< June 2, 1999... Despite the spate of new features, the new class of WebTV devices may be significant more for what they lack: namely, a hard drive.>
Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps in June 1999 that was true. It wasn't in 1998. And it's not now. I recently purchased a WebTV-equipped JVC Dish box, and it has a hard drive. I can tell because every couple of hours, the disk drive starts screaming, even when the device is turned off.
< I think the WebTV box meets your definition [of a thin client], whether you like it or not. >
Granted. But then, my definition of a Thin Client should have said something about being a general-purpose computing device, which WebTV is not, since you can't install and run any new software for it (because after MSFT bought WebTV, they cancelled WebTV's Personal Java initiative). My bad. Thanks for the correction and the link to the paraphrased MSFT press release.
By the way, did you notice this?...
< The new boxes will be the first from the Microsoft subsidiary optimized for Windows CE operating system, although the hardware does not fully run on the Microsoft platform yet. >
What in the world does it mean to "not fully run" on an operating system? Doesn't that really mean to "not run at all" on the operating system?
By the way, I DO like the WebTV device. I just liked it more before MSFT took over and began to successfully prevent it from fulfilling its promise. |
