WebTV could easily be chalked up as yet another hasty attempt to combine the Internet with television. The $300 TV-based browser looked great on the surface, mostly because it lacked all the problems of a full-fledged computer system.

It was so easy to use that geeks were buying them for mom to send e-mail with. Beyond that, however, sales were much lower than predicted. The TV-top box offered too few of the Web's multimedia capabilities -- no streaming audio or video and no Java. Retailers faced an even bigger problem: where to put the gizmo. Did it go with the TV sets or the computers?

WebTV seemed doomed to extinction until August, when Microsoft bought the company for $425 million.

Suddenly, WebTV's future is looking hotter than ever and it's preparing to release its next-generation WebTV Plus, which includes a cable tuner, 56K modem and full motion audio/video. This set-top box isn't just for mom any more.

 1. Push
 2. Windows CE
 3. 56K
 4. Cable Modem
 5. Web-TV
 6. Net Magazines
 7. Apple's Demise
 8. Mac Clones
 9. E-Cash
10. Comdex '96

 1. Dynamic HTML
 2. New Domains
 3. Metered Bandwidth
 4. Web-TV
 5. Rich Ads
 6. The Big Chill
 7. Middlemen
 8. Digital Detente
 9. Cybercommerce
10. Web standards