ZDNet News: Why you should be using FireWire

“Linux gets it, Intel doesn’t”

“To my complete lack of surprise, Linux 2.4.x includes basic
support for FireWire and the addition of SBP-2 drivers to the
kernel source is evidently not far off. Clearly, someone is paying
attention over there. Windows also apparently has decent SBP-2
support today, though I confess I am unable to try this out since I
don’t have a FireWire-capable Windows box.“

“This state of affairs brings us to Intel. When I enquired
earlier this week about whether Intel had any plans to integrate
1394 into its motherboards’ chipsets, I got an unequivocal
reply:”Intel has no plans to put 1394 on our motherboards.” Can’t
get clearer than that.”

“Unfortunately, Intel’s party line is based on a fallacy, that
1394 is just an A/V technology. This is patently false. But Intel
also has a vested interest in seeing 1394 be marginalized into a
niche product and having USB 2.0 succeed. This is a flawed strategy
for many reasons: USB uses far too much PC processing power and
inherently offers no peer-to-peer mode. USB On-the-Go is a clear
example of how revenue-centric rather than
Do-The-Right-Thing-centric Intel was to pursue an exclusively
host-based strategy. And if the market lets Intel get away with it,
it will try to do the same with USB 2.0 as well.”

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