tigercorp:DoggNZ:insane: That download link suggests that the $49 Win 8 Pro download offer is an upgrade only, and not a full blown install. Is my understanding of that correct?
You can do both when you go through and choose what version (e.g Pro) and if you want to "keep your files" or not. If you can get your hands on the ISO then you can clean install anytime. The key is good for 5 activations.
When you purchase the $50 key you can download Win8 and choose to run it then or save it to iso/usb for a later install.
Obviously if you create the boot media you can choose to do a clean install, but I can confirm that the key will NOT activate for a clean install and you get a message saying it's only for upgrades.
Now where did I put that Win7 disk...
Oh stink. Is it like the good old days where it just checks you have the media for the previous version (I think XP did that?) or does it actually need to be installed?