Liberate Technologies grew out of Oracle's network computer effort and bet that the internet would arrive through the television. Its software ran on cable set-top boxes. It promised email, shopping and interactive programs in the living room. When it filed to go public in the summer of 1999, cable companies were promising interactive TV everywhere. Liberate wanted to be the software inside every one of those boxes.

A Platform Microsoft Didn't Control

Liberate bet that cable operators would need a standard software platform for interactive television. They would want one that Microsoft did not control. Liberate offered that platform and signed deals with major cable and telecom companies around the world, often granting them warrants in return. The warrants gave each partner a stake in Liberate's success. If interactive TV took off, Liberate would sit inside millions of homes.

Interactive TV Arrives Late

Liberate priced at $16 a share in July 1999 and became one of the most valuable software companies of the boom. Interactive TV came far more slowly than promised, and the company later restated revenue. In 2005 it sold its North American business to a venture led by Comcast. It sold its international business to SeaChange. Then it paid its remaining cash out to shareholders.

Cover: Cranes on snow-covered pine, Katsushika Hokusai. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for cranes on a snowy pine (poised for flight, liberation).