Colin Barnhorst

You got an RC2 in the mail?

"UnionDatacom" <UnionDatacom@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news53CA634-849F-4607-96B8-862DF77B8ABE@microsoft.com...
>I get my Vista RC1 Beat copy in the mail, and install it. I love the OS,
>but
> it’s buggy. I got RC2 my email, and it was improved. Close enough to
> stable,
> so I kill my dual-boot config and start using it, knowing I’ve got 6
> months
> before it expires and that I can easily buy it retail by then, that was
> the
> plan anyway.
>
> So a few weeks go by and I see RTM on the Internet, but I don’t get a
> copy
> of that one in the mail. MS no doubt wants me to buy it. I’m thought that
> wouldn’t be a problem, but I can’t find it. I own a telecom company in
> Dallas. I have a few hundred Win2K3 licenses, and a dozen or so XP License
> on
> workstations: spending plenty of money with MS, but my vendor doesn’t have
> Vista, and I can’t find a vendor on the MS Partner site to sell it to me.
> I
> leave all kinds of voicemails with these rinky dink outfits, but no one
> really has it to sell me TODAY. Not even retail like Best Buy, or CompUSA,
> nobody.
>
> But I see it all over the Internet, my techs have it, my friends have it,
> but I don’t have it. So I download it, and read the details. It seems that
> this pirated RTM copy simply installs and pretends to be a beta. Now we
> all
> know even the RTM is going to have quite a few patches in the next few
> months, so in my mind the only difference is that this “beta” is a little
> newer than RC2. So I install the pirated copy, apply the crack, and I’m on
> Build 6000 that thinks it’s RC2.
>
> Well, that worked for a few weeks. Then MS released some Genuine
> Advantage
> Activation thing, I UNCLICKED that update knowing it wasn’t a good idea to
> install on my “pirated” copy, and it installed anyway. Then Vista disables
> my
> Aero (not sure why that even matters, but I miss it), and brings up the
> Software Licensing window at awkward times, steals focus, and generally
> pisses me off. But I had a previous experience with Genuine Advantage on
> XP,
> and you could complete the form, give MS your Credit Card, and they’d sell
> you a legitimate license right then. A truly ingenious move on the part of
> MS, no telling how much money they made off that one feature, converting
> lazy
> pirates to customers.
>
> But in Vista, there is no such option. The Buy Now button sends you to
> option screens, that send you to companies that can’t even sell you the
> product, not even a volume license, for any amount of money.
>
> So can someone, anyone, tell me how to buy the damn product today? I don’t
> care what it cost, I don’t even really care what version it is. I just
> like
> the basic features and want to upgrade my personal machines, and my office
> machines.
>