MSNTV

Someone I'd emailed cautiously replied.

Here's my response:

Hi, Kcp,

I'm just a regular WebTV subscriber. I'm pretty sure WebTV's days are
numbered. So are a number of my acquaintances. We're trying to preserve
as much of WebTV's history and, particularly, its culture, as possible.

My primary focus is on culture: the users, who they are, what they've
done with the LBB (little, black box), the social connections we've
made, the websites we've built.

But I'm also interested in the history of the developers of the user
interface. You're one of them.

I stumbled into the underpinnings, behind the firewall at webtv. I
discovered CP. It's a website with the WebTV logo, made of claymation
modeling clay. It links to a "fortune cookie" website, and to a link
with some info about people and projects. I can't access most of it; my
browser's too funky on a webtv and I can't see the pages from a PC.

It LOOKS like CP might have been a fun, innovative and creative place to
work.

Now, I'm already on shaky ground, as I've been rummaging around in the
old WebTV closets, where I don't belong. I'm basically hacking (finding
out how stuff works), as opposed to cracking (malicious intent).

MSN won't tell us users anything. We're the most neglected IP
subscribers on the 'net.

So, from a Google search of "CP" +WebTV, I've discovered a little of the
background behind WebTV development.

And I found your resume`.

I'm building what amounts to a WebTV museum, at my own expense, as a
second domain. My primary domain is http://rriverstone.com where you can
investigate me in greater detail.

Anything you share with me will be held in strictest confidence. I have
a background in freelance journalism; I protect my sources.

I'm just curious about the personal experiences of the "old school"
WebTV people.

And I'm VERY curious about CP! It just looks interesting.

Please see http://msntv.blogspot.com for some more background on what
I'm collecting for the "museum."

I doubt you ever saw the internet art we've made, utilizing audioscopes
and gradtable tags in HTML. We also experiment with PHP, CGI, Perl,
DHTML, CSS...whatever we can "tweak" to work on LBBs. It's unique art. I
hope to preserve it and exhibit it to the general public.

Thanks for your time,

Rogi A. Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com

p.s.: If you're still in touch with any of your colleagues from that
period, please tell them about me, and feel free to pass on my info to
them, as well.