Many thanks to all who responded to my original question: 

> Does anyone know if it is possible to install both ArcView 3.x and 8 on the 
> same machine, same partition? If so, has anyone tried this? 

I received too many responses to credit individuals, but the answer was a resounding 'yes' - noone has experienced any major difficulties in installing/running ArcView 3.x and 8.x on the same computer, same partition. This is true for both users of Win NT and Win 2000. ESRI also confirmed that the dual install should not pose any problems.

The following particulars were brought up that may be of interest: 

- during the setup of 8 (assuming 3.x is already installed), you may be prompted to remove 3.x; ignore this prompt. 
- 8 and 3.x are installed in completely separate directories, and should not interfere with one another in any fashion. 
- If using Crystal Reports, ArcView 8 requires installation of the newer Crystal Reports, which first requires uninstalling the version for 3.x. The newer Crystal Reports appears to work just fine with ArcView 3.x

- NT users may run into some resource problems with the dual install given that both 3.x and 8 need to be installed on the primary partition, which has a maximum size limit.

Thanks again to all who shared their insights. 

Tom Meuzelaar 
RockWare, Inc 
2221 East Street, Suite 101 
Golden, CO 80401 

ph. (303) 278 3534 x104 
fax (303) 278 4099 
email: tom@rockware.com 
http://www.rockware.com