If you are a golfer you may have experienced the swing change. Your game gets to a certain point and then you just don’t get any better after that. So you see a golf pro. They analyze your swing and then tell you some pointers to make it better. You try them and initially it feels a bit weird. That first game out, you suck and your score is worse. Next game you improve, the game after that you improve again and the game after that you are now beating your pre-pro lessons score substantially. The change in your swing really worked, you are much better now than you were before.

I am amazed at some the commentary on Windows 8. Yes the interface suggests that you change your swing. You can of course just push the desktop button and go back to 95% of windows 7 if you wish. There is no question the interface is optimized for touch screens. Get one.

The point of Windows 8 is that it can make everything faster and easier on touch. If you are using it with just a mouse, you missed the point. It’s about changing the way you interact with your computer in a faster, more efficient and yes easier way. To benefit from this you must be willing to change your swing.

I am a power user. I make my living writing and communicating on a PC. Let’s look at a very standard scenario

Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee or tea and I will do the same. Log onto your windows 7 computer with a mouse and I will log into my Windows 8 touch computer.

• Open Outlook
• Read an email
• Search for and find a word doc, find content 40 pages in cut and paste into your email
• Check a favorite web site for content to include in the email
• Find an excel spreadsheet from 6 months ago, review it
• Find a picture you stored mid last year and paste it into Excel
• Send both in an email to the sender or post it to SkyDrive and send the link
• Call the email sender via LYNC voice and tell them what you found, what you sent
• Lock your computer

While I now take the first sip of my piping hot coffee, a number of minutes from now you may join me but your drink will be cold. Windows 8 touch is THAT good.

When I first tried Windows 8 (and I got it way before you did!) it was like changing my golf swing. I was looking for the start button, and did not know why I could not close the applications with the familiar X. Now I realize after using Windows 8, that both of those activities (which I likely did hundreds of times each day) where completely superfluous. They were activities that WINDOWS wanted me to do, not activities that actually added value to my work process. Now they are gone. Is it a little weird for the few hours while you unlearn all those things that Microsoft made you do? Yes. I can guarantee you though that once you have used Windows 8 touch for a month, you would never, ever consider going back to non-touch Windows 7 platform. It would be like adding back 10 points to your golf handicap.