I have seen the future. I have touched it. And it was awesome.

Last night I found (via Digg) a way to open up the "Watch It Now" tab in Netflix.  This feature gives you the ability to watch around 1000 movies via your computer (they have been slowly rolling out this service to customers over the past month or so).  It's all included in your plan -- every $1 you pay per month gives you an hours worth of viewing time, without affecting your physical DVD queue at all.  There's no waiting, virtually no software to download, just click "Play" and you're instantly watching.

Seeing how I'm bed-ridden (I've got a nasty case of the flu), I've watched about four movies/TV specials via this service in the past 15 hours.  It is unbelievably awesome.  This is what I've always dreamed of: a massive archive of content available instantly that's billed via a monthly subscription plan.  No waiting for the DVD to show up, no loading it into the player, no returning it, just click then watch.

The chief factor holding this service back right now, however, is the selection.  Netflix has only been able to convince a small number of content owners (studios, networks, etc.) to take part in this service.   Thus, there are only about 1000 movies.  A lot of it is big name stuff, but a lot is also really crappy "what the hell is this" kind of stuff. 

When (if?) more content owners sign-on, this could change everything.  Assuming, that is, that Netflix is also working on a device similar to Apple TV.  While I don't mind watching movies on my laptop, most people do and won't.  Maybe Netflix and Apple should join forces?  That would be a very good day indeed.