Netflix has been around for a while now with its mail order movie rentals. The service proved so popular that it has put a serious crimp in the rental business of some of the big players like Blockbuster. Netflix also offer a 12,000 title streaming library.

The streaming Netflix library can be accessed through set top boxes like the one from Roku and some Blu-ray players. Netflix also boasts a million installed users for the streaming application on the Xbox 360.

Windows Vista isn’t well liked by many computer users. The operating system has a reputation for consuming more resources than Windows XP did. The need for more resources to run Vista than many netbook computers offer led Microsoft to continue offering Windows XP alongside Vista.

Microsoft has announced today that it is extending the previous deadline for computer makers to move away from Windows XP that was set to retire on January 31, 2009. Microsoft has previously extended this deadline as well.

Dell is offering Windows XP on certain home PCs again instead of Vista, but you’ll pay for it. It will cost you another $150 for the older operating system. The Inspiron 1525 laptop and 530 desktop allow you to configure the system with XP, apparently taking advantage of the downgrade loophole normally reserved for business users.

I guess that means that Dell is still getting backlash regarding Vista after all this time. Many consumers are still convinced that the OS is no good and they want a Windows version they can trust. What do you guys think? Do you prefer XP or Vista?

Nothing much new to see here, but since we have been taking a look at the pissing contest between Microsoft and Apple, I thought I’d share this one as well. Microsoft’s marketing guys are spending all the money on advertising Vista instead of actually fixing Vista, so he’s holding a bake sale with some pricey cupcakes. When will it end?

Earlier this week Microsoft announced that it is delaying the release of Windows XP SP3 because of some bugs it caused with the database server with Microsoft Dynamics. Last night I went home and was looking for the automatic update bringing SP1 to Vista and found that it wasn’t there either, much to my dismay as there are a number of issues I have on Vista that I was hoping to see corrected.

Today we find out that Microsoft has indeed delayed the release of Vista SP1 to Automatic Updates as well, due to the same issue. It sounds like some of found the problem has to do with SQL Server with Dynamics. It’s unlikely that the problem is with SQL Server alone since MS is surely to have tested that at some point, but the relatively few that are out there running Microsoft Dynamics are holding it up for the rest of us.

Microsoft announced yesterday that the much anticipated Windows Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) which brings us one step closer to getting a more stable version of the Vista OS. Many businesses will often wait at least until after the first service pack of a Microsoft system before implementing it to give time for any early issues to get worked out.

The Vista SP1 isn’t expected to be available for download until mid-March and will initially come in languages of English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese with full language support to be available by the end of April. When first released the service pack will require a manual download from Microsoft but then will be added to the automatic update in April, as well.