WebTV had fans?

Late 90s is when Microsoft started scheming to take control of the living room. They introduced bunch of consumer products around that time. Not many people remember but there was the Windows XP Media Center edition that you can hook up to TV and play various media. They even made a cordless phone for the living room. Not long after they made Zune. Ultimately Microsoft's ambition to become the gatekeeper for the living room media gave birth to XBOX but ironically it also killed it in the end. Their grand plan they've been working for more than a decade culminated on the XBOX One announcement of 2013. The presentation was mostly about how the XBOX One was going to be the central hub of living room media and gaming was just one of many features. We all know how that turned out.

This opened a market for TV-connected thin clients that could browse the web with a much lower entry fee, with the WebTV service being launched in 1996. Bought by Microsoft in 1997 and renamed MSN TV, it lasted until 2013

It lasted until 2013?

I have 3 of the original ones in my basement that my parents were going to throw out years ago that I rescued. They were pretty awful in every way but I always hoped to do something with them eventually.

Maybe with this I can make a lo-fi HomeAssistant dashboard / control panel and/or plumb in the Weather Channel emulator (https://weatherstar.netbymatt.com/)

I remember seeing commercials for this and thinking it was going to be the end of the internet as we knew it. It was the beginning of anyone being able to go online.