Re: Microsoft and MACs

[Dan Strychalski <dski@ms17.hinet.net>]

Geoffrey "Wandered Inn" <esoteric@denali.atlnet.com> wrote --

> I have to apologize, as I've not followed this thread completely, but
> based on previous posting in reference to registering the MAC, it
> appears to me that this value certainly could not be unique, based on
> the number of NICs in the field.  This being the case, how could it be
> used to track someone?  I am totally ignorant of this MAC identifier.
> Could someone please enlighten me?

Three bytes for the manufacturer ID, three for the device ID. It's not
likely there'll be 16,777,200-odd manufacturers in the field at the
same time, and once a manufacturer has produced 16,777,200-odd cards,
it should be in a position to get another block from the IEEE.

On a related note, it suddenly hit me that while people worry about
Microsoft getting information on competitors' sales from, for example,
the W95 registration "wizard," it could be of even greater value to
Microsoft to know who uses nothing but Microsoft products....

Dan Strychalski