AOL TV
Encyclopedia
AOL TV was the name of both a thin client
which uses a television
for display (rather than a monitor
), and the online service that supports it, both of which were launched in June 2000 to compete with WebTV
.
The product and service were developed by America Online. While most thin client
s developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstations for corporate intranet
s, AOL TV was positioned as a consumer device for web access. The service is no longer supported by AOL as the documentation has been removed from their servers. It has been closed since 2002. Since the device was a dedicated web browser appliance, the cost of licensing an operating system
could be avoided. For inexpensive devices, the cost of licensing the operating system is substantial.
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
which uses a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
for display (rather than a monitor
Computer display
A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
), and the online service that supports it, both of which were launched in June 2000 to compete with WebTV
MSN TV
MSN TV is the name of both a thin client which uses a television for display , and the online service that supports it....
.
The product and service were developed by America Online. While most thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
s developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstations for corporate intranet
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
s, AOL TV was positioned as a consumer device for web access. The service is no longer supported by AOL as the documentation has been removed from their servers. It has been closed since 2002. Since the device was a dedicated web browser appliance, the cost of licensing an operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
could be avoided. For inexpensive devices, the cost of licensing the operating system is substantial.