Intel announced its Centrino chip, aimed at mobile computing devices by virtue of consuming less power than existing Intel designs. One of Centrino's features is a plug-in 802.11b adapter. Forget the PCI/PCMCIA/USB/whatever external card, this one would link directly to the CPU.However, Intel decided to avoid mentioning that their highly touted wireless capability was based on an open standard. And that you certainly don't have to have a Centrino laptop to connect wirelessly. As The Register points out -- ...at no point during Centrino's coming out party in London last night were 'Wi-Fi' or '802.11' mentioned.That might be dismissed as the enthusiasm of the company at the launch of its latest product. But this unwillingness to mention the 'w' word extends to Intel's hotspot roll-out programme. Intel's vision is to have sites co-branded by Centrino, Intel and the network operator. The name of the actual standard on which this is all based doesn't get a look-in. The concern is that the growing population of notebook users - and it is a growing market segment, one of the few (if not the only) expanding areas in the IT business - will associate wireless networking not with an open, interoperable standard but with a vendor-specific brand. The thought won't be 'I need a Wi-Fi-compatible system to connect to the Internet on the move' but 'I need a Centrino system to connect to the Internet on the move'. That's the power of branding. And that's disgusting, but par for the course in the business world today.Update:
Wouldn't you know, a few hours after I posted this item, the New York Times carried a Reuters story about Centrino which is little more than an Intel press release. Sure enough, the story makes it sound like a completely new and completely Intel invention. Intel introduced a set of chips yesterday that promises to make wireless Internet access a standard feature on laptops and to untie computer users from power outlets and telephone jacks.At news conferences in cities around the globe, Intel presented its new Centrino chips, designed to allow mobile computer users at home and in more public places to go on the Internet via radio waves. Completely clueless.
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