Before you do this yourselves be sure that your infrastructure can support elements such as Outlook 2013, which can only access Exchange 2007 or later (even when using the newly available Exchange Active Sync protocol in Outlook, which is a nice addition). This Christmas event was the trigger for me to move to Windows 8 on my primary (BYOD) machine and properly embrace the latest Office 2013 environment. It's something that CIOs would mostly be interested in, but at another level we do need to remember our user populations too and what their experience will be during this technology transition. Last year I wrote a rather high-brow paper for our clients to explain what's new with Windows 8, advise on migration strategy and introduce the license nuances of running 'Companion Devices' - whether they be corporate ones or privately owned. (Or perhaps move to the slightly more familiar territory of the 'traditional' desktop environment, where you'll find the network status icon to address this particular example.) It is without doubt an initial hurdle for the uninitiated. However without touch you need to know the secret of placing the mouse in the corner of the screen or the magic Windows-'C' key combination. With touch you can make small gestures in from the side of the screen to reveal menu items (now called charms) which are context sensitive. So someone (that is, a normal someone, as opposed to a technically savvy Atos blog reader) who is unfamiliar with Windows 8 often just doesn’t know where to start. This new machine had no touch capabilities, and the start screen has a significantly different user experience to previous iterations of the Operating System. So after a Bucks Fizz, with added pomegranate seeds for that extra Christmasy effect, I was able to navigate the new interface to connect to one of my WiFi access points, which was just within range of the neighbour's front room, and completed the activation without too much fuss.

Now, as CTO, of course I've been running various pre-release versions of Windows 8 in a virtual machine for some time in readiness for any corporate implementations. It was an emergency he needed to activate Football Manager 2013. As the local IT support person for my village (I'm sure you know what I mean) I was approached on Christmas Day by one of my neighbours, who's grandson needed to get online using a new Windows 8 machine.

Alt f4 windows 7