Edited by author 05-07-2003 06:01 AM
Orangeware thinks Mac notebook users aren't uniformly pleased with the "Airport" technology, or even Airport Extreme; it sees a market for others to sell add-in cards.

Is the Airport Extreme really the greatest?



For all NewsWireless.Net debates please visit this page.

" There's also the question of just how "market-leading" Apple's product actually is. "Well, I've got a Mac powerbook with the existing wireless interface," remarked one well-equipped Apple fan, "and the internal wireless card is fine -- it's just that the antenna is deaf as a plank."

I'd have to disagree with this comment. I've used four different Apple laptops and the antennas all worked fine. The 15" PowerBook's antenna reception wasn't as good as the 12" PowerBook...but it didn't get in the way of me connecting to networks all around the town. Too bad you didn't ask more than one user for some feedback.

I think that anyone betting on the success of 802.11a is doomed; 802.11g has wiped it out in the marketplace. As for the dual a/g gateways mentioned in the article, I have to point out that 'g' cards will of course talk with them, so no reason to buy 'a' there.

So while the article was wrong on almost every point, there is a reasonable market for Orangeware's drivers for owners of pre-AirPort Powerbooks who want to add a wireless PCMCIA card, and for owners of non-Extreme AirPort PowerBook owners who want to upgrade to 802.11g. Apple's built in antennas are actually quite good, aside from the early 15" PowerBook G4. So while I can imagine a few people buying a PCMCIA wireless card for the range, I would think that 5x higher speed would be a stronger selling point than 2x greater signal strength.

If orangewire places it's future in some type of airport replacement card, it's employees are advised to work on their resumes

This is one of the primary problems with much of the technology sector. There are precious few real innovations - apple has historically either provided many of these or brought them to bear in novel ways. The is also a role for lesser entities, such as Dell or Microsoft, that essentially do what others do only cheaper and to wider markets.

There is no role for this product. It does nothing anyone will pay for.

I have to agree that the article sounds like the '802.11g' (read: 'b' compatible) standard is some kind of stop-gap measure until 'a' becomes ubiquitous. That ain't gonna happen; it's actually the other way around!

That said, the article is wrong- since there will not be a widespread adoption of '802.11a'- there is no 'chink' in Apple's armour.

If users want to play with cheaper PCCards ('pre-airport' powerbooks most likely shouldn't be running Mac OS X anyways) so be it; it's nice to have the option, but at $99 I'd rather take the Apple option and support. Who knows how long the Orangeware S/W will be around and supported once it is discovered that there is no large untapped pool of disgruntled Mac users.

Readers are correct, and the article is incorrect.
802.11g will be ratified as the standard, not "a". No corporation will adopt an "a" network, whether they have a "b" network already or not, when "g" will be the standard.
As for Orangeware's drivers, they will be very well accepted by non-Airport and Airport "b" users if/when "g" devices are made to fit these Macs (PC cards, USB adapters, etc). Of course an Airport "g" user will not care, but even here internally we are trying to get PB G3 Bronzes onto our "b" networks with Lucent cards, and there is only one opensource driver available, which doesn't always work well.