Although the Universal Serial Bus (USB) group attracted 330 members to itsconference in Florida, and although Intel Corp announced every chip it makes now will be USB capable, even USB proponents admit the standard is still years down the road. The USB specification was designed by Intel, IBM Corp,DEC Corp, Compaq Computer Corp, Microsoft, NEC Corp and Northern Telecom.It’s supposed to allow peripherals to be detected and configured online without having to open the box and insert cards. Inste ad of the usual 15 PCperipheral limit, USB will allow 127 peripherals to be attached – although we’re not sure anyone has a desk that big. USB employs a hub concept inwhich a printer can be plugged into the monitor or the keyboard slot and still function as a printer. And with members such as Dell Computer Corp, Gateway 2000 Corp and Acer Corp, its future as a de facto standard seems assured. That’s the good part. The negatives include the fact that consumers will have to buy new PCs to take advantage of USB and that PCs that roll out this year from the member companies will be strange hybrids with two USB ports as well as serial and parallel ports. Also, the desktop may have moved on to Network Computers and Internet terminals before USB reaches maturity. It’s going to take a while for users to migrate. I foresee 12 to 24 monthsfor customers to move, said Paul Wiele, desktop products manager and Unisys Corp’s PC Division. Unisys, IBM and Sony Corp have already shipped PCs with USB ports, but the necessary driver software will not arrive until the next versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT are released and there are currently no USB peripherals on the market. The USB group said there have been some rumbles about upgrade kits so that USB would work with existing PCs, but since the USB ports are built into the motherboard, that seems unlikely. Also, selling new PCs is the profit motive behind USB, since it’s a royalty-free specification.
