Phil Goldman

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Phil Goldman (1964 – December 25, 2003) was an American engineer and entrepreneur best known for co-founding WebTV.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 References

[edit] Early life

Growing up in San Mateo, California, Goldman attended San Mateo High School graduating in 1982.^[1] The Princeton University computer science graduate would go on to hold 19 patents.

[edit] Career

Mr. Goldman helped upgrade the Macintosh operating system at Apple Computer where he worked with Steve Perlman and Bruce Leak. The three later found themselves coworkers at General Magic, where Goldman oversaw communications products.

In 1995, the three founded WebTV Networks, Inc., offering a dialup thin client sold to consumers on the basis of ease-of-use and modest cost.

WebTV was literally a Silicon Valley garage startup, having been founded in a former auto dealership in Mountain View, California. The company leveraged their limited startup funds, provided in part by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, by licensing a reference design for the appliance to Sony and Philips. Eventually other companies would also become licensees and WebTV would profit on the monthly service fees. After 22 months, the company was sold to Microsoft for $425 million, with each of the three founders receiving $64 million. ^[2]

Even after the sale of WebTV to Microsoft, the three founders remained in management positions with the company. Goldman left in 2002 to found Mailblocks, Inc., an e-mail provider using whitelisting to fight spam.

[edit] Personal life

Goldman tried to build a Jack in the Box restaurant near his office in Los Altos, California, but the city refused him permission. ^[2]

Goldman's house rabbit, a gray dwarf, that became the unofficial mascot of General Magic. "Bowser" moved to WebTV Networks when Goldman did, roaming the halls, offices and conference rooms, sometimes chewing on cables. The programmers at WebTV adopted "Bowser" as the code name for their browser.^[2]

Goldman also served as a director of BraveKids, a charity that uses the internet to provide information and support for families of children with serious illnesses.

Although a self-described "fitness nut" who often lifted weights, and was notoriously careful about his diet, he died of heart failure on December 25, 2003 age 39 at his home in Los Altos Hills, California. ^[3]