1 edit | My view... My view....
There are only a few mainstream chipsets for 802.11, and even fewer come with Mac drivers. There's Ralink, TI, Broadcom, Atheros, Intersil, and Atmel. This pretty much covers perhaps 98% of all wireless cards for computers. Out of these, Mac OS X includes support for Atheros and Broadcom chipsets, since that is what Apple uses for wireless built into its computers.
While this is a serious issue, consider that most Macs sold since 2003 have had wireless built-in, and Macs since 2000 have had a slot for an Apple-made wireless card. This includes both the desktop line and the notebook line. How likely is it that an average Mac user would purchase a 3rd party (non-Apple) wireless card, plug it into their computer, and install the drivers for it? Not very likely, although there are a few geeks out there that would go for something cheaper. Most people would go for something that is supported by Apple.
Also note that the default for Mac OS X is to ask the user for permission before joining any open wireless AP. |
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