In every iteration of Windows, a number of features are announced, then get left on the cutting room floor when the release candidate ships out. In Windows 7’s case, one of those features was Virtual WiFi, developed by Microsoft Research, which would allow any Windows 7 machine to act as an ad hoc WiFi spot, sharing your Internet access with anyone in the nearby vicinity.
The benefits are obvious: if you have a 3G or ethernet connection, you could wireleslly tether a number of devices to your laptop’s connection. However, for unknown reasons, Microsoft never followed up its Virtual WiFi boasting with a shippable feature in any version of Windows 7.
But that’s not to say that some of the code didn’t creep into Windows 7 anyway, and you can always count on aftermarket software developers to capitalize on hidden lurking features. Apparently, enough Virtual WiFi code was left in Windows 7 for the guys over at Nomadio to flesh it out and make it into a fully-functional piece of software.
The resulting program is called Connectify. It’s free to download, and it effectively turns any Windows 7 machine into a virtual WiFi hotspot. That means you can share your Internet connection wherever you go, piping out wireless access through the same card that is slurping it in. One obvious application is sharing an Internet connection in a cafe that charges for WiFi, but there’s other benefits as well.
If you’re interested and running Windows 7, you can grab Connectify from the official site.
Read more at Connectify
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