Upgrade or clean install?? If you do an upgrade to Vista, it MAY invalidate your XP CD key and you won't be able to re-install XP, should you need to.

From Vista's EULA:

13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligiblefor the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

I am kinda scared to install Vista, actually.

Have fun with a 2 hour install. Also adjust your Auto update settings. By default Vista updates the system and reboots the computer at 3 am every night. For the longest time I never noticed it. But I finally got Trillian installed and noticed that it wasn't running one morning. Also be prepared for Video drivers being updated 2 or 3 times a week automatically, which removes any overclocking settings.

But I love windows + Tab (3D Flip) and gadgets.

I live! It only took me 5 hours to do the upgrade but everything came over seamlessly...except daemon tools and NAV 10.0.2

Cool. 5 hours Wow. I forgot about Symantics. Download OneCare http://onecare.live.com/ they have a 90 day trial. Until Symantic gets a Vista Compatible version.

We got the vista compatibility from symantec. This is actually my work computer so if it gets fudged up then oh well but I'm doing this more out of curiosity cause i see a lot of people here at the office just wanting to "upgrade" instead of installing fresh like most people with common sense will do.

Well, I hear with the upgrade edition, you need the old OS files to be on your computer already.

I heard the same thing. It also makes the XP key invalid once you activate Vista.

I am glad I didn't have $400 to spare on release day, because I probably would have bought it. I really am not sure I want to buy it any more...maybe I will finally take the dive and go all-Linux, all the time.

Actually neither of those statements is entirely true.

You can upgrade without even being in possession of a copy of XP. Just install it clean and when it asks for your CD Key, skip that step. It'll install the 30-day trial. Once that is installed, you can do an upgrade install with your CD key and it will count your trial version as a previous version of windows to upgrade from. Takes a little while, but it's a way to get a clean install from the upgrade disk.

Also, regarding invalidating your XP key, obviously with the above method this point is moot, but if you actually DO an upgrade, there has been NO evidence that your XP key is in any way invalidated. It says in the EULA that it will be, but nobody has been able to show that this actually happens. (Though I'd probably still go the above route just to be sure.)