With a support note quietly posted to its Web site, Microsoft confirmed what enthusiasts have long feared: Users who purchase Upgrade versions of Windows Vista will not be able to perform clean installs of the operating system. Instead, they will need to first install their previous OS and then upgrade in-place to Vista.
Thus, those of us who would prefer to do a clean install, using our legitimate CD from XP as confirmation of doing an upgrade, will not be able to do so. Just plain stupid.