Hello Club WebTV members!

This last month gave us a lot to be proud of and thankful for. The WebTV Internet terminal was the recipient of Internet World magazine's annual Consumer Hardware Award for the best new Internet device! According to Internet World, a Mecklermedia publication, our competition was fairly formidable, with finalists such as Hughes' DirecPC, AT&T's PocketNet Phone, U.S. Robotics' X2, and Rockwell's 56-Kbps technology. Be sure to check out the whole awards listing! Club WebTV members will note that Internet World chose to depict our home page featuring the announcement of the first Club WebTV newsletter!

Then, as most of you know by now, there was the not-so-small matter of Microsoft making a bid to purchase WebTV Networks, Inc. for $425 million. If you haven't read Steve Perlman's letter on the announcement, you can read all about it in last month's newsletter!

Additionally, UUNET Technologies, one of the Internet Service Providers we use to provide our members with access to the Internet, has announced plans to spend $300 million to upgrade their systems and add additional local access phone numbers throughout the country.

Last, but certainly not least, is the terrific response we've gotten from Club WebTV members. We've received hundreds of letters full of suggestions and praise for the WebTV Network and the Club WebTV newsletter. We've also received many submissions for Serendipity, The Playground, and Customer Corner, including many fabulous web sites created by members using their WebTV Internet terminals.

This month's issue has some surprises in store. Serendipity is 100% member-generated. All the sites, including member's own pages, were submitted by members. Speakeasy features WebTV newsgroup moderator Kieca Mahoney with advice and tips for submitting the best post to a moderated group. 'Elvis' will once again dazzle us with his wit and choice of entertainment sites in The Playground. Our own Phil Goldman will tell us all about the history of WebTV Networks, Inc. in Founders' Forum, WebTV Tips has more advice, tips and tricks, and Customer Corner includes some very interesting statements and suggestions from Club WebTV members. This month's In the Family is written by guest editor Bob Kernen from our Programming Department and will focus on kids' issues. Finally, The Inside Scoop, written by guest editor Lennart Lövstrand in our Software Engineering department will explain how upgrades happen and what's involved in that process. Speakeasy features WebTV newsgroup moderator Kieca Mahoney with advice and tips for submitting the best post to a moderated group.

Enjoy!

The Editors