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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (6808)	1/13/1998 4:18:00 PM
From: White Shoes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13594

Sam, I don't agree. While the Web TV as now conceived may not be practical in your mind, I think some version of Web TV is a great solution. This MIGHT mean that many families have both a regular computer and a WebTV. Don't think because you don't want that now doesn't mean it won't happen. Why would I want some kind of Web TV device? It comes down to "Why people love TV". Also "what the Internet does for people". I do a lot of 'work' on my computer. I also do some 'work' online. But a lot of what I do online is browse for info & entertainment. I see a magazine on a shelf and want to read a story. I'll say "I'll look that up on the Online version, saves me $3." Unfortunately after 8-10 hours a day hurting my neck, back, and hips gazing into a small computer monitor I probably will get fed up and not do all the pleasure reading I would like to do. What if this reading, as well as entertainment, were available from a smart online service that allowed me to plop down in my beanbag chair, drink a beer, and use a remote device to look at high quality text and images on a 30 inch HDTV? A lot of folks don't have the money for fancy gizmos, but remember, people love TV, for the reasons I have just mentioned...the sofa or beanbag chair, the beer, the high quality image, whatever. People didn't have $ in 1973 but a lot of them spent $10,000 (1998 dollars) on a fancy stereo system. Well, disco is dead (except as a retro fad). People spend their discretionary income on cellphones and computer monitors. I predict a big future for infotainment on Web TV...in one format or another. MSFT will be in the middle of it.