Many of you are not achieving the connectivity you thought possible when you first invested in your Bluetooth-enabled gear. I am both empathetic and sympathetic to your plight.
Of the responses I received, none piqued my interest more than the ones describing a potential walled garden of Bluetooth-based products from Microsoft. (The term "walled garden" refers to multiple products from a single vendor that interoperate with each other, but not with products from other vendors.) Many ZDNet readers were assuming they could mix and match their own Bluetooth-based notebooks with Microsoft's Bluetooth-based wireless mice and keyboards. This seems to be a rather natural assumption for anyone to make. To take advantage of the latest and greatest that technology has to offer (Microsoft's Web page says "our most advanced wireless desktop ever"), you should be able to buy a computer that has Bluetooth built-in, and then add some Bluetooth-based peripherals such as Microsoft's keyboards and mice, and expect them to work together--shouldn't you?
But according to the ZDNet readers that contacted me, such is not the case, or so they believed.
After deciding to go with a solution that has Bluetooth built-in (instead of adding Bluetooth connectivity as an afterthought), and then buying Microsoft's Bluetooth peripherals, you will encounter a warning from Microsoft that you must disable that built-in Bluetooth (that you paid extra to have and thought to be interoperable) and use Microsoft's USB-based Bluetooth transceiver instead.
The language that alarmed ZDNet's readers is found on the packaging of Microsoft's Bluetooth keyboards and mice as well as on Microsoft's Web site: "Important: You must remove any installed Bluetooth transceiver device and remove its software in order to use this product." In other words, if you bought one of Dell's or IBM's new notebooks with built-in Bluetooth and wanted to use a Bluetooth keyboard from Microsoft--and followed Microsoft's current instructions--you'd have to disable the built-in Bluetooth radio and uninstall the software that came preinstalled from the factory.
I'm currently testing Bluetooth-based notebooks from both IBM and Dell and I can tell you that, while disabling their radios seems easy enough, uninstalling the software is a different story. For example, the Bluetooth utilities for the IBM ThinkPad T40 are actually woven into a special wireless management utility that covers the notebook's 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity as well. I'm not sure there's a way to uninstall one without uninstalling the other. And is this something that anybody should really have to be dealing with?
On top of the technical issues, I also have concerns about the cost to buyers. Already, buyers are paying extra for built-in Bluetooth with an expectation that it's going to work with all things Bluetooth. Failing that, according to the Microsoft warning and looking at the way Microsoft's Wireless Optical Desktop] and Wireless Intellimouse Explorer for Bluetooth are packaged, you have no choice but to acquire another Bluetooth transceiver since a USB-based one is packaged with both devices.
Since we know Microsoft isn't packaging free Bluetooth transceivers with its peripherals, we can assume that some part of the price we paid for the mouse or the Optical Desktop covers the cost of the transceiver. So, not only was the extra money we paid to have Bluetooth built-in to our cutting edge notebook wasted, but we ended up paying more just to get a mouse or keyboard working. Worse, if you first buy the Microsoft mouse, and then later go for the Optical Desktop, you'll end up with yet another USB-based transceiver.
Because this all sounds rather ridiculous, I asked Microsoft wireless architect Mike Foley, who also happens to be chairperson of the Bluetooth SIG's Board of Directors, why the products were packaged the way there were.
"The rationale for having the packages as transceiver plus mouse or transceiver, mouse, and keyboard was based on market conditions late last summer," says Foley. "At that time, there were very few people with Bluetooth dongles or PCs with integrated Bluetooth. The decision was made to have a single box containing everything required to enable the wireless desktop. This package could then be used as a starting point, and more Bluetooth-enabled devices could be added in the future. The bundling options continue to be explored as the market evolves. Ideally, every PC would have Bluetooth integrated hardware and software and the mouse and keyboard could be sold without a radio and CD. When there will be critical mass that enables such a SKU is still being determined."
And what about the language found on the packaging and the web site that advises the uninstallation of any pre-existing Bluetooth hardware and software? "The Microsoft keyboards and mice will most definitely connect with third party radios," says Foley.
Describing how those radios must support the Bluetooth's Human Interface Device (HID) profile (the Bluetooth standard profile for supporting interface devices like keyboards and mice), Foley continued: "When our mouse and keyboard first shipped, most if not all other Bluetooth stacks for the PC didn't have HID support. Thus, the mouse and keyboard wouldn't work with them. This has changed over the past year, and the packaging text is being reviewed."
In other words, check your system or your system's vendor on HID support. If you have it, perhaps you can sell your spare Bluetooth USB dongles on eBay. Figuring out whether you have it may be tricky. Looking for HID support on your system is like looking for that proverbial needle in a haystack. When I couldn't find any evidence of it in the Dell notebook that I'm testing, I contacted Dell. As it turns out, the notebook didn't come with HID support, but an update is now available. Reflecting on Bluetooth's gradual penetration an maturation process, Dell spokesperson Anne Camden said, "We didn't launch with HID support, but all Latitudes will ship with the driver starting next week. You can down load the driver from our Web site."
After seeing the letters that ZDNet's readers sent to me, Foley's response was, "People are rightfully confused and upset. This will shakeout over time, but it is currently painful."
Painful? Yes. Not to mention costly, technically challenging , ridiculous, and intolerable.
I contacted Widcomm, the provider of the Bluetooth stack for many of the built-in and dongles. The reason for this contact was because of the Microsoft Bluetooth Device fiasco. Widcomm told me that they had shipped the stack with HID support included. this was about 4 weeks ago. I contacted Compaq, as they have not posted any updates on thier website yet, and I am still waiting for a response. The response from Widcomm was surprising in itself, as they offered to "sell" me the updated drivers. It is rare that a company tries to "sell" drivers. the last company that tried to do that, namely HP, got a right slagging on newsgroups. I hope this issue is sorted out soon.