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"  Microsoft has a lot up its sleeve for the coming months \u2014 the release of operating system Windows 8, the Microsoft Office suite for 2013, and the first-ever Microsoft tablet, Surface. All are aimed at creating a modern, cohesive approach to Microsoft products and services. I&amp;#039;ll do a deep dive into all three in my next few posts but thought I&amp;#039;d give you an overview of the main takeaways for each. Windows 8 The newest installment of the world&amp;#039;s most popular operating system offers a radical departure from the traditional desktop interface we&amp;#039;ve grown accustomed to on our computers. From the tiled Start screen interface to the improved backend features of Windows 8, the changes will make using your machine a fluid and synchronized experience. Microsoft is aiming for consistency so the experience you&amp;#039;re used to on your tablet will be more or less the same on your laptop or desktop PC. I particularly love that many of the tiles are &amp;quot;live&amp;quot;, meaning they&amp;#039;ll update automatically with new and important information - so your mail tile will populate with a preview of your latest email, your weather one with the current conditions, and your people app will have updates from whatever social networks you have added. You can turn off this feature if you find it too overwhelming. Try it out for yourself with the Release Preview.  The New Microsoft Office The basic functionality of the new Office suite will still allow you to write and edit documents (Word), create beautiful presentations (PowerPoint), compute intricate spreadsheets (Excel), jot notes down (OneNote), and send emails (Outlook). But Microsoft is taking a novel approach by offering a subscription-based cloud model. While this may sound scary to some of you, it&amp;#039;s a tremendous value. For an annual fee of $100, your subscription will cover your household - letting you set up 5 devices with 5 different users. You&amp;#039;ll also be able to temporarily access Office applications on any Internet-connected PC or change the devices you selected for your account. This means you won&amp;#039;t be tethered to the computer on which you installed Office and can curate your Office experience to your personal settings. When your daughter signs on, she&amp;#039;ll have quick access to the documents she&amp;#039;s working on and won&amp;#039;t have to cut through the clutter of everyone else&amp;#039;s. Of course, if you don&amp;#039;t have a full household, you can opt for the traditional Office suite for $140. Another plus: The new design will work just as naturally with touch or a stylus as it does with a keyboard and mouse. You can also try a preview of the new Office if you&amp;#039;d like to test the waters.  Microsoft Surface This is the first time Microsoft is coming out with its own tablet and it offers much more functionality than the tablets you&amp;#039;re used to. A cover seamlessly doubles as a keyboard, a hidden integrated kickstand allows for easy viewing, a full USB port keeps you connected, and a rear-facing camera angled at 22 degrees means your camera won&amp;#039;t be facing down when it&amp;#039;s sitting on a table. Unlike other tablets that require additional add-ons to increase productivity, you can get stuff done with Office right out of the box thanks to the new fluid Windows 8 ecosystem and hardware setup. While Microsoft won&amp;#039;t give an exact date, based upon industry intel, it should be available starting October 26th.  I&amp;#039;m the most excited about seeing all three work together in harmony by using the new Surface tablet running Windows 8 loaded up with Office 2013! But while I&amp;#039;ve been waiting for the full launch, I&amp;#039;ve been using the Windows 8 and Office 2013 previews and can&amp;#039;t wait to share some of the tips and tricks I&amp;#039;ve learned along the way! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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