As a Windows user of many years, I'm sure I wasn't the only one caught out by Windows Vista's novel upgrade DVDs which didn't allow a clean install of the OS. It astounded me at the time that Microsoft could contemplate rewarding loyal customers by selling an upgrade DVD that doubles reinstallation time of Windows in the event of any problems (I returned my DVDs as soon as I discovered the limitation and, somewhat annoyed, purchased full version DVDs... what business user has the time to waste installing an OS just to wipe it again?)Given that every other Microsoft upgrade product in history (including the recent ones - cf. Office 2007 Upgrade but right back to Windows 3.1 days) has been capable of asking for a previous product CD/DVD to prove upgrade eligibility, will Microsoft be punishing loyal users with this same irritating limitation on Windows 7 upgrade DVDs? Having built up an *old* laptop with Windows 7 RC and my full software profile, I shall be wanting to get Windows 7the day it comes out so would like to know the details of the upgrade DVDs in advance!

David - Actually... There IS a way to do a clean install from an "upgrade" disk. It would appear that the Windows 7 installer will be NO different. If you do a Google search, you'll no doubt find links to how it can be done. Given the nature of thetechnique, I'm not entirely sure if posting it here would upset the powers that be or not - so Google will have to be your friend. It took me all of maybe 30seconds to find the reference on how it's done.I do have SOME bad news though... When the RTM version arrives in stores near you, you won't be able to upgrade the RC to it directly. You really wouldn't want beta or RC bits floating about on your final production installation. The only legitimate upgrade path to Windows 7 will be from Vista.