Is there a limit on how old your version of Office can be if you want to use the upgrade to 2000? Is the upgrade version really just a full version that looks to see if key points have been installed from other versions, just so it knows you’re already a user? In this case, it would just be an excuse to be able to sell a cheaper version to the current users.
Oh, and what happens if you have to wipe your drive eventually? If you only have the 2000 upgrade, do you have to first install your old version, and then the 2000 upgrade?
I’m not sure how new your older version has to be, I don’t think Office 4.0 will be acceptable, but if you bitch long and loudly enough, PSS should let you install it anyway. Ditto if you have erased your HD - as long as you don’t have a standalone app, or Works instead of Office, PSS will try and help you. Of course you may get some outsourced lackey who tells you to first install your old version, just tell him the media is corrupt since you last installed it three years ago and left it in the sun.
It is a full version, just cheaper b/c you have an older version.
Most version upgrades check for the existence of a qualifying program by two methods. They either see the existing version installed on the hard drive or they require that you insert the original installation disk(s) to verify eligibility.
So if you wipe your drive and re-install, you’ll need to hang onto that original disk from your old program to reinstall the new one.
I don’t know what versions Office 200 will accept for upgrade qualification, but I once used version 4.3 to install my old Office 97 upgrade. I then used the '97 version to qualify my 2000 upgrade when I last upgraded my motherboard and reformatted the hard drive.
In some cases upgrades are full versions which check for the old and in others they are increments which use part of the old. I do not know about Office 2000 as I do not have it but you can easily find out by calling MS or any store.
Actually, sailor, nearly all upgrade versions (Microsoft’s and most other companies’) are full products and use none of the original version’s components to install. Most do, however check for the existence for the old version somehow. Occasionally, a service release will be made available on CD-ROM, like the Office 2000 SR-1 Upgrade, but these can usually be downloaded for free. Inside the industry, these are usually known as “upgrade patches” as opposed to “version upgrades”.