MS Broadband Cards Enhanced Under Vista

Despite Microsoft abandoning sales of its wireless networking gear, it looks like they’ve been enhanced a bit under Windows Vista. First, no more need to install some extrememly-unnecessary junkware in order to get the drivers… Vista just auto-installs them. That was expected however.

microsoft-mn-720

What was unexpected, was my MN-720 suddenly (and finally) started talking to my AirPort base station. Apple required that cards support WDS, even if it wasn’t in-use on the base station. Now, 95% of cards support this, but because Microsoft didn’t… the cards they sold didn’t.

Well, the good news is, that’s over, and the Vista drivers enable MS Broadband wireless cards to finally chatter friendly with Cupertino-designed wireless gear. Hey, if Vista upgrades falling as low as $40 wasn’t a good-enough reason, this just might be the one you’ve been looking for…

Note: This was tested on a system running a pre-release copy of Vista SP1. It’s possible (but really unlikely) that this was actually an SP1 improvement, so test the waters with an existing Vista PC to make sure your card works well. And, post in the comments so everyone else can be re-assured.

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