When the iPlayer first launched the BBC was criticised for producing versions that only worked with Microsoft's Windows XP and which used Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) system to enforce viewing restrictions.
Hard to believe, but it was 10 years ago today, October 25, 2001, that Microsoft introduced Windows XP, an operating system so successful that users today promise to switch away from it only when you pry their cold, dead fingers off their mouse.
FORBES: Happy 10th Birthday, Windows XP! Why We Still Love You
In addition to XP, Microsoft is also launching Xbox, its entree into the profitable games console market, and .
Thousands of computers running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system were unable to connect to the internet after installing an anti-virus update.
BBC: Kaspersky anti-virus cuts web access of thousands of PCs
Much advice on offer online suggests souping up the specification of a netbook so it can run Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, rather than the free, open-source Linux system that is offered as standard on many netbooks.
The core of why XP remains so popular is how difficult and expensive Microsoft makes it to upgrade, the Vista debacle (which proved XP was just fine, thank you) and the incredibly lightweight justification Microsoft offers as to why upgrading makes sense.
FORBES: Happy 10th Birthday, Windows XP! Why We Still Love You
In mid-May the OLPC group unveiled a deal with Microsoft to put the Windows XP operating system on the XO.
Evidence of this phenomenon is how support for Windows XP, which Microsoft really wanted to cut, has been extended again and again.
Microsoft has twice granted Windows XP a reprieve to allow computer makers to get licences for it for far longer than was originally planned.
And even the programmer concerned said that users of Microsoft's new Windows XP operating system, which is irrevocably integrated with Passport as a means of forcing it into the mainstream, would not have been affected.
While it is not necessary for Microsoft to score heavily immediately with XP, longer term the product takes on more significance.
Lately, Intel has supported OLPC, though this week said it would leave its board, and Microsoft is trying to tweak Windows XP, an earlier operating system, to work on the XO.
Many customers are sticking with Microsoft's older software, Windows XP, rather than buying Vista at retail.
And on Tuesday, Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called on Microsoft to delay the release of Windows XP until the company created a more level playing field for other software companies.
Day-to-day, I find my old Windows XP machines, running equally old Microsoft and other applications, do everything I need done.
FORBES: Happy 10th Birthday, Windows XP! Why We Still Love You
Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, which is due out on October 25th, could also motivate many firms to upgrade their PCs and related equipment and software.
If Microsoft will not delay the release of Windows XP, the New York senator said he wants some of the states involved in the anti-trust case to seek a court injunction to block its release.
Fifty-six percent of the machines Reeves sells run Microsoft Vista, while 44% are sold with XP.
Microsoft also released its latest operating system, Windows XP (short for "experience"), in October amid continued legal wrangling.
Experts say there is no patch available for the flaw, which affects computers running Windows XP, ME, 2000 and Windows Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
For answers to questions about upgrading to Windows XP without buying a new computer, Microsoft's MP3 audio quality and running PC programs on an emulator, check out my Mossberg's Mailbox column in Tech Center.
At startup XP displays an icon for Windows Messenger, Microsoft's knockoff of AOL's market-leading Instant Messenger.
The United States Justice Department did not seek to delay the release of XP, despite concerns from certain groups that Microsoft was continuing to violate antitrust regulations.
According to the Microsoft Web site, the operating systems affected include Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows 2000 SP2, Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows 2000 SP4.
Last year, Microsoft was forced to release a bowdlerized version of its Windows XP software, later named Windows XP Home Edition N--the 'N' in the new name standing for "not with media player".
We already knew that Microsoft was planning to roll out the 2005 version of their Windows XP Media Center operating system tomorrow, but the bigger deal is that they're also announcing what's known as Plays For Sure.
ENGADGET: Plays For Sure: Microsoft's big announcement tomorrow
Microsoft has published a security advisory for the bug, along with workarounds to protect XP users.
Microsoft has registered 200 million Passport accounts, largely through its free Hotmail service and Windows XP.
It runs on Microsoft 's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Windows XP and requires a PC with an Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) Pentium 4 running at 1.3 gigahertz or higher, though a chip running at 2 Ghz or higher is recommended.
It is perhaps not surprising that Microsoft's retail users are slow to migrate from the familiar (PCs running Windows 7 and XP) to the unfamiliar (PCs running the radically different Metro interface, and a new product category in Surface).
ENGADGET: Editorial: Microsoft is singing the right tune with some wrong notes
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