Microsoft buckles, Ebay cuts: Other computer notes

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Some tidbits for computer users fill the space this week as some interesting news has been released on the tech front:-- Microsoft has really made some mistakes on the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. It has annoyed nearly everyone with how it has handled the release, but especially IT professionals. The company announced last week it had finished the service pack but released it only to PC manufacturers, some beta testers and the press. IT pros, many of whom pay Microsoft extra for subscriptions to get software early for testing purposes, were apoplectic that they had to download the service pack from pirate sites and not from Microsoft itself.The release to consumers is still set for mid March unless you do some Googling and discover a simple registry hack that lets you download the update from Windows Update now. The trick is, make sure you back up your data and your computer before you install your service pack. The installation will take about an hour but, again, this is not an installation to be taken lightly.Microsoft has reconsidered the release of the service pack to IT professionals and plans to move it up and it is pretty clear the release to consumers will leak to those who want it early.---Ebay has bowed to pressure from its high volume sellers and is cutting listing fees for media items like books, movies, software and DVDs. The company changed after fee changes it announced last month were met with a dull thud.That's because other sites, like Amazon.com, were not charging any listing fees (or much smaller fees) and bulk listers were really feeling the pinch of the new fees. The cuts involve items that sell in the media categories and sell for less than $25.---NetFlix, the nation's largest DVD rental-by-mail company, announced that it would rent only Blu-Ray movies for HD and would phase out the HD-DVD format. It is another nail in the coffin for the HD-DVD format, which appears to be losing badly to Sony's Blu-Ray. Already four of the six major studios have settled on Blu-Ray and I expect the others to fold soon.---Microsoft has bought Danger, which makes the cool software behind the T-Mobile Sidekick. It signals the company intense interest in the mobile phone market and another competition with Google. We're going to see a pretty intense rivalry between Google and Microsoft in the mobile phone market in the coming months and years and it is going to be way cool.---Speaking of Microsoft, the company's bid for Yahoo has been rejected but that likely won't stop the takeover. I would predict Bill Gates and company will simply switch to a hostile takeover strategy and keep going. It will be pretty interesting if it passes scrutiny in the European Union, however.(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company and tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)