Bluetooth stack: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:10, 25 April 2007

Revision as of 19:53, 2 May 2007

Line 12:

'''WIDCOMM''' is the first Bluetooth stack for the [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] operating system. The stack was initially developed by a company named Widcomm Inc., which was acquired by [[Broadcom Corporation]] in April 2004.<ref name="widcomm-acquire">{{cite press release |date=2004-04-19 |title=Broadcom to Acquire WIDCOMM, the Industry's Leading Provider of Critical Software for Bluetooth® Wireless Devices |publisher=[[Broadcom]] |url=http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=515961 |accessdate=2007-03-02 }}</ref> Broadcom continues to [[license]] the stack for inclusion with many Bluetooth-powered [[end-user]] devices.

====WindowsMicrosoft XPWindows stack====

[[Windows XP]] includes a built-in Bluetooth stack starting with the [[Windows XP#Service Pack 2|Service Pack 2]] update, released on [[2004-08-06]]. Despite its inclusion with Windows, many devices still come with bundled third-party stacks which cannot be used simultaneously. Microsoft has not released an official Bluetooth stack for older Windows versions, such as [[Windows 2000]] or [[Windows Me]].

Prior to this, Microsoft released a [[QFE]] of its Bluetooth stack for [[Windows XP#Service Pack 1|Service Pack 1]]. Microsoft only released this directly to third-party companies and did not directly release it to the public. The third-party companies were allowed to then release the QFE as part of their Bluetooth device's software installation.

[[Windows Vista]] also includes a built-in Bluetooth stack which is an expansion over the [[Windows XP]] Bluetooth stack. In addition to supporting more [[Bluetooth profile]]s than Windows XP Service Pack 2, it also supports third-party driver development which enables third-party to add support for additional Bluetooth Profiles. This was lacking in the Windows XP Service Pack 2 built-in Bluetooth stack, which only allowed application development on top of the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, which some observers felt slowed the adoption of the Microsoft Windows Bluetooth stack.

Despite its inclusion with Windows, many devices still come with bundled third-party stacks which cannot be used simultaneously. Microsoft has not released an official Bluetooth stack for older Windows versions, such as [[Windows 2000]] or [[Windows Me]].

===Linux===