Windows 8 Release Preview is here!

Not in "early June" as previously announced, but today, the last day of May, everybody can get hold of the newest version of the evolving Windows 8 operating system. You can go directly to the Windows 8 Release Preview, which "is Windows reimagined and reinvented from a solid core of Windows 7 speed and reliability. It's an all-new touch interface. It's a new Windows for new devices." We have experienced the Developer Preview back in late summer 2011, then Consumer Preview in February 2012 and now this version which gets closer to the the release to manufacturing within the software release lifecycle. Windows 7 was and continues to be a success because people from all over the world had the opportunity to preview it before buying it or getting a new computer and, no doubt, this marketing strategy has and will continue to work for Windows 8. These are auspicious times not only for Microsoft but for the PC and mobile world at large. Let's make a toast to that!

Use the Windows Key and switch between Metro and Desktop

...and it is very likely you will enjoy the adventure of discovering what's underneath the Metro UI! The Windows Key or WinKey (to the left of the space key, and then to the left of the ALT key) as pictured here, is a wonderful key that has been there since the times of Windows 95. Once you get to the Metro Interface in Windows 8, press WinKey and E (E, for Explorer, i.e. Windows Explorer) and bingo! you are in "Desktop Mode", almost identical to the Windows 7 desktop, except, most notably, for the use of the Ribbon (as in Office) on each Explorer windows. Type also WinKey and F (F, for Find) and, attention! this is more or less the equivalent of the "Start button" (a bunch of shortcuts, nothing else!) that "a lot" of people are missing out (some of them even to the point of throwing tantrums...as I read in blog after blog). Are you there yet? OK, you will be positioned in the right hand side of the screen and will have three choices for making a search: Apps, Settings and Files. Use this feature to your heart's content. That is your Start button and the search box you had in Win 7 and in Vista. What's not to like?