Not true. The upgrade from Windows 2000 to XP Professional *is* a
valid upgrade path, and the Upgrade version of XP works fine for this.

I have two answers for you:

1. Buy the Retail Upgrade package. There are only two other choices:
Full Retail package and OEM.

The Full Retail package costs significantly more, has no advantages
for you, since you qualify for the Upgrade. I think buying an OEM
version is a very poor choice.  An OEM copy comes with several
restrictions, the most severe of which is that its license ties it
permanently to the first computer it's installed on. It can never
legally be moved to another computer,
sold, or given away (except with the original computer).

Instead I recommend a Retail Upgrade copy, which in most cases can be
bought for very close to the same price. And contrary to what many
people think, an Upgrade copy *can* be used to do a clean
installation, as long as you have a copy of a previous qualifying
version of Windows to insert as proof of ownership when prompted to do
so.

However, note that, unlike with previous versions of Windows, an
upgrade to XP replaces almost everything, and usually works very well.

My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much
easier than a clean installation. You can always change your mind and
reinstall cleanly if problems develop.

However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the need
to backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting to
upgrade, it's always prudent to recognize that things like a sudden
power loss can occur in the middle of it and cause the loss of
everything. For that reason you should make sure you have backups and
anything else you need to reinstall if the worst happens.

2. Buy a copy of XP *Home* instead, since it is much less expensive,
and will very likely meet your needs.. XP Home and Professional are
identical except that Professional includes a few features (mostly
related to security and networking) missing from Home? Most home users
don't need and would never use these extra features and will see no
benefits by choosing Professional instead.

For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp>

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note another point, not included in any of the above:
Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and Home only
five.

However, note that Windows 2000 to XP Home is *not* a valid upgrade
path and you would need to do a clean installation. However in this
case, I still recommend buying an Upgrade copy. If you don't have a
copy of a previous qualifying version of Windows 9X to insert as proof
of ownership when prompted to do so, you can buy a used copy
of Windows 98 very cheaply someplace like eBay.

If you do a clean installation, it is not possible to save programs.
All installed programs (except for an occasional very small one) have
files and pointers to them within Windows, in the registry and
elsewhere. So if you aren't running the Windows copy they were
installed under, the pointers and files aren't available and the
programs won't run. Programs have to be reinstalled from the original
media.

In addition to Ken's advice, I would recommend that you run
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/advisor.mspx to make sure
that you have the proper equipment to upgrade to XP as not all Win 2000
compliant systems will properly run XP.  This advisor will show what you
need before committing to an upgrade that won't work.

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition UPGRADE with SP2
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Home-UPGRADE-SP2/dp/B0002423YK

JS

    Of course there is.  Win2K Pro is a qualifying product for the upgrade
to WinXP Pro.

    The one that best meets *your* specific computing needs, about which
you've told us nothing.  (WinXP Media Center Edition, WinXP Tablet PC
Edition, and WinXP x64 Edition are all probably out because they each
have very specialized hardware requirements and are available only as
factory pre-installed systems.)

Five editions of Windows XP compared
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/evaluation/compare.mspx

    Same way.  Assuming that you're using Internet Explorer, just save the
Favorites folder from your user profile.

    These will all have to be reinstalled from their respective original
installation media, unless you perform an in-place upgrade to WinXP Pro.

Yes, there is, this would be the XP Pro Upgrade version.

Windows 2000 to XP Home is considered a downgrade, as it loses key
networking features, so that's not available.

Do you need to log onto a domain, run IIS, or use encryption?   If not, XP
Home is cheaper.

Consider that if your system is Windows 2000, the hard disk is perhaps five
years old.   Instead of saving files, remove the hard disk, put in a new
one, install XP and update it; install your apps.   *Then* reattach the old
drive and copy the files over.   It's very easy to do, very fast and
reliable.   When you get the new hard disk, also get a USB2 card and

As to your old apps like Office, either you will use an XP Pro Upgrade or
you will reinstall them.  Copying the program files over will *not* work.

Having said all that - consider your options.   Is your system capable of
running XP?  Plus, it's not difficult to find a 3-gHz Pentium 4 with 512 meg
memory and with a legal XP Pro license for around CDN$250.    A new XP Home
license is around $140.

HTH
-pk