Microsoft: Windows XP to support Bluetooth

Redmond to try to simplify development and use of Bluetooth

From...

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service

SAN FRANCISCO, California (IDG) -- Microsoft will integrate support for Bluetooth wireless technology into Windows XP in the second half of next year, a company executive has told developers at this week's Bluetooth Developers Conference.

In a presentation to a room crowded with developers, Microsoft's Bluetooth program manager Andy Glass said the software maker hopes to simplify both the development of Bluetooth devices and the user's experience in using them. To do this, Microsoft expects to use just a subset of the many Bluetooth "profiles" now being used and developed for various applications of the technology.

Bluetooth is a low-speed, low-power, short-distance technology for linking handheld devices, peripherals and PCs. Introduced about three years ago, it's just beginning to be rolled out in products in high volume. Microsoft's implementation in a desktop operating system has been widely anticipated by vendors hoping to find wider acceptance of Bluetooth in the market.

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The Bluetooth software stack in XP is expected to differ from some Bluetooth stacks now in use because it's focused on using IP to communicate among devices. Using the same protocol deployed for other network technologies -- rather than Bluetooth-specific approaches -- will ultimately simplify development and users' experience with Bluetooth, Glass says.

Causing an inconvenience?

Yet by bypassing many existing profiles and being strict about its support of Bluetooth chip sets, Microsoft may cause some inconvenience for users in the medium term.

"We decided early on we didn't want to be all things to all people," Glass says.

Microsoft aims to have most uses of Bluetooth devices with PCs, such as links between PCs and peripherals, handled by the emerging personal area network (PAN) profile. Using IP, PAN lets a set of devices form an ad-hoc network in a small area such as a desk or cubicle. XP will also support Bluetooth's device discovery profile to help PCs find new devices joining those PANs.

Also supported in XP will be the human interface device profile, for connecting human interface devices such as keyboards and mice wirelessly.

The two protocols most widely in use today -- one for cable replacement and one for dial-up networking over a wirelessly connected device such as a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone -- will also be supported, but as legacy protocols, Glass says.

In Windows XP, the PAN and discovery profiles will have support only for IP Version 6, the emerging next generation of IP, and not the current IP Version 4. Version 6 offers nearly unlimited IP addresses, as well as built-in support for mobile IP networking and secure ad-hoc networks, according to Glass. The explosion of small networked devices will create demand for many new IP addresses, he says.

Getting to work

Two Bluetooth product developers from TDK Systems Europe who attended the session say Microsoft's approach makes sense in the long term but might force users of current Bluetooth devices to find a workaround if they want their devices to work with an PC running XP. For example, they may not be able to synchronize their old Bluetooth-enabled phone or personal digital assistant with an XP PC.

Most likely, "There has to be an extra development cycle and the consumer has to get a patch somehow," said Nick Letheren, development manager at TDK. That patch might take the form of a second Bluetooth software stack loaded on top of the one that comes with XP, possibly leading to automatic warnings and other complications for the user, he said.

The Bluetooth implementation in XP is expected to go into a wide beta test in the first quarter of next year. Glass invited developers to give demonstrations of Bluetooth devices using the XP stack at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle in April.

Glass did not disclose how Microsoft will deliver the Bluetooth support in XP to customers.