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If MS has something like all-you-can-watch video similar to the all-you-can-download subscription system for the Zune, it might be something worth considering.

However, why does MS need a TV set top box? They already have one... the XBox 360.

And this thing still left over from the 90s: http://www.webtv.com/pc/ Still looks like it belongs in the 90s with the big, ugly keyboard and the CRT 4:3 TV.

Even a non-microsoft apologist like myself can give MS credit where credit is due. They have persistance as if no one else on the planet has even heard of it. They can continuously throw engineers at horrible products until they become usable or even comperable if not even superior to other products (DirectX comes to mind).

I too welcome competition. Especially from Microsoft, because they have such a known brand. Its an uphill battle for them though, because they cannot seem to make things simple enough for embedded devices like TVs.

Option 1: http://www.webtv.com/pc/

Option 2: My HD TV has VGA inputs and I have a media PC hooked to it, so in my case, Flickr shows up pretty clear on my TV.

Layne

At first I thought Microsoft would make MSNTV to counter AppleTV, but turns out AppleTV was created to counter MSNTV instead.

Agreed...

They could put it in very nice looking white box, hook it up to a TV, and have a nice brand that millions of people know that will really help sell it.

Maybe they could call it WebTV, to signify how it works with the web.

DOH!
http://www.webtv.com/pc/

"I can't imagine what google is working on next, but I have been contemplating their need for a "proof-of-concept" engine that would be considered a web browser to some, but in all reality it would be an operating system."

A web browser that hides the operating system and all the associated bagage? Wow, that's revolutionary! It's amazing that nobody though of it before, way to go google!

Below is the set of emails of when MS tried to recruit me. Read from bottom up since that's how the emails were actually sent.


----- Original Message -----
From: James Hunt
To: 'Mauricio '
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2000 9:46 AM
Subject: RE: UNIX Opportunities at Microsoft - WebTV

Thank you for the quick reply. I respect an individual that sticks to
their morals. Take care.

James

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mauricio [mailto:mauricio@xxxx.com%5D
> Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2000 1:51 PM
> To: James Hunt
> Subject: Re: UNIX Opportunities at Microsoft - WebTV
>
>
> James
>
> Thank you for taking the time to look at my resume and to send me the
> description for this job. Unfortunately, being an advocate of open source,
> it would be against my morals to work for the Anti-Christ. But I do
> appreciate you having taken the time to email me.
>
> Regards,
> Mauricio
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: James Hunt
> To:
> Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 12:15 PM
> Subject: UNIX Opportunities at Microsoft - WebTV
>
>
> > Hi Mauricio,
> >
> > I am interested in your background for our full-time UNIX/Solaris sys.
> admin
> > position at Mircosoft.
> >
> > This position is within the Network Operations Center of our WebTV
> division
> > which is a 100% Solaris shop, supporting more than 1 million
subscribers.
> > We are located at the brand new Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus in
> Mountain
> > View, along with several other Microsoft divisions (5 buildings).
> >
> > If you are interested, I would like to set up a time for us to speak via
> > phone. Simply reply to this message or call me at (650) 693 3542.
> >
> > I have also attached the job description. >
> >
> > Kindest Regards,
> >
> > James
> >
> >
> > James Hunt
> > Microsoft - WebTV
> > Technical Recruiter
> > http://www.webtv.com/
> > http://www.microsoft.com/

---
Film at 11!

This is definitely true, but what are the PC things that they do? Surf the web, send email, and print their resume? If a console can ever get a good portion of these tasks right, then consumers will be looking at a choice between the subsidized console that does what they want or an expensive PC that does a whole lot more that they don't expect to fully use.

I know they've tried to do television-based browsers before, but things could get better for that type of offering with HDTV resolutions.

Heck, they don't even have to get a full web browser working well: just an email reader with buttons for "forward to my whole address book" and "insert LOL".

http://www.webtv.com/pc/ ?

Yes, I'm sure it is. But I'm also sure that the amount you spent on your computer could feed a family in those countries for a year. Can we say "double standard?"

But I am using WebTV !!

If you're going to put any effort into setting up a mail server on your Darwin/OS X machine, then put in a little extra work and switch to postfix. And lucky for you, Graham Orndorff has put together a comprehensive tutorial on postfix (also imapd, fetchmail, and stunnel) for OS X on stepwise. This is a man who background includes 3 years at NeXT and 4 years as mail architect at WebTV. In other words, you should trust his opinion. And he even writes great documentation!

Wrong. Microsoft and others (AOL) are already well on their way to putting together this device minus DVD ripping (cough. MPAA. cough.). Check out The Microsoft TV Platform for more info. WebTV never "had" anything, since it's still in more than a million households, and is the most successful "convergence" platform ever. How do I know this? Because I helped build enhanced content for NBC. Part of the Enhanced Broadcast Group's responsibilities included HDTV and convergence. With the 9Mbs data channel of the HDTV feed, users have their downstream net connection built into the signal. They can use a modem for upstream if necessary. See the ATVEF site for news on what is probably the coolest thing in computing ever.

If I were designing it, I'd use a $99 WebTV+ box (or interface card) to allow an HTML interface to be laid over TV content. WebTV even has a CLI that can run basic hardware and serial port functionality in script. Also, WebTV's serial port could be used to communicate with and control a rack of devices, each of which could be used to implement any of the functionality described in the article when it is developed. Except for, of course, DVD ripping, which will arrive on a cold day in Hell. Why not just get a 500 CD/DVD changer/burner and screw the magnetic storage altogether?

I found this after my first post. Here is the page from WebTV on how to use another ISP: http://www.webtv.com/company/isps/ispsfaqs.html

Not sure about the actual hardware, but the developer version (available free at the WebTV developer site) just leaves stuff like Flash Movies empty or more specificaly, a gray box. Oh and a caviat, it doesn't like Pop-up windows or many of the other *features* of the web.

There's one conceivable reason why they'd put a hard drive in one of these things. Can anyone say: bundling WebTV? They wouldn't be leveraging a monopoly in either market, so there wouldn't even be a potential antitrust suit. Woe be unto the consumer who buys one of these things.

I can already see some manager wondering who got their hands on it -- a competitor? 2600 or LoD -- aren't they based in the east coast, possibly New York? Then thoughts shift to what this will do when management hears about this: have we just committed a "career-limiting act"?

There's probably always been a kind of siege mentality at Microsoft. I'm sure that this has only intensified with the recent finding of fact by Judge Jackson, BackOrifice 2000, the spotlight that Linux took from Windows and all the general ill will towards the company. Couple that with the human tendency to assume that something that's gone missing has been stolen (especially if that something is valuable), and you have a recipe for paranoia. Except that paranoia is the mistaken impression that people are out to get you.

In the end, they assumed theft-by-scam, for which it would have been justified to call the cops. Since it wasn't the case, it's yet more egg on Microsoft's face, and you can allow yourself a little schadenfreude and know that somewhere inside 1 Microsoft Way, someone is getting the riot act read to them.