see the news page. sorry it's become so confusing.

Well... wow, I didn't think it was that complicated.

Umm, so it brings me to this question:

If we use a retail key first, can we use the Preorder key later? (The one on the news post only talks about Pre-order then retail, site then pre-order, unless I missed it). And Im assuming... if you can... it will only add 1 more month, right?

Correct. You will get 2 months total, either way.

So the news is correct what it says I could give my retail key to a friend so they could try it out? But, if I do so does this retail key account need to be connected to a credit card?