Article 18 - My Life at WebTV
One of the articles I wrote for ASCII DOS/V computer magazine
When I last wrote about my job, back in Article 6, I was working as a manager at Netscape. Now, I am working as an individual programmer, at WebTV. Even though it is a new company, there are many similarities between my current job and my previous jobs. For example, the man who is now my boss was also my boss four years ago, when we both worked at Taligent. He is not the only old friend working at WebTV. In all, I have worked with about 20 of my current co-workers (out of about 100 total software engineers) at previous companies. Even the office furniture seems familiar, because the building where I now work used to be rented by Netscape.
I work from 10:00am to 8pm, Monday through Friday. I drive to work. My commute is about 15 minutes. My office building is a 2-story building that houses about 250 people. Except for the top executives, who have hard-walled offices, everyone has their own 8' by 10' cubical. This kind of office environment is pretty standard for Silicon Valley. The main Microsoft campus, up in Redmond Washington, is almost all hard-walled offices. I've worked in both kinds of environments, and I slightly prefer cubicles because it's easier to talk with other engineers.
WebTV is a subsidiary of Microsoft. WebTV's main product is the WebTV Internet receiver. The WebTV Internet receiver uses your TV as its monitor, and connects to the world-wide web using your phone line. The WebTV receiver allows you to surf the web, send e-mail, read newsgroups, and so on. It's cheaper and easier to use than a personal computer. There are two versions of the WebTV receiver -- the WebTV Classic and the WebTV Plus. The WebTV Classic costs $150 and does everything I've mentioned so far. The WebTV Plus costs $250, and adds several TV-related features, such as an electronic program guide which tells you what TV shows are on.
My job is to bring games to the WebTV Plus. Currently, the WebTV Plus is restricted to playing web-based games written in HTML and JavaScript. These kinds of games can't have as fancy graphics or sound as normal computer games. My assignment is to figure out how to enable games written in C, or C++, to run on the WebTV Plus. (This is not a product announcement! I may not succeed, and even if I do succeed, WebTV may choose not to deliver these games.) If I am successful, it should be a very nice additional feature for our customers.
6/21/99 - Note to WebTV subscribers. As it turns out, I was not able to make games work on the WebTV Plus. I was able to make them work on the Echostar 7100 Dishplayer, instead. I'm sorry for raising the hopes of WebTV Plus owners. (You know, if you're interested in Satellite TV, the Dishplayer is a pretty nice system. :-) )
My job is to solve all parts of the problem, including: how to create the games, how to deliver them to the customers, how the customers can switch between web browsing and playing games, and how WebTV (and game developers) can make money from all this. In addition, I am responsible for converting two preexisting computer games from the PC to the WebTV. (I can't say which games, because it is still a secret. Sorry!)
I like this job because it brings me into contact with many different parts of the WebTV organization. I talk with marketing people about business models. I talk with hardware engineers about the capabilities of the receiver. I have had to learn and modify both the client code (the code that runs inside the WebTV Plus receiver) and the service code (the code that runs on servers located at WebTV, and talks to all the client receiver). I modified the client code so that it can receive, store, and launch games. I modified the service code so that users can sign up for games and have them downloaded to their box. Even if we decide not to make games a part of the WebTV service, I think my knowledge and modifications will be useful for other projects.
In addition to learning about WebTV, I've learned the inside details of two modern computer games. As part of making them work on the WebTV Plus, I've had to adapt them to the lower resolution TV screen. I have enjoyed exchanging e-mail with the original developers of these programs. One of the developers is something of a hero of mine. It has been an honor to have a chance to interact with him.
Finally, I've had to take a cram course in the games industry. There have been a lot of changes since 1984, when I was last seriously working on games. In order to catch up, I have had to read several books on the Windows, COM, and DirectX APIs. I've also attended the two largest game-related conferences in the US: The Computer Game Developer Conference, which is for game developers, and the E3 conference, which is for game publishers and retailers. These conferences have helped me learn what kinds of games game developers are working on these days.
In the interest of fairness, I will mention a few downsides of my new job: First, the WebTV company is relatively unknown. It's not as famous as Netscape. Second, all my friends are hardcore PC users. Even my parents like their PCs too much to consider switching to a WebTV. (My secret plan is to buy them a WebTV for Christmas. I bet that they will like it once they've tried it.) Finally, it is a little awkward to be working for a subsidiary of Microsoft. In Silicon Valley, Microsoft is both loved (for all the good programs it makes) and hated (for its success and its competitiveness). So my friends who work at other companies are always teasing me.
Did I mention that I love my job? I like computer games, I like the web, and I like putting systems together. It is, of course a lot of work, but I hope, over the next few years, to be able to bring games to the WebTV platform. And in the meantime, I love having an excuse to buy and play computer games at work!
Illustrations:
My office, my home away from home. It even has cable TV!
Zaza, the WebTV Robot. A hobby of Andy Rubin, Zaza roams the hallways after hours. There are two TV cameras on Zaza's head. There is a special "Robot TV" channel where you can watch what the Robot sees.