Wireless with Windows XP Still in the Dark Ages
- 2005.09.16
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Why are Windows PCs so difficult to get on a wireless network?
This past week I tried to set up my friends' apartment building so they could each have access to their wireless network. They need the Internet for school - for access to course websites, adding or dropping classes, and figuring out exam schedules.
All of them also had laptops, with the exception of two machines - one which had built-in wireless networking and had already been set up for the router.
The other one, my friend's machine, was a four-year-old Windows PC running Windows Me. For those who don't remember, Windows Me was an "updated" version of Windows 98 that Microsoft introduced to address Y2K issues because of the delays in finishing Windows XP.
WiFi networking wasn't nearly as popular in 2001 as it is today, and Windows ME wasn't built for it. Thankfully, the wireless card's manufacturer provides a driver and control software for the card - except that software made the computer freeze, so my friend was pretty much forced to upgrade to Windows XP just to use the wireless card.
It's interesting to note
that Macs have had AirPort wireless support since 1999 (starting
with the first iBook and Mac OS
8.6). All recent Macs - including all the G4 towers, G4 PowerBooks,
and every iBook - have the ability to accept an AirPort card,
unlike most desktop PCs, which still require third-party cards in
order to connect to a wireless network.
So we upgraded my friend's PC to Windows XP - but the wireless card was still giving us trouble. Windows XP has it's own built-in wireless networking software, but the card wanted to use its own driver. Installing the driver installs the control software, and that conflicts with Microsoft's wireless networking software.
It took a while to figure out that it was possible to disable the manufacturer's software. Until then conflicting messages of whether a wireless network was found or not kept popping up on the screen.
Apple has a very nice system in OS X 10.4. The AirPort card is automatically recognized, but on top of that the wireless networking software automatically finds the strongest signal and asks you whether you'd like to connect to that network. It's not intrusive at all - just the opposite.
Windows XP is a bit more complicated. A window pops up telling you that one or more networks have been found, but you have to manually sort through the list and choose the one you want to connect to. For someone who just wants to get their wireless Internet working when they start up their computer in a new location, that's a bit of an annoyance.
Why can't Microsoft have the networks appear in a menu like Apple does? Right clicking the network icon should bring up a menu with a list of networks, but it doesn't.
Microsoft Windows XP is four years old, and it hasn't matured very much. Microsoft removed "copyright 2001" from the startup screen on newer versions, released a new interface theme called Royale, and keeps making Windows XP more secure, but there's really nothing different in the operating system itself.
I've complained about this in the past - Windows XP is a four-year-old operating system that may be replaced "Real Soon Now" by Windows Vista, but Apple's got an operating system that's less than a year old. Apple releases a new version of OS X every 15-18 months, not every 4-5 years.
It takes Microsoft years and years to update it's operating
system, and during that time Apple's taken several opportunities to
improve OS X. Microsoft should take a hint. Maybe they will
with Windows Vista. 
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