You don't have to do anything as far as upgrading,, just pay the extra and they will let you download and install Platinum. I bought it outright on sale for $150.
I still have Professional installed ,,, hard to tell a big differance really, just the new features which I've yet to use.
I'm a few months behind on the updates so I've yet to encounter the new start screen.
But you can have both Pro and Plat installed side by side. Not that there's any logical reason but myself I just havn't bothered to remove Pro. I open both from time to time without even realizing which is which unless I look closer at the icon.