I've taken the plunge...
I finally did it. I ‘upgraded’ my home pc to XP. It took forever, probably b/c I have a pretty slow processor - 400mhz, but it’s up, it’s running, and I didn’t lose any of the file structure.
I did have to start over 1 time, b/c I ran into a registry problem on setup, but barring that and how long it took, it was pretty painless! Now, all I have to do is convince the higher ups at work that I should do the same on my dev boxes there - and Bob’s your uncle, Chris is finally a part of the 21st century!