Over the past months there have been a lot of discussions over Apples new iPod connectivity and more recently the Intel based Macs connectivity. So this bows down to USB vs. FireWire then… Well, let’s “corner ‘em up”.

The origins of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface is complicated; so let’s start this article by looking at it and simplifying. Originally, there were two ways of the USB hardware to interface with the software which were both HCIs (Host Controller Interfaces). Compaq made the OHCI (Open) and Intel made the UHCI (Universal). Sadly, there was a battle and that forced hardware manufacturers to test on both systems.

Intel won the battle. Intel were more processor intensive than Compaq in this model because they were more software driven. This was not so great, but then… Intel make the CPUs. Of course, it meant that it worked out cheaper to make UHCI devices than OHCI. Overall, this was good for Intel because people would invest in the cheaper technology which pushed for faster and faster processors; something Intel was delivering.

So what about FireWire? FireWire (or IEEE 1394) is an Apple technology. Technically it is slower than USB2.0, however it is more expensive to manufacture because it’s more hardware based. FireWire 800 is faster than USB 2.0 (significantly with large amounts of data) and far more established in the industry for just this reason. It’s commonly used for video camera connectivity and other media based products; a field that Apple specializes in. The important note is that it is faster than USB 2.0 only because it does not fluctuate in transfer rate like the technically faster USB 2.0 does.

There is a twist to the tail though. Intel significantly aided in the design of FireWire 800. There was a falling out of Steve Jobs and the Intel camp over a Job’s proposal of a $1/port licensing fee. Intel used this as a reason to drop FireWire and create USB 2.0 instead. This is interesting when taken into account over the new “move” of Apple dropping FireWire and incorporating USB 2.0.

Perhaps this is a backlash of this argument, dating back to 1993? As everyone knows, PCs are more commonly associated with USB than FireWire, even if it’s an inferior product. Intel are moving in a direction that will please the majority of non-technical people however; they are adapting USB to be wireless, where FireWire is currently static and if anything heading for speed instead of “wirelessness”. Why would you want faster when you can have wireless right?

Draw your own conclusions, but to me it looks like Mac is heading in the direction of switchers and the non-tech minded… perhaps this is a big deal, but is it a big change?