*sulks* The Fedex arrived.

Both boxes were indeed from IBM. And I can see why the status hadn't changed. They were, respectively, the upgrade to XP professional, and the case for the laptop. (The latter had an UGLY rip down the side, and I made the guy stand there while I opened it, and confirmed that the case inside was the only thing on the list of what to expect in there....)

One little problem. The XP upgrade...does not list XP home on the box. IBM lied to me. They said that Microsoft claimed it would work from home; Microsoft says they wouldn't claim any such thing, and it doesn't.

IBM is going to take back that upgrade, and they are going to eat the shipping cost, and I hate them, and that "oh-so-helpful" salesguy. Jeez.

I'd like it if they fixed it so it has what I want when it ships. If they don't, they're going to either acknowledge the warranty when I install XP pro on it clean, or they are going to sod off, die, and take the extra cost for extra warranty off my bill.

Huh.

Microsoft sales says it can't be done (upgrade XP home->pro). IBM says Microsoft said it could be done, demo'd it being done, and customers have done it.

IBM also provided a page on the Microsoft web site which says it can be done.

I'm not sure who is messed up here, but IBM has said I can wait till I get the laptop, install the upgrade, and if it doesn't work they will take the upgrade back, even though it would be opened. So I'm going to wait.

I am now grouchy at Microsoft, grouchy at IBM (which doesn't return calls when they say they will, exactly), but rather less ticked, at any rate.

*sighs* Want my laptop. Want it working, so I can stop fussing, too.