MSN TV
Encyclopedia
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 computer monitor), and the online service that supports it.
The product and service was developed by WebTV Networks, Inc., a company purchased by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Corporation and absorbed into MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
(the Microsoft Network). While most thin clients developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstation
Diskless workstation
A diskless node is a workstation or personal computer without disk drives, which employs network booting to load its operating system from a server...
s for corporate intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
s, WebTV was positioned as a consumer device for web access.
The WebTV product is an adapter
Adapter
An adapter or adaptor is a person that adapts or a device that converts attributes of one device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system.Some adapters may only affect physical attributes:...
that allows a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
set to be connected to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, primarily for web browsing and e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
. The setup includes a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
, a corded or wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
(e.g., bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
or IRDA
Infrared Data Association
The Infrared Data Association defines physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks ....
) keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
and a connection, using a modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
, ADSL, cable Internet access, or power line communication
Power line communication
Power line communication or power line carrier , also known as power line digital subscriber line , mains communication, power line telecom , power line networking , or broadband over power lines are systems for carrying data on a conductor also used for electric power transmission.A wide range...
.
While WebTV does not allow as much functionality as a computer-based web browser, it is a low-cost alternative to a traditional computer connection to the Internet.
The concept
Co-founder Steve PerlmanSteve Perlman
Stephen G Perlman, OnLive founder, president & CEO, is an entrepreneur and inventor devoted to pioneering Internet, entertainment, multimedia, consumer electronics and communications technologies and services...
is credited with the idea for the device. He first combined computer and television as a high-school student when he decided his home PC needed a graphics display. Then, he went to build software for companies such as Apple and Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
. While working at the Apple spin-off, General Magic
General Magic
General Magic was a company co-founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat that developed a new kind of handheld communications device they called a "personal intelligent communicator", which was a PDA precursor that stressed communications....
, the idea of bringing TVs and computers together resurfaced.
One night, Perlman was browsing the web and came across a Campbell's soup website with recipes. He thought that the people who might be interested in what the site had to offer were not using the web. It occurred to him that if the television audience was enabled by a device to augment television viewing with receiving information or commercial offers through the television, then perhaps the web address could act as a signal and the television cable could be the conduit.
Early history
WebTV Networks was founded in July 1995. Perlman brought along co-founders Bruce LeakBruce Leak
A graduate of Stanford University, Bruce Leak is best known as a co-founder of WebTV Networks, a company that enabled households to access the Internet through their televisions...
and Phil Goldman
Phil Goldman
Phillip York "Phil" Goldman was an American engineer and entrepreneur best known for co-founding WebTV.-Early life:Growing up in San Mateo, California, Goldman attended San Mateo High School graduating in 1982...
shortly after conceiving the basic concept.
The company hired many engineers and a few business development employees early on, having about 30 total employees by October 1995. The company operated out of a former BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
car dealership building in Palo Alto, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, which it had been able to obtain for very low rent, but the space was suboptimal for technology development.
Before incorporation, the company referred to itself as Artemis Research to disguise the nature of its business. The info page of its original website explained that it was studying "sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
, poor diet and no social life for extended periods on humans and dwarf rabbits". The dwarf rabbit reference was an inside joke among WebTV's hard-working engineers—Phil Goldman's pet house rabbit
House rabbit
A house rabbit is a pet domestic rabbit kept for companionship that lives inside its owner's home. House rabbits can be trained to use a litter box, and can live as long as 8-10 years when properly cared for....
Bowser (inspiration for the General Magic
General Magic
General Magic was a company co-founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat that developed a new kind of handheld communications device they called a "personal intelligent communicator", which was a PDA precursor that stressed communications....
logo) was often found roaming the WebTV building late into the night while the engineers were working—although WebTV actually received inquiries from real research groups conducting similar studies and seeking to exchange data.
WebTV closed its first round of financing, US$1,500,000, from Marvin Davis
Marvin Davis
Marvin H. Davis was an American industrialist and philanthropist...
in September, 1995 and developed a prototype WebTV set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
, based upon a custom chip and custom software, and also developed a WebTV online service that the WebTV set-top boxes would automatically dial into using a dial-up modem that provided subscriber services such as HTML-based email, and proxied
Proxy server
In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...
websites accessed by the WebTV set-top box so as to make them display more efficiently on a television screen.
WebTV Networks' business model was to license a reference design to consumer electronics companies for a WebTV Internet Terminal, a set-top box that attached to a telephone line and automatically connected to the Internet through a dial-up modem. WebTV's income was derived from operating the WebTV Service, an Internet-based service for which it collected a fee from WebTV subscribers. The consumer electronics companies' income was derived from selling the WebTV set-top box.
Barely surviving to reach announcement
By the spring of 1996 WebTV Networks employed approximately 70 people, many of them finishing their senior year at nearby Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, or former employees of either Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
or General Magic
General Magic
General Magic was a company co-founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat that developed a new kind of handheld communications device they called a "personal intelligent communicator", which was a PDA precursor that stressed communications....
. WebTV had started negotiating with Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
to manufacture and distribute the WebTV set-top box, but negotiations had taken much longer than WebTV had expected, and WebTV had used up its initial funding. Steve Perlman liquidated his assets, ran up his credit cards and mortgaged his house to provide bridge financing while seeking additional venture capital. Because Sony had insisted upon exclusive distribution rights for the first year, WebTV had no other distribution partner in place, and just before WebTV was to close venture capital financing from Brentwood Associates
Brentwood Associates
Brentwood Associates is one of the oldest private equity firms in the US with groups focusing on both leveraged buyout and venture capital investments....
, Sony sent WebTV a certified letter stating it had decided not to proceed with WebTV. It was a critical juncture for WebTV, because the Brentwood financing had been predicated on the expectation of a future relationship with Sony, and if Brentwood had decided to not proceed with the financing after being told that Sony had backed out, WebTV would have gone bankrupt and Perlman would have lost everything. But Brentwood decided to proceed with the financing despite losing Sony's involvement, and further financing from Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
's Vulcan Ventures soon followed.
WebTV then proceeded to close a non-exclusive WebTV set-top box distribution deal with Philips, which provided competitive pressure causing Sony to change its mind, to resume its relationship with WebTV and also to distribute WebTV.
WebTV was announced on July 10, 1996, generating a large wave of press attention as not only the first television-based use of the World Wide Web, but also as the first consumer-electronics device to access the World Wide Web without a personal computer. After the product's announcement, the company closed additional venture financing, including investments from Microsoft Corporation, Citicorp, Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
, Inc., Soros Capital, L.P., St. Paul Venture Capital and Times Mirror Company.
The launch
WebTV was launched on September 18, 1996, within one year after its first round of financing, with WebTV set-top boxes in stores from Sony and Philips, and WebTV's online service running from servers in its tiny office, still based in the former BMW dealership.The initial price for the WebTV set-top box was US$349 for the Sony version and US$329 for the Philips version, with a wireless keyboard available for about an extra US$50. The monthly service fee initially was US$19.95 per month for unlimited Web surfing and e-mail.
There was little difference between the first Sony and the Philips WebTV set-top boxes, except for the housing and packaging. The WebTV set-top box had very limited processing and memory resources (just a 112 MHz MIPS CPU, 2 megabytes of RAM, 2 megabytes of ROM, 1 megabyte of Flash memory) and the device relied upon a connection through a 33.6 kbit
Kilobit
The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix kilo is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 103 , and therefore,...
/s dialup modem to connect to the WebTV Service, where powerful servers provide back-end support to the WebTV set-top boxes to support a full Web-browsing and email experience for the subscribers.
Initial sales were slow. By April 1997, WebTV had only 56,000 subscribers, but the pace of subscriber growth accelerated after that, achieving 150,000 subscribers by Autumn 1997, about 325,000 subscribers by April 1998 and about 800,000 subscribers by May 1999. WebTV achieved profitability by Spring 1998, and grossed over US$1.3 billion in revenue through its first 8 years of operation. In 2005 WebTV was still grossing US$150 million per year in revenue with 65% gross margin.
WebTV briefly classified as a weapon
Because WebTV utilized strong encryptionEncryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
, upon launch in 1996, WebTV was classified as munitions (a military weapon) by the United States government and was therefore barred from export under United States security laws at the time. Because WebTV was widely distributed in consumer electronic stores under the Sony and Philips brands for only US$325, its munitions classification was used to argue that the US should no longer consider devices incorporating strong encryption to be munitions, and should permit their export. WebTV obtained a special exemption permitting its export, despite the strong encryption, and shortly thereafter, laws concerning export of cryptography in the United States were changed to generally permit the export of strong encryption.
Microsoft takes notice
In February 1997, in an investor meeting with Microsoft, Steve Perlman was approached by Microsoft's Senior Vice President for Consumer Platforms Division, Craig Mundie. Despite the fact that the initial WebTV sales had been modest, Mundie expressed that Microsoft was impressed with WebTV and saw significant potential both in WebTV's product offering and in applying the technology to other Microsoft consumer and video product offerings. Microsoft offered to acquire WebTV, build a Microsoft campus in Silicon ValleySilicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
around WebTV, and establish WebTV as a Microsoft division to develop television-based products and services, with Perlman as the division's president.
Discussions proceeded rapidly, involving Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, then CEO of Microsoft, personally. Gates called Perlman at his home on Easter Sunday in March 1997, and Perlman described to Gates WebTV's next generation products in development, which would be the first consumer devices to incorporate hard disks, including the WebTV Plus, and the WebTV Digital Video Recorders. Gates' interest was piqued, and negotiations between Microsoft and WebTV rapidly proceeded to closure, with both sides working around the clock to get the deal done. Indeed, the parties were unaware that they were losing an hour of negotiation the night before the planned announcement due to the change to Daylight Saving Time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
, and they almost did not have enough time to close the deal.
On Sunday, April 6, 1997, 20 months after WebTV's founding, and only six weeks after negotiations with Microsoft began, during a scheduled speech at the National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
conference in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Craig Mundie announced that Microsoft had acquired WebTV. The acquisition price was US$503 million, but WebTV was so young a company that most of the employees' stock options had yet to be vested. As such, the vested shares at the time of the announcement amounted to US$425 million, and that was the acquisition price announced.
Subsequent to the acquisition, WebTV became a Silicon Valley-based division of Microsoft, with Steve Perlman as its president. The WebTV division began developing most of Microsoft's television-based products, including the first satellite Digital Video Recorders (the DishPlayer for EchoStar's Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
and UltimateTV for DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
), Microsoft's cable TV products, the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
hardware, and Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV platform.
In May 1999, America Online announced that it was going to compete directly with Microsoft in delivering Internet over television sets by introducing AOL TV.
In June 1999, Steve Perlman left Microsoft and started Rearden, a business incubator
Business incubator
Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
for new companies in media and entertainment technology.
Microsoft worked with Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
in that same year and developed Microsoft WebTV for the Dreamcast game console. This is the first TV set-top box from a major vendor that offers high-end online gaming, internet access, and interactive television, as well as the first glimpse at WebTV running on Microsoft's Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
operating system. This would later lead Microsoft to create their own game consoles (Xbox & Xbox 360) and use this same technology within it.
The WebTV set-top box
Since the WebTV set-top box was a dedicated web browser appliance that did not need to be based on a standard operating systemOperating 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...
, the cost of licensing an operating system could be avoided. The box featured a 64-bit RISC
Reduced instruction set computer
Reduced instruction set computing, or RISC , is a CPU design strategy based on the insight that simplified instructions can provide higher performance if this simplicity enables much faster execution of each instruction. A computer based on this strategy is a reduced instruction set computer...
CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
chip, and a smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
reader. The smart card reader was not utilized significantly. The web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
was compatible with both Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
and Microsoft Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
and the WebTV set-top box featured 2 MB of RAM. The first WebTV set-top boxes had a 33.6 kbit/s modem, and later versions had 56kbit/s modems. The WebTV set-top boxes used a caching proxy for acceleration capable of reformatting and compressing web pages, a feature generally unavailable to dialup ISPs users at the time and as such, had to be developed by WebTV. For web browsing purposes, given WebTV's 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...
software, there was no need for a hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
, but by putting the browser in non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory
Non-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, in the most basic sense, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only memory, flash memory, ferroelectric RAM, most types of magnetic computer...
, upgrades could be downloaded from the WebTV service.
One interesting feature of the WebTV set-top box was that, while downloading TV schedule information overnight, it would also check to see if there was any email waiting. If there was, it would illuminate a red LED on the device so the consumer would know it was worth connecting to pick up their mail.
A second model, the "Plus", was introduced a year later. This model featured a tuner to allow watching television in a PIP
Picture-in-picture
Picture in Picture is a feature of some television receivers and similar devices. One program is displayed on the full TV screen at the same time as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only.Picture in Picture requires two independent...
(Picture-In-Picture) window while waiting for pages to arrive, allowed one to capture video stills from video camera, VCR or broadcast television as a JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, and included a video tuner that allowed one to schedule a VCR in a manner like TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
allowed several years later. The Plus also included a 56k modem. In order to accommodate large nightly downloads of television schedules, a hard drive was included in the original Plus; as chip prices fell faster than hard drive prices, later versions of the Plus used an M-systems DiskOnChip flashrom chip instead. It also supported ATVEF, a technology that allowed users to download special script-laden pages to interact with television shows.
WebTV produced reference designs of models incorporating a disk-based personal video recorder and a satellite tuner for EchoStar's Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
(called "Dishplayer") and for DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
(called "UltimateTV"). product In 2001, EchoStar sued Microsoft for failing to support the WebTV Dishplayer,. EchoStar subsequently sought to acquire DirecTV and was the presumptive acquirer, but EchoStar was ultimately blocked by the Federal Communications Commission. While EchoStar's lawsuit against Microsoft was in process, DirecTV (presumptively acquired by EchoStar, and in control by EchoStar) dropped UltimateTV (thus ending Microsoft's satellite product initiatives) and picked TiVo's DirecTV product as its only Digital Video Recorder offering.
As an ease-of-use design consideration, WebTV early decided to reformat pages rather than have users doing sideways scrolling. As entry-level PCs evolved from VGA
Video Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...
resolution of 640x480 to SVGA
Super Video Graphics Array
Super Video Graphics Array or Ultra Video Graphics Array, almost always abbreviated to Super VGA, Ultra VGA or just SVGA or UVGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards....
resolution of 800x600, and web site dimensions followed suit, reformatting the PC-sized web pages to fit the 560-pixel width of a United States NTSC television screen became less satisfactory. The WebTV browser also translated HTML frames as tables in order to avoid the need for a mouse. To address these problems, the engineers at WebTV developed the MSN Companion
MSN Companion
The MSN Companion was a small-scale personal computer terminal that was designed for easy access to MSN services on the Internet, such as Hotmail, while still being cheap and easy to use. They were intended for use by people with little knowledge of computers or technology, and many included...
, which was another easy-to-use thin client which used an SVGA monitor and mouse. Both Compaq
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
and e-Machines
Gateway, Inc.
Gateway Computer Corporation, is a computer hardware company headquartered in Irvine, California, USA which develops, manufactures, supports, and markets a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories...
marketed the Companion, Compaq producing it in multiple models. However, being substantially more expensive than WebTV (which at this time was typically $50 after rebate) and lacking many features that PC users and WebTV users found standard, the Companion never found a customer base.
Security was always an issue with WebTV. Hackers ran through the system freely, forcing WebTV to terminate random customers and change the privacy policy without letting customers know.
MSN TV rebranding
In July 2001, six years after WebTV's founding, Microsoft rebranded WebTV as MSN TV, and the WebTV division was dissolved, although the WebTV engineers continued to work for Microsoft, many of them working on Microsoft's XboxXbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
video game system or Microsoft IPTV technology, offering television programming over the internet. Microsoft's MSN unit took over WebTV's subscribers, and contracts with Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
were terminated, with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
becoming terminated. Promotion of the WebTV brand ended.
In recent years, the number of consumers using dialup access has dropped and as the Classic and Plus clients were restricted to dialup access, their subscriber count began to drop. Because the WebTV client was subsidized hardware, the company had always required individual subscriptions for each box, but with the subsidies ended, MSN started offering free use of MSN TV boxes to their computer users who subscribed to MSN, as an incentive to not stray to discount dialup ISPs.
Broadband MSN TV
In 2001, Rogers Cable partnered with Microsoft to introduce “Rogers Interactive TV” in Canada. The service enabled Rogers' subscribers to access the Web via their TV sets, create their own websites, shop online, chat, and access e-mail. This initiative was the first broadband implementation of MSN TV.In late 2004, Microsoft introduced MSN TV2. Like the MSN Companion, the "Deuce" is capable of broadband access, and allows the use of a mouse, but it uses the television as an output device, eliminating the need for a computer desk in crowded homes.
For inexpensive devices, the cost of licensing the operating system is substantial. For Microsoft, however, it would be actualizing a sunk cost
Sunk cost
In economics and business decision-making, sunk costs are retrospective costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs are sometimes contrasted with prospective costs, which are future costs that may be incurred or changed if an action is taken...
, and when Microsoft released the MSNTV2 model, they adopted standard PC architecture and used Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
software with few changes. This allows a standard PC to be used with relatively few changes, allowing MSNTV2 to more easily and inexpensively keep current. The new box has Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, and can access Windows computers on a home network to function as a media player. MSNTV2 uses a different online service from MSNTV, but like WebTV did, requires a subscription. For those with broadband, the fee is US$99 yearly. Microsoft appears to be devoting substantial resources to making MSN TV2 successful.
WebTV/MSN TV client hardware
| Brand Brand The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."... |
Model | Type | Modem Modem A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data... |
RAM Random-access memory Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in... |
ROM Read-only memory Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only... |
Storage | CPU speed | CPU chip | Latest Software Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony Sony , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues.... |
INT-W100 | Classic | V.34 | 2 MB (2 MiB Mebibyte The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major... ) |
2 MB (2 MiB) | 2 MB Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000... |
112 MHz | R4640 | 2.5.9.1mpeg 2.5.9.1print |
| Philips Philips Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company.... |
MAT-960 | Classic | V.34 | 2 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 112 MHz | R4640 | 2.5.9.1mpeg 2.5.9.1print |
| Sony | INT-W150 | New Classic | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 150 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| Philips | MAT-965 | New Classic | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 150 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| RCA RCA RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor... |
RW-2100 | New Classic | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 150 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| RCA | RM-2100 | New Classic | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 150 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| Sony | INT-W200 | Plus | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 1.1 GB Gigabyte The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is... |
150 MHz | R4640 | 2.9.1 |
| Philips | MAT-972 | Plus | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 1.1 GB | 150 MHz | R4640 | 2.9.1 |
| Samsung Samsung The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea... |
SIS-100 | Plus | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 1.1 GB | 150 MHz | R4640 | 2.9.1 |
| Mitsubishi Mitsubishi The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy... |
RW-2000 | Plus | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 1.1 GB | 150 MHz | R4640 | 2.9.1 |
| Mitsubishi | RW-2001 | Plus | V.90 | 8 MB | 2 MB | 1.1 GB | 150 MHz | R4640 | 2.9.1 |
| RCA | RW-2110 | Plus | V.90 | 16 MB | 8 MB | 2 MB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| Sony | INT-W250 | New Plus | V.90 | 16 MB | 8 MB | 2 MB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| Philips | MAT-976 | New Plus | V.90 | 16 MB | 8 MB | 2 MB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | 2.9.1 |
| Echostar | Dishplayer 7100 | DISH tuner | V.90 | 16 MB | 4 MB | 8.6 GB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | |
| Echostar | Dishplayer 7200 | DISH tuner | V.90 | 16 MB | 4 MB | 17.6 GB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | |
| RCA | UltimateTV | DirecTV tuner | V.90 | 16 MB | 4 MB | 40 GB | 167 MHz | RM5230 | |
| RCA | RM-4100 | MSNTV2 | V.90 | 128 MB | none | 64 MB | 733 MHz | Celeron Celeron Celeron is a brand name given by Intel Corp. to a number of different x86 computer microprocessor models targeted at budget personal computers.... |
|
| RCA | RM-4100 (2) | MSNTV2 | V.90 | 256 MB | none | 64 MB | 733 MHz | Celeron Celeron Celeron is a brand name given by Intel Corp. to a number of different x86 computer microprocessor models targeted at budget personal computers.... |
MSN TV2, the latest version of MSN TV is an Internet & Media Player that requires no software to buy or install. It includes: an internet media player, a wireless remote, a wireless keyboard, a telephone line T-splitter, a phone cord, an audio/video cable and a power supply.
In February 2006, Chris Wade analyzed the proprietary BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
, and added a sophisticated memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
patch which allowed it to be flashed and used to boot Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on the MSN TV2 player.
Work continues on the task of replacing the proprietary BIOS in the MSN TV2 and similar devices. An open-source solution to enabling TV output was made available in 2009.
MSN TV hardware is no longer being sold by Microsoft although the service is still ongoing for existing users. On the "MSN TV Website", a message states "Sorry, MSN TV hardware is no longer available for purchase from Microsoft. Microsoft continues to support the subscription service for existing WebTV and MSN TV customers."