ABR 11 / 11.5 & Windows 8 ... mixed 11 & 11.5 environments?

Well I was surprised when I saw that ABR 11.5 has been released.

I currently have two Windows 7 with ABR 11 Adv. Workstation installed. I was planning to buy 2 more Adv. Workstation licenses this coming week, one for an existing Windows 7 system and another for a new Windows 8 computer (when Dell starts installing it, hopefully this month).

Also, installed on my XP Pro laptop is the Management Console. It does not have ABR 11 Adv. Workstation installed, just the console.

Would it be a bad idea to have the 2 systems with ABR 11 and 2 systems with ABR 11.5? Would I need to have both versions of Management Console on my XP Pro system? Is it even possible? Would there be compatibility issues with the TIB files?

My gut feeling is to just stick with ABR 11 on all 4 systems (assuming I can still buy it) since my requirements are pretty simple. Will ABR 11 run on Windows 8 Professional?

Any assistance would be truly appreciated as I need to quickly decide what to buy...

bruceh