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Microsoft has been a friend of the biometric industry for some time, especially more recently with the rollout of their more robust security products and services.
Today they announced nine new mice and keyboards, "including the company's first hardware products with fingerprint recognition technology".
This has encouraged a rather intense debate among professionals, experts and followers of biometrics as to whether Microsoft will contribute to awareness and growth of the technology.
[quote=PCmac.com]By combining password management with biometric security on a common multimedia keyboard, the Microsoft Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader is an input device that not only provides an efficient, comfortable typing experience but also secures your digital identity and automates the log-on process for Web sites and Windows programs.
On our tests, the automated log-on process rarely failed and was simple to configure, but some exceptions should be noted. On a home PC, you can log easily into Windows using a fingerprint scan. But this Windows log-on automation isn't designed to log onto a corporate network or domain, so you'll have to enter your password manually at the office. Also of note, it's currently impossible to back up log-on data, so when you use the keyboard on a different PC, you'll be starting over from scratch.[/quote]
Comfortable, well-designed flat keyboard that sports a secure biometric fingerprint scanner that helps you automate log-ons to Web sites and Windows programs.
Comfortable keyboard, good mouse for business purposes, and a time-saving password management and log-on automation program that's as easy to use as resting your fingerprint on the scanner.
Expensive, can't back up log-on data, and won't log onto corporate networks.
How secure is this compared to using multiple 10+ character long passwords? Some people I've talked to seem to think it isn't safe at all and some people seem to think it is only safe for casual use. I only plan to use it for online forums and other applications that don't require great measures of security so it seems to be perfect for me, but how secure do you think it really is?"
There is also the Microsoft Fingerprint Scanner:
In my opinion I don't think the current setup, (and using standard password alternativly defeats the object) and windows XP really gives the systems justice, and Windows Vista has no functionality directly for this either