Windows XP embedded question

I'm not sure about all this, but it seems that licenses for an XPE device are $90. but the development kit is almost $1000.

Is it possible to develop an XPE OS for a carputer and just pay $90 for it when its 120 day trial expires?

I understand that there are a few genuine XPE developers on this forum. Would it be legal for them to write me and XPE load and I just pay the licese to use it? Or am I wrongly understanding how the whole deal works???

I like the idea of a stripped down XPE load using a custom front end as the shell with a uberfast SSD hard drive and hoping to get sub 10 secs bootup, including POST. But if possible I dont want to rely on someone building my XPE OS for me, Id like to do it myself, but I just cant pay that 1000 for the dev kit. But I dont mind the $90 for the OS

you can't enter the device license in the image without a tool license. yes, some here on the forum will tell you it's possible to find licenses or cracks for the tools.

it could be possible for someone to build custom licensed images. it's just more of a logistical issue. you'd need to send the developer your hardware so he can work on it and debug it properly. he'd need to make sure the image has all the dependencies for what you need. then what happens if you want to make a change and you don't have the tools? you have to rely on that one person all the time to keep giving you updates. i doubt it would be free unless that person has a lot of spare time on their hands. ;)

OK sounds like I'll just have to go with nLite or vLite. Thanks for the info.