During the installation you can decide if the program will run from the local hard disk, from the CD-ROM or on a network setup. You can also specify if the sound files produced by students will be saved on a floppy disk. The instructional courseware loaded very easily on the different PCs the reviewer tried. It was tested on different Windows machines with different versions of Windows, including the latest Windows 2000. The software is simple and intuitive to navigate.
Options are limited to basics, like volume control for instance.
The appearance of the screen is uncluttered. Technologically Italian Encounters is very simple, but pedagogically it is very well designed and conceived. The voices are all from native Italian speakers, with accents that cover different regional varieties. The speech speed is slower than normal in order to facilitate comprehension, but at the same time not so slow as to sound artificial. Navigation of the program is intuitive, allowing a fast learning curve.