Thank you for calm, good words, DP.

No, I can't/won't send my disks out to a stranger.
The matter is now laid out for discussion. I'm not a very level-headed
writer today, being this upset with anger at Microsoft for their...flub?

It's the feeling that yes, all the paranoid rants I've read about MS in
years past:
why, they're true! (so it seems).

I will pay, I guess I must, to have Ultimate as an "Anytime" upgrade.
That's sort of funny: "Anytime Upgrade" in this case means: "BUY it or you
won't have anything of your PiTiful Prior files and data" (insert Mad Dr.
Gates cackle, I joke)
_____

versed as commentary for this thread:

In days of old The Robber, bold
held up the populace!
He stopped the Stage, and to enrage
snatched your lady's necklace!

And yet, today, in modern ways
The Thief reminds of old:
he rubs us hard with a Friction
and leaves every body cold!






"DP" wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> Perhaps a reader here who has the requisite version would volunteer to try
> to retrieve your data if you send them CDs (that's if you want to entrust
> your data to a complete stranger).
>
> One other point, though I don't expect this to be terrific news for you. As
> I understand the "anytime upgrade" you're not going to have to pay the full
> cost of an ADDITIONAL version of Vista. You will just have to pay an upgrade
> cost. I don't know what those costs are, but it's not like you'll have to
> buy an additional licensed version. You'd just be upgrading your current
> version.
>
>
>
>
> "Lowered Expectations" <LoweredExpectations@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> in message news:FC6AB26E-9DAB-4CB1-977C-019B4DDD22D6@microsoft.com...[color=green]
> > Pardon, please this rant. First: thanks to the gents here who have
> > already
> > answered my earlier questions.
> >
> > The results of the answers are not encouraging me to calm down.
> > Oh well.
> >
> > --The Problem: I (and how many others?) was on the Vista beta and RC1/2
> > program.
> >
> > Near the end of the trial period I looked into purchase options.
> > Microsoft told me/us here:
> > [url]http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/preview.mspx[/url]
> > and elsewhere, that all that we need do was MAKE the backup while RC1 was
> > still viable (I did that), and then buy and install one's own preferred
> > Vista.
> >
> > ALL I was told to do was make a total back up, choose and buy a Vista
> > version.
> > I opted for Home Basic.
> >
> > I cannot put my old settings, files or folders into the new OS. Period.
> >
> > This is wrong of Microsoft. You have locked me out from my data.
> > Microsoft told us to make backup before installing the clean, paid-for
> > Vista.
> > They NEVER told me that my backup would be completely useless.
> > And furthermore, even though I'd now just like to get back to XP (which is
> > not so evil as this Vista-Thing), I cannot put my RC1 backup of data into
> > an
> > XP install.
> >
> > So I'm screwed. I paid for Vista. I can't have my data back unless I get
> > (am told elswhere here) Ultimate or something near that.
> >
> > Phooey. If anyone has a solution short of suicide of the user, please
> > tell.
> > WHAT were they thinking????
> >
> > A user, typical, not savvy, reads and believes the public information of
> > the
> > link above.
> > The link DOES not tell the user that they can't save their old data to the
> > new OS via disk. It only speaks of "Easy Transfer" between two
> > computers.
> >
> > I don't have two computers, anyway. I don't even have the one computer
> > that I had before the RC1 timeout. I have nothing. I've lost all my
> > data---until, it seems, I knuckle under and pay for Ultimate (or will Home
> > Premium do the "trick").
> >
> > A rant ends. I'm spent. Please help me? There must be thousands of
> > others
> > like me today, tearing their hair in regret at ever, ever leaving XP.
> >
> > I have been a Windows user since 1995. You'd think I'd have learned
> > something about it by now. Finally I have learned. Very sorry here.
> >
> >
> >
> > That's a boondoggle lie of gargantuan proportions.
> > Microsoft has ruined me by locking me out of my own computer.
> >
> > This deserves a new thread. It is such an literally incredible bit of
> > nonsense;
> > ANYONE going from any of the trialware Vista to paid-version Vista would
> > naturally expect to be able to move their data over to the new OS via
> > disks.
> >
> > I can't believe this.
> >
> > ----------------
> > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
> > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
> > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
> > this
> > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
> > click "I Agree" in the message pane.
> >
> > [url]http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx?mid=fc6ab26e-9dab-4cb1-977c-019b4ddd22d6&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.general[/url][/color]
>
>[/color]