Erase & Install vs. Automatic Installation of Snow Leopard?

We have a MacMini running OS 10.4.11 and want to install Snow Leopard on it. One reason, among many, is that we want to run the newest version of Mac Dictate - v.1.5.8. We're concerned about different information we have received on which form of installation we need to make, and I know the installer options for Snow Leopard have changed from previous OSes. I'm not sure whether we can do an "Automatic" installation, or whether we have to do an "Erase & Install." Here's the conflicting information I've read or received, and I need some guidance on which is the best to follow.
Pogue in his "Missing Manual Snow Leopard" makes very clear that the new, improved and much smarter installer makes it so that there's "no longer any need for the classic "clean install"... every installation is, in effect, a clean install." He says that Snow Leopard can turn any OS X version 10.0 through 10.5-point-anything into version 10.6. He says, there are of course incompatible programs in the Applications folder, for which its one's job to check to make sure they've all been updated to 10.6-compatible versions.
However, the MacSpeech Mac Dictate people say, "if you are currently running 10.4.11 you will not be able to "upgrade" your operating system, you will have to do a clean install of Snow Leopard which will require your programs be reinstalled. For more information on Snow Leopard system requirements please contact Apple."
This seems to be in direct conflict with Pogue's information, which I have found to be extremely reliable - my go to source almost equal to the Apple discussion forums if I have a problem. But, Mac Dictate has a history of quirks. Is it possible that if I did an "automatic" install, the one program Mac Dictate could cause problems, or, not allow me to upgrade/install the new version of Mac Dictate?
Any help on this one? I'd like to do an automatic install and be able to utilize this improvement Apple made with the new OS, an easier installation process.
Thanks.

What about the possibility of older OS components that remain.
FWIW, I have never seen any credible evidence that this actually occurs. It seems to be a theory meant to explain some problems some users have after upgrading, but usually there are other reasons that could explain the same behavior that haven't been ruled out. AFAIK, it is kind of a "maybe/just in case" thing that justifies to some the "nuclear" solution of an erase & install to get rid of vaguely defined problems, including some unspecified 'left over' OS components that nobody seems able to identify.
Personally, I agree with Pogue & with several other users that post here frequently that consider an erase an unnecessary waste of time, except for a few very specific issues like a file system so corrupted that Disk Utility can't repair it or a HD not formatted with the GUID partition scheme.
If it were me & some company like the supplier of MacSpeech said "if you are currently running 10.4.11 you will not be able to 'upgrade' your operating system," I would at the very least ask specifically what they meant by that & why the scare quotes around the work "upgrade." This doesn't seem to have anything to do with the application itself or with installing it -- there is no mention I can find of this in any installation or upgrade instructions at the MacSpeech web site.

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PS: Yes, I am interested by the replacement pair of grey installation DVDs for my model. Where can I purchase this ?

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Message was edited by: V.K.

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Redmen34 wrote:
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Erase & Install vs. Automatic Installation of Snow Leopard?

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