Because this device will be entirely powered by MSN, the Companion actually represents a new generation of online services and portals. The Redmond, Wash., software titan has operated its online service since 1995, but it runs on a PC with all its possible configurations of hardware and software. Although you'll still be able to browse non-MSN sites, it's really a portal and browser in one, as Microsoft says. It's inevitable that the Web will become more homogenized, and it's already begun. Some consolidation is good, of course, as it helps organize the chaos and din of a thousand competing voices, but let's not go overboard.
Limited choice is never fun.
The experts predicted a portal shakeout as early as 1999, and most of them identified Yahoo, AOL and MSN as the inexorable winners. I agreed with them back and then, and I think this notion will still hold true. And this is good for the user. With both Microsoft and AOL poised to launch interactive TV services, portals are already extending their brands to the hardware and media arenas. If these products help bring the Web more into the mainstream, then that, too, is good for the user, I suppose.