I tested this digital set-top box nearly a decade ago. Microsoft sent me a light blue version that came with a QWERTY keyboard and a remote. You could connect to the Web and check your email, browse news and sports scores, and even watch Web videos. This was long before the days of HDMI, so the MSN TV connected using RCA cables, and the video quality was not exactly stellar. This was before prevalent home broadband and Wi-Fi routers, so the first models connected over your home-phone line. A later version, called MSN TV2, connected over your home network.
Unfortunately for MSN TV, the merger of Web and TVwhich seemed inevitable at the dawn of the 2000sdidn't pan out the way we expected. Streaming shows and smart TVs are here. But Web browsing remains a "lean forward" activity that's best done with a tablet or laptop, while TV is a "lean back" activity, which helps to explain why for most of us the two experiences have not merged into a single device.