Believe it or not, I am with Cun on this one. I have had internet access
since late 1999 on webtv. My wife and dauhter have since moved on with a
nice Dell setup, but I am sticking with the ol' webtv. Read all about
it:

You asked about my computer. Our internet device is MSN TV, formerly
known as WebTV. It has a 56k dialup modem, which typically clocks around
40k or better whenever I have checked it. The browser is proprietary to
WebTV, and is supported by Microsoft. A full-size NTSC broadcast
Television serves as the visual monitor. It can support several models
of color inkjet printers and will record up to 30 seconds of audio from
a microphone or other source for use in emails. I have played audio
files that have lasted upwards of 20 minutes, namely lectures by Kurt
Vonnegut. Although admittedly not in super-high resolution, it can also
do video still captures from a small scanner or any other video source
(see home video below).
There is also a very good Instant Messenger (real-time emails with a
Buddy List and an online monitor to know when Buddies are online), a
Passport Wallet (credit card privacy and convenience feature), a
Picture-in-Picture (provides a small, movable TV window on the screen
while writing or surfing), 6 users, 6 email addresses and optional
passwords, each with full user capabilities, and all having unlimited
service. The keyboard includes upper and lower case and two registers of
alternate characters. Also, all editing, word search and
Cut-Copy-and-Paste capabilities. There are child safeguards and user
parameters which, from within the Primary User's domain, can be
individually tailored for each user . You also may create and operate
through infinite numbers of Hotmail or other email or web hosting
services (Zy, Freetown, Lycos, 0Catch, etc.). There is a free fax
forwarding service. Periodic upgrades (free) continue to enhance or add
services.
WebTV downloads TV listings from cable or satellite providers and has
many integrated TV, timer and program recording features. Program
descriptions are very complete and detailed, usually including links to
movie websites. The downloaded TV listings are searchable several ways,
updaed daily at any selected hour, and once downloaded, can be accessed
while offline.
The email capacity is 3 meg, which usually yeilds well over a hundred
emails which may include some text, images or music files. More
attachments decrease the number of emails stored. I have actually had
over two hundred emails if they are mostly plain text. There is no disc
or other hardware storage means on the terminal itself, except for a
small hard drive which stores TV listings and temporarily buffers files
such as video clips or audio files for immediate use. For instance when
opening something attatched in an email, the file will be fed into the
drive onboard the terminal and immediately played. It is then emptied
and awaits the next task.
There is no software to buy or load, ever. Word processing, photo
cropping and image manipulations, banner and specialzed font creations
and many other functions are done on free and private webpages that have
been created and stored elsewhere. Look into Image Magick
http://www.imagemagick.org/
=A0=A0or Hadoes Print shop
=A0=A0http://www.wtv-zone.com/hadoe/
=A0=A0if you want some slight idea of what WebTV is capable of doing
with a little imagination. WebTV users also have a close-knit helping
community, teaching each other HTML, Nettiquette, surfing skills,
link-swapping, page writing, and more. There are hundreds of WebTV
disussion boards on any subject imaginable. All image files, webpages,
email signatures, bookmarked webpages, stored photos and other stored
information is contained on servers elsewhere and are called up as
desired by our terminals. It is actually a "telenet" type of device, if
that term is still used anymore. WebTV is capable of writing and
displaying HTML, in fact many thousands of georgeous webpages have been
built on them, such pages being hosted and stored at sites like
Angelfire and Geocities, or on WebTV's own hosting service. These latter
pages can be identified by the word "community" in the URL. You can see
some examples here, mostly done by amateurs:
=A0=A0=A0=A0http://www.expert-links.com/digests/May_11__2001 I know of
other paid webpage builders who actually prefer to use WebTV because of
its many conveniences, wireless keyboard and giant monitor being a huge
draw. In other words, you can do your surfing from the Barcalounger.
Other builders double-check their pages on WebTV just to make sure they
show up correctly there. There are millions of WebTV's in use, and more
every day. Most marketers are aware of this fact and realize it would be
a mistake not to accomodate them. see, my machine, while being very
streamlined and condensed, is by no means a piece of junk. The webpages
and links I cannot open are exceedingly rare. I do not believe I am the
only one who has difficulty with it, and have sent it to a couple
friends who have confirmed this.
If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me anytime. Thanks
Again,
Bob