The MSN Companion was a small-scale

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

terminal that was designed for easy access to MSN services on the Internet, such as

Hotmail Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. It also provides a webmail interface accessible via web browser or mobile apps featuring mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and ...

, while still being cheap and easy to use. They were intended for use by people with little knowledge of computers or technology, and many included several features aimed at the elderly or

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

, such as easier-to-read monitors. The device was designed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

History

The device was first unveiled at the COMDEX conference in November 1999, where it was first described as a 'MSN-based Web companion'. In June 2000, Vestel USA Inc,

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology, information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compati ...

and

eMachines eMachines was a brand of economical personal computers. In 2004, it was acquired by Gateway, Inc., which was in turn acquired by Acer Inc. in 2007. The eMachines brand was discontinued in 2013. History eMachines was founded in September 1998 by ...

began working with Microsoft to create the first MSN Companions. Mock-ups of

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, Acer and Inventec Companions were also seen. While the MSN Companion was initially received with praise, it did not perform successfully in the market and

and MSN stopped providing support for Companions in October 2003.

Early Companion models

All MSN Companions ran an early version of

Microsoft Windows CE Windows CE, later known as Windows Embedded CE and Windows Embedded Compact, is a discontinued operating system developed by Microsoft for mobile and embedded devices. It was part of the Windows Embedded family and served as the software foun ...

, and were shipped with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. However, the hardware provided by each manufacturer was significantly different, with some companies choosing to use a wireless keyboard over a wired one. The Vestel package included a 15-inch monitor (or a 10-inch

LCD monitor A thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) is a type of liquid-crystal display that uses thin-film transistor, thin-film-transistor technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active mat ...

) and a PS/2 keyboard with a touchpad. The device itself had 32MB (+16MB flash) of memory, a 200 MHz

Geode A geode (; ) is a geology, geological secondary formation within sedimentary rock, sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Geodes are hollow, vaguely spherical rocks, in which masses of mineral matter (which may include crystals) are secluded. The crys ...

processor, two

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

ports, a phone jack, and a

parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers ( personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (paralle ...

. The eMachines package was similar, offering a 17 or 19-inch monitor instead of an LCD one and an 'eBoard' keyboard and standalone mouse. The Compaq MSN Companion shipped with an LCD screen and a wireless keyboard with a mouse built-in. Compaq machines had 32MB (+16MB flash) of memory, a 266 MHz

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

processor, four

ports, a phone jack, and, in some models, an

ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

port for networking.

References

{{Compaq Microsoft hardware Windows CE devices Personal computers Computer-related introductions in 1999

History

Early Companion models

See also

References