First microcontroller board

I think the answers to Horace's question answered this, but I want to be double sure...

I want to get into the micro controllers, and have decided on the AVR. If I start out with the Adruino, could I later use the board as a AVR development platform. I.E. remove the boot loader, and use WinAVR and straight C or C++ and gcc to code? or would I have to get a new board?

Thanks!