WebPC... good idea!

[DOS lives on!!]

I agree, I bought my 80-something aunt a WEBTV many years ago and she clung on to it like it was gold. All her friends were having bad luck with their Windows PCs with virus, blue screens, etc and had no idea what to do about it.

I've got one of those WebTV things still in the box. Does MS even support the service that they connect to? Seems that I could reprogram it to load another OS, and turn it into a more useful piece of technology.

I observed this morning that, in spite of it being interesting that the Schick Hydro razor uses a PIC microcontroller...

I'm glad you notice the more complex aspects of a more simple piece of everyday usage.

 

[njroadfan]

I had a good laugh when the video said, "I really believe that in five years, we will be a Fortune 500 company." :D

Kind of looks like that didn't happen, unless I'm missing something...

The video was released in October of 2000, by then the company had already crashed and burned. I think the actual iOpener hardware ended production soon thereafter. After that summer it became really hard to get an iOpener without a service contract. Netpliance finally cracked down on retailers selling units without any service commitment.

 

[dave_m]

Does MS even support the service that they connect to? Seems that I could reprogram it to load another OS, and turn it into a more useful piece of technology

The original one I bought was a Sony dial up model. But it must have broken and I replaced it with a model from Philips that was also broadband capable (MSN TV2). Originally my Aunt used the MSN dial up service, but eventually when she got an ethernet connection via her cable company, she easily switched to high speed but I still had to pay for the MSN service for her. The MSN subscription service for it was available as of a few years ago, and I bet still is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_TV