I can’t confirm this money-saving method because I have a full Vista license already, but Computerworld mentions a way for Windows 2000 and XP users to get Vista with SP1 at up to $110 less than buying a Vista license alone. Apprently, if you purchase a Vista SP1 upgrade DVD and use it on a computer that’s already running a licensed older version of Windows, you can wipe your OS to install Vista without a product key. That makes sense because Vista will run for up to 30 days without a key. Then, using the same DVD, you should be able to install SP1 and enter the product key from the installation DVD. This allegedly by-passes the original Vista purchase to a degree since the SP1 upgrade DVD costs less than a Vista DVD. Again, I can’t confirm personally, but it makes sense to me. Even more interesting: Scott Dunn indicates that you don’t even need a prior version of Windows on the hard drive for this to work. You can perform the install / upgrade on a clean drive.
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