Microsoft is ending MSNTV, the service that launched as WebTV back in 1996.  In the days when home computers were rare and access to the internet was even more so, Web TV made surfing the web easier and more accessible to non-computer households.

There is an explanation on the MSNTV website, and it says  the expected: with people being almost constantly online through smartphones and other devices, the need for a “stepping stone” service is long gone.  (The major revelation  might be that WebTV still existed at all. )

After shutting down Hotmail earlier this year, Microsoft seems to be thinning its portfolio of similar relics from the mid-1990s - when the internet went from being something that only geeks and nerds used to something that normal people would use while still making fun of the geeks and nerds for using it.

Not everyone is using that strategy: in February, AOL reported that it still banks $150 million quarterly from dial-up customers.

(Via GigaOM.)