“…Microsoft (MSFT) plans to integrate biometrics technology
into future versions of Windows. While the Microsoft imprimatur
will give biometrics a much-needed boost for mainstream acceptance,
many in the industry fear that Microsoft’s decision to once again
develop proprietary standards will fragment the industry and slow
adoption.”
“While 51 other vendors coalesced around a specification called
BioAPI, Microsoft announced May 2 that it is teaming with I/O
Software, a member of the BioAPI Consortium, to integrate I/O’s
Biometric Application Programming Interface, or BAPI, into Windows.
Windows could include the technology within two years.”
“It freezes the industry until Microsoft actually ships
something,” says John Wilson, an Intel (INTC) senior architect and
technical editor at the BioAPI Consortium Steering Committee.
“If buyers wait, then the biometric device makers are at serious
risk. They need a revenue stream.” Typically enough, Wilson
says, Microsoft “wants people to be locked into the Windows
environment.”