Philips 960

MSN TV (formerly WebTV) is the name of both a thin client which uses a television for display (rather than a monitor), and the online service that supports it.

The product and service were developed by WebTV Networks, Inc. , a company which was purchased by Microsoft Corporation and absorbed into MSN (the Microsoft Network). While most thin clients developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstations for corporate intranets, WebTV was positioned as a consumer device for web access.

Early history

WebTV Networks, Inc was incorporated on June 30, 1995 by three veterans of Apple Computer and General Magic: Steve Perlman, Bruce Leak and Phil Goldman. Cellulari Philips. Primary design criteria were ease of use and low cost. The original device retailed for $350 at a time when inexpensive home computers were $1000. WebTV Networks was purchased by Microsoft for $425 million USD in April 1997, before the company was even two years old.

The founders and their early employees were creative and witty. Before incorporation, the company referred to itself as Artemis Research [1] to disguise the nature of their business; they explained that they were doing research in sleep deprivation.