Installing and upgrading help

Ok, je non comprend pas..but try this... 

Moodle can be installed using the mssql database instead of MySQL, simple operation, point the installation to the created database, not the MySQL.

Create the database in mssql and then in the config.php file. point the $CFG-->dbhost to the new database. There may be a number of other things you will have to do to get Moodle and mssql talking together, as pointed out here, in this Moodle Doc. 

Using something like phpMyAdmin, do a dump of the database, and then reload the dump file as a flat file to the mssql, that should work. I really do not know enough about mssql to know how or if it will accept a flat file, but I am thinking this is pretty much a standard operation for all the databases I have used.

And, you are right, sometimes we forget that other people's priorities are not in our particular perceptions of the world, we should have been more helpful and less critical.  

Well, I recently saw a study (I can't find it now, of course..duh!) that compared costs, and the report suggested that OS was a more viable option financially than PS, but this article says it better than I ever could...

But you really should not have to. 

One of the major discussion points of MoodleMootAu15 was this issue of bulk handling of courses. This same thing being one of the major development tasks requested.

There was a plugin developed that did the same job as phpMyAdmin that was easy to install and run called Moodle Adminer. This should allow you to export the database as a csv file in Excel format. If this works, that would make the task a lot easier...  AFAIK, there is no size limitation.

I've been here with some clients.  As database common standards are a myth, moving databases is a hellish job.  IMO the OP should stop moaning about MySQL and get on with it or start with a fresh installation and back/restore or recreate the courses.  The big lesson here is proper planning in the first place.

Also consider that Moodle is developed and tested on MySQL and PostgreSQL. While it should be fine on other supported DBs it wouldn't be my first choice.

No Visvanath, I don't know if it can be done right now. What I am suggesting is that the internal mechanisms of each database do not need to be the same. (Overlooking Howard's comments, which is, admittedly, not a sensible thing to do.. ..) IF they use a common, standardized SQL file output, which it should, then it doesn't matter how that file is read inside the environment and it won't matter which SQL compliant database is used. I suspect it would also make the Moodle data extraction layer a lot simpler, but, I really don't know. 

Using phpMyAdmin, I created a *.SQL file backup of my database. Opening that file and going over it fairly carefully, and if I had access to an old Borland Interbase server I used to use, I think I could restore that SQL file to that server, recreate that database despite the age of that server. I couldn't use it on my Moodle I think, but the database would be restored and accessible.  I don't have access to an MSSQL server anymore, so I can't test that out, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, unless there is something in MSSQL that does not read the SQL file.

There should be an easy mechanism to convert MySQL to MSSQL, I know it is easy to export to a CSV file from MySQL that can be opened in Excel, but I am not sure how to get from there to an MSSQL database. You might, if you have the time, do it one table at a time, I understand that currently  this is the only likely way it can be done, but I have no MSSQL server to practice this on. Obviously the tools developed so far have either fallen in disuse and not upgraded, or been ignored and not maintained. This is another instance where the Dark Side could really help, release the original source code as OS and let someone else work on them.

So I am hoping there is developed a straightforward way of doing it.... but I am not expecting it anytime soon.   

ASIDE: I loved using Interbase. Its small footprint and incredibly undemanding admin requirements makes it ideal for smaller users of Moodles. It is fully scalable, and offers separate encryption/db handling routines that allows devs to maintain strong security with minimal inputs well that is what I found anyway. Pity that it isn't used as one of the preferred db options by Moodle. 

EDIT: Just looking up what has happened to Interbase, it might still be usable as Firebird, an OS implementation originally forked in 2002. mmm long bow here and now way off topic...