High Tech House Calls has been testing a pre-release version of Windows 8 for the past two weeks. Here are some of our observations:

Microsoft is moving toward offering one user interface for their Windows phone, tablet and PC. The interface navigation is geared for a touch screen, but will also work on non-touch screen computers.

Instead of a "start button" as with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, there is a "start screen" that displays tiles representing applications. Navigation with a mouse is awkward.  There is a way to get around using the tiles interface. If you click on the desktop button and create shortcuts to the applications you use the most, you will see a Windows 7 interface. Don't have a shortcut to an application you want to use? Right mouse click and select "create a shortcut" and then browse to where the application resides. This is tedious, but only has to be been done once per application.

Microsoft is moving toward an Apple Application Library model called the Microsoft Store. At present, there are not many application in the store. This should change with time.

Many third party companies are offering software for free, or for sale to get Windows 8 to look and feel more like Windows 7. I have found some of these offerings to be helpful while coming up to speed on Windows 8.

It appears that many of the answers to Windows 8 questions offered on the Internet are out of date. The tutorial offered by Microsoft is very basic and not very helpful.

Windows 8 was released Friday, October 26th. The initial upgrade price is set at $40. Here is a link to MicroCenter to purchase Windows 8 for $38.88:  http://tinyurl.com/c5e8agk  The price will go up after January 31th.

I suggest buying the Windows 8 upgrade license now at the lower price, but waiting until the initial release problems are addressed. If you are a Vista user, here is your chance for a cheap upgrade. If you are running Windows 7, I suggest staying with Windows 7. If you are buying a new computer, try to get the computer loaded with Windows 7 with  the option of upgrading the software to Windows 8 at a latter date.

Here is a link to an extensive article on using Windows 8 that I found very helpful:

http://tinyurl.com/8dydqvd