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That Wi-Fi Thread....

Posted by: Heather Green on November 08

“WiFi isn’t short for “Wireless Fidelity” writes Corey Doctorow. But when you read the story behind this headline, shouldn’t it actually read “How WiFi came to stand for Wireless Fidelity.”

In a story about courage and cowardice, Phil Belanger, a founding member of the industry group that came up with the name Wi-Fi, explains that out of the concern that people just wouldn’t get it, the tagline—“The Standard for Wireless Fidelity—was tacked on.

Er….seems to me that as much as Belanger might not like it, it is part of the name….getting that behind the scenes skullduggery out on blogs doesn’t change the reality.

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Reader Comments

ellison

November 8, 2005 10:54 PM

I had this same discussion with my wife as I quoted don cheadle from Boogey Nights when he said this system has HIFI. Do you know that is High Fidelity.

Ellison

www.gasradio.com

Duane

November 9, 2005 01:18 PM

I believe the point of Belanger's story was that they came up with WiFi first, and as it was, it did not stand for anything. After the fact they said "Ok, lets say it stands for Wireless Fidelity."

So maybe you're correct that it *does* stand for Wireless Fidelity, based on Belanger's story..but that it was not supposed to.

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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