NetShow was Microsoft's framework for network broadcasting, intended to compete with RealNetworks

RealNetworks

RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...

 RealMedia

RealMedia

RealMedia is a proprietary multimedia container format created by RealNetworks. Its extension is ".rm". It is typically used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio and is used for streaming content over the Internet....

. It is now renamed and marketed under the Windows Media

Windows Media

Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.The Windows Media SDK...

 umbrella.

NetShow 1.0 came out in 1996. A newer version, 2.0, was included in Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...

 SP3 in 1997. Version 3.0 came out mid-1998. The whole product line was renamed to Windows Media in October, 1999, four months before Windows 2000

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...

 appeared.

Components

• NetShow Player (version 2.0 was included with Internet Explorer 4
  Internet Explorer 4
  Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 is a graphical web browser released in September 1997 by Microsoft, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions available for Apple Mac OS, Solaris, and HP-UX and marketed as "The Web the Way You Want It".It was one of the main participants of the first...
  
   in 1997, now incorporated into Windows Media Player
  Windows Media Player
  Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
  
  )
• NetShow Services (renamed to Windows Media Services
  Windows Media Services
  Windows Media Services is a streaming media server from Microsoft that allows an administrator to generate streaming media . Only Windows Media, JPEG, and MP3 formats are supported...
  
  )
• NetShow Encoder (renamed to Windows Media Encoder
  Windows Media Encoder
  Windows Media Encoder is a freely downloadable trial version media encoder developed by Microsoft which enables content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and on-demand delivery. It is the successor...
  
  )
• NetShow Channel (renamed to Windows Media Station
  Windows Media Station
  Windows Media Station file is the session description file for Microsoft's Media Stream Broadcast protocol.Introduced with Microsoft NetShow 2.0, the file extension .NSC stands for NetShow Channel, the former name of the service...
  
  )

Related technologies

• Active Streaming Format (ASF) (later renamed to Advanced Streaming Format, then to Advanced Systems Format
  Advanced Systems Format
  Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media...
  
  )
• Microsoft Media Server (MMS)