards have flourished, including 802.11b and HomeRF, Bluetooth has yet to live up to expectations. Supporters have set the time frame back again for Bluetooth adoption until later this year, and Microsoft’s announcement may see 2001 come and go without Bluetooth making a splash.
“Publicly, it was a knock to the Bluetooth industry,” said Gideon Kay, director of mBusiness for Andersen. “But, Microsoft said it would not support Bluetooth only in the first version of XP, leaving open the ability for later support.”
Kay said he expected early adopters to still give Bluetooth a go, but noted other concerns, including interference and interoperability issues, would have a greater impact than Microsoft’s decision.
Microsoft noted lack of applications and production-quality hardware and software as the main reasons for snubbing Bluetooth, adding it would eventually provide support if production-level Bluetooth hardware and software was made available.
Kumar said he did not blame Microsoft for not supporting Bluetooth on its initial XP platform because the Bluetooth industry was behind in providing the technology Microsoft needed.
“They had legitimate reasons,” Kumar said. “They were not ready, and there was no production-ready hardware available to test.”
Kumar also pointed out the Bluetooth SIG’s recent announcement that all Bluetooth products should conform to the recently approved 1.1 specification threw a wrench into Microsoft’s plans.
Galen Schreck, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., noted the Microsoft snub could prove costly for Bluetooth.
“Few computing standards fly without Microsoft’s blessing,” said Galen Schreck, an analyst with Forrester, in a research brief. “Without proper operating system support, emerging standards like USB and IRDA [infrared] languished for years with no sign of life.”
Schreck noted that USB finally took off as a standard when Windows supported it, while the neglected IRDA standard has continued to stagnate without Microsoft’s support.
While writing a program to Microsoft’s Windows program is not a simple process, Kumar said the company’s close working relationship with Microsoft on implementing Bluetooth into other Windows operating systems made the process easier.
“We have to go back to them for support, but, in the case of Bluetooth, they are very willing to work with us,” Kumar said.
For XP users who don’t receive the upgrade kit from the computer manufacturer, Widcomm expects to work with a third-party manufacturer to provide software upgrades via CD-ROM.
While Microsoft is expected to eventually provide Bluetooth support for Windows XP, Widcomm said it will provide its software as soon as the non-Bluetooth XP platform is ready for production later this year.
“They have been pushing us to get into XP,” Kumar said. “We had evaluated XP, but, had not made any decision. But, now we have stepped up to the plate and done it.”
