How? and could I do this with XP Pro?

@super:  I believe you could do this with all Windows up until Vista (or at least the more recent versions, like 2000, XP). Even with Vista, they announced that you would be able to do that, than reneged on that promise the very weekend before Vista released, but they still had a workaround for Vista allowing a clean install.

@all: I did decide to go with Home. Like SSJ said, I could always upgrade down the line via Windows Anytime Upgrade. It may cost me more that way in the end, but chances are I'll never actually need to upgrade. At least I'll have the option available, however.

7 seems so much better than Vista that it'd be odd not to consider upgrading.

wait Windows 7 will cost only 50$ from day one? wow that somethin new.

Pro. Why?

When MS makes an OS, they make one perfect version, the complete bundle. Then for the lesser versions, they strip things out. I call this the Jenga concept.

You start out with a perfectly solid tower (Solid version of the OS)
You pull out a few sticks, still somewhat ok (couple of features and apps, runs ok most of the time)
You pull out a few more sticks, tower gets wobbly (unstable OS)

Please support your claim with evidence.

Unless they extend Home versions' support, like they did with XP, but it's not always granted, XP Home is the first and up until now only not professional version to get support longer than promised, as it's granted the same lifecycle as Pro, and even Pro received longer than usual support, one year more. But normally only "professional" versions are granted at least 5 years mainstream + 5 years extended support, more if the successor OS is released more than 3 years after, as MS grants for professional products at least 5 years mainstream support AND at least 2 years after successor release, plus 5 years extended support after mainstream expires.

Ok.

Windows 2000 Home vs Professional

Windows XP Home vs Professional

Windows Vista Ultimate vs all lower versions.

Having been an IT support guy since the 90s, I've seen a lot more frequent problems with the cheaper Windows OS versions than with the top of the line ones. It's a common thought that when you pay for the most expensive version, you're not paying for the features, you're paying for stability.

I have yet to see or hear of a stability difference between XP Home and Pro.  Considering I've been using XP Home since it released, it's pretty interesting to hear someone tell me it's less stable than Pro.

Tell me what frequent problems plague XP Home than are not found on Pro.

There are many good reasons to choose Pro over Home, my best reason is Pro includes Remote Desktop Server, so you can access your desktop from pretty much any computer in the world without any additional software install.