Lottery Post Journal

Although lots of Lottery Post members and visitors are completely non-technical when it comes to computers, there are a good number who are pretty handy with technology, and smartly keep up-to-date with the latest.

Windows 8 is just around the corner for the public, with an official release date of October 26, 2012.  But developers (like me!) with subscriptions to Microsoft developer programs have had the final release of Windows 8 for about a month now, so good information about the new operating system is already starting to be disseminated in blogs, tweets, and all the usual channels.

I have had early versions of Windows 8 running for a long time before the final release, mainly to be sure Lottery Post and USA Mega are properly supported under Windows 8 BEFORE the public starts using it.  I made the important changes back on July 12th.  I was happy to see that the final release did not require any changes for either site.

I am in the process of trying to get Microsoft to include Lottery Post on its list of approved Flash content sites, so that the Flash components of the site (such as the Results Map) will be visible even in the Metro version of Internet Explorer.  (Microsoft is limiting which sites can have Flash content visible in the Metro version of IE in order to increase security throughout Windows 8.  This only goes for the Metro version of IE -- using the Desktop version of IE all Flash content is always visible.)

My primary test computer for Windows 8 is actually an Apple iMac.  Last year I picked one up specifically for doing some Windows 8 work, because I needed an all-in-one PC with a big screen.  So right after buying it I upgraded the memory (which is pretty simple), and replaced the hard disk (which is very hard in an iMac).  With the Apple OS/X operating system gone, I installed Windows 8, which was pretty easy to do.  The Apple Bootcamp drivers for Windows 7 seem to work well under Windows 8 also, so everything is working fine.  The iMac actually makes a pretty nice Windows 8 computer, although I would really like to have a touchscreen monitor for Windows 8.  (Next PC.)

Over the course of the next few months I'll try to include some Windows 8 posts in my blog, for those who are interested.

I'll also include links (where appropriate) to other technology articles and blogs out there that are helpful for people wanting to learn about Windows 8.

So here's a nice one I found today.  It is in Scott Hanselman's blog -- one of my favorite technology blogs.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Windows8ProductivityWhoMovedMyCheeseOhThereItIs.aspx