When my preview, or beta, version of Microsoft Office 2007 was getting close to its expiration date, I was surprised at how easy it was to convert it to a fully licensed retail version:  when the software started nagging me about the impending deadline, all I had to do was punch in the license code from the officially released product and run the online activation, and I was good to go, with all of my customizations and everything else intact.  

However, the Windows Vista beta will expire in a month, and when that happens, it’s probably going to be a little more complicated.  

To convert a beta Vista installation to the final released version without losing any of your current customizations or data, you have to buy the relatively expensive full version of Vista Ultimate.  If you buy any other version -- including the lower-priced upgrades, which require you to prove you already own a copy of Windows XP -- you’ll have to wipe everything out and start again.  That’s because the beta of Windows Vista is the full meal deal Ultimate version, and anything else is considered a downgrade.  And if you decide you want to go back to trusty old Windows XP, you’ll also have to start fresh:  there is no rollback from the Vista beta to XP.  No surprise there, though:  that’s part of the reason Microsoft tells users to only install beta software on test machines and not production PCs.  

In any case, if you’re still using the Vista beta, you now have a month to consider your options.  

Read more at Tech News World.