Everybody talked about thin clients and Java as an OS at that time, there was a massive Java hype going. The things Microsoft struck preempively against largely

Everybody talked about thin clients and Java as an OS at that time, there was a massive Java hype going. The things Microsoft struck preempively against largely never materialized thanks to super-crappy broadband (if it even existed) and lousy early Java performance (there are dozens of Java office suites, browsers etc that never got traction or was canned before release thanks to general unmarketability).