Microsoft Could Launch a Start Menu Option in Windows 8

[calguyhunk]

Microsoft Could Launch a Start Menu Option in Windows 8

Windows 8 dumps the traditional Start Menu and instead adopts a “confusing” Start Screen that relies on live tiles to let users launch apps from a single screen.

Steven Sinofsky, the former Windows boss, is one of the main Microsoft executives who wanted to replace the Start Menu with a Start Screen, claiming that adopting a feature that would better mix the desktop industry with the touch-optimized market would support the company’s long-term plans.

CIO Today writes that Sinofsky even convinced CEO Steve Ballmer to adopt his idea, so all Windows 8 workstations now come with a Start Screen.

Steven Sinofsky is no longer head of the Windows division and more and more voices familiar with matter are hinting that a Start Menu option could, after all, land on Windows 8 platforms.

There are already several third-party apps that could restore the Start Menu on Windows 8 and Stardock’s Start8 is one of the most popular.

Kris Kwilas, Stardock's technology vice president, says that his software has already sold tens of thousands of copies, while even more consumers take the trial version for a spin.

“Early adopters of Windows 8 feel there's something missing -- a comfort factor for how they want to use their PCs," Kwilas says, hinting that Microsoft may actually develop a Start Menu for Windows 8, just to make sure its new operating system isn’t considered a confusing solution anymore.

But Steve Ballmer said in an interview with the Associated Press in October that Microsoft has absolutely no intention to bring back the Start Menu. You already have “a whole screen as a Start button,” Ballmer said.

Steven Sinofsky, on the other hand, explained during the Windows 8 launch conference that it’s just a matter of time until people get used to the new Start Screen. The same happened with the Start button too, he explained.

“You know, as familiar and productive as Windows 7 is for customers today, the world that led to Windows 7 began back in the early 1990s when familiar concepts like the Start menu were first conceived. Familiar today, but completely new when it was first released. That technology world was so very different than the world we experience each and every day.”

:view: Original article @ Softpedia.com

[calguyhunk]

Personally, i feel bad for technologically challenged people (read - 90% of society) who'll be buying new computers expecting the same old Windows that they use at work, only to find this crazy thing not knowing how to move from one place to another. :o

It took me several minutes to find stuff out myself last year upon installing the developers' preview and that too after Googling gratuitously about how to do simple stuff like even restarting the computer :mad2:

Needless to say, it lasted less than an hour before I reformatted the entire partition :P Wasn't until after the official October 26^th release this year, that I re-installed and this time, it was the final RTM version. :)

[DKT27]

In a perfect world, this would happen. But I doubt it to a lot of extent. But, if it does happen, Microsoft will not only grow in respect in my eyes, but will also bring the confidence on the company and Windows back.

This shows, Ballmer is a total fool. :P

Windows 8 Metro was hard in Preview, but I found ways to do stuff within 15 minutes (world record :P ). It has improved in final. But in principal it still remains probably the worst change to ever happen to Windows OS in it's history.

[calguyhunk]

Windows 8 Metro was hard in Preview, but I found ways to do stuff within 15 minutes (world record :P ). It has improved in final. But in principal it still remains probably the worst change to ever happen to Windows OS in it's history.

It's not so much the Metro/Modern UI alone as it is the confusing interchange between Metro and non-metro. I've been using this thing for well over a couple of weeks now and I still don't know which link will open a metro screen and which link will suddenly switch over from that to desktop :o

It's this Bi-Polar disorder this Win8 thingy suffers from, that I still find hard to swallow. :angry:

One little example - I have no idea why changing the profile picture will need me to go into Metro, say for instance! i mean :wtf:

Try this if you will - Control Panel > All items (small icons) > User Account > Make changes to my account and bam! You're into Metro. But why? :dunno: We didn't need Metro to change our User Account settings in Win7, did we? And all of that seemed to work just fine! :yes:

The thing is, IMO MS designed/envisaged this thing solely for touch enabled devices and then as an afterthought, added backward compatibility for the traditional x86 devices and programs (x86 now includes tablets, remember?) by adding some remnants of the desktop environment. Too bad the product ended up being a half-baked half a$$ed 'na ghar ka na ghat ka' peice of :shit: at least as far as the interface is concerned :nono:

I will say this though, that had this been just the traditional setup or even if just all the Win7 elements were available with the desktop form factor - this would have been a very compelling buy @ $40 because of the tremendous development 'under the hood' :yes:

But then again, if that was the case, this would have never been priced at $40 in all probability ;)

MS really dropped the ball here. I'm sure they're gonna continue on with this tablet theme with Win9 in 2 years time, but it will hopefully be much more refined and certainly less schizophrenic I hope ;)

EDIT: BTW, this is giving me hell dual booting with Ubuntu reportedly because of Secureboot. If anybody has any links towards relieving my pain, please do post it. Maybe my Googling skills are deceiving me :P

[Pedrito]

This is hilarious! Yeah the problem with Windows 8 is the lack of start menu. That's one of the problems...

Way to go Micro$oft. :wut:

[nIGHT]

Instead of giving us a more powerful more awesome windows version, they dumbed it down. :pos: :wut:

[cruelsister]

What is especially aggravating for me is to have certain posters on other boards accusing all those who don't embrace Metro as being Luddites. Change for the sake of change rarely is a good thing, and this change is really much less efficient then previous versions. In fairness I guess Metro on the desktop was to make people receptive to buying Microsoft on the Phone and on tablets (which I suppose was smart), but PLEASE add a traditional desktop reversion for those who just want Windows on a computer.

[calguyhunk]

Instead of giving us a more powerful more awesome windows version, they dumbed it down. :pos: :wut:

My thoughts exactly. Catering to the lowest common denominator and that too, not very well by the looks of things :hehe:

In fairness I guess Metro on the desktop was to make people receptive to buying Microsoft on the Phone and on tablets (which I guess was smart)

Exactly. And in the process, they're abandoning the very people (traditional PC users) that have patronized them for the better part of 2 decades now, chasing after wild geese, that may or may not even work for them :o They never had any delusions of grandeur about it's uptake on current Win7 desktop PC's, but was just released more as a customer research tool to prep us for "a post-PC era" :wtf:

... PLEASE add a traditional desktop reversion for those who just want Windows on a computer.

But then that defeats the whole purpose of prepping us for their overpriced 'Surface' thingamajigs, doesn't it? :think:

[nIGHT]

"Post-PC era", hehe! We have laptops/tablets and even smart phones that do the same thing like a pc can do.

We play games in it, watch movies and scan viruses/malwares with it. These can do what a pc can do.

But even we have these products we still need pc not only as these comes cheap but nothing can still beat

the performance, usability and scalability that they offer. And as the internet grows more so does servers.

We can watch cable TV with our laptops/tablets and even smart phones but why still we buy 4K LARGE SCREEN LED TV? :think:

Maybe because BIG is better? Or maybe because we used to have it and we know that that 4K LED TV serves our purpose for it.

And even we have 4K LED TV, some Jellybean 4.2 smart phones, and android tablets, and an unlimited freemium account on filesharing movies, we still maintain our cable subscription and we still go to movie theaters. Hmmm... :glare:

Maybe it’s our preference and most of us prefer not to use that metro thing in windows 8 in our desktop/laptop. hehe! :tooth:

P.S. I am a poor guy, I do not own a 4K LED TV hehe! I rather buy a car if I have that kind of money. :P

[calguyhunk]

P.S. I am a poor guy, I do not own a 4K LED TV hehe!... :P

Don't beat yourself up too bad. Nobody but daddy's little spoilt brats have one of those. Or even a 2K one for that matter :P

[nuthut]

the biggest complaint you have about the new OS is the lack of a Start button? Really? Really?

The use of the Windows key to bring up the start screen and going to the far right will bring up the programs you have installed in Win 8. Clicking the upper right of the screen then clicking the magnifying glass and going to the far right will bring up the control panel. (if you don't want to take all of those steps, pin the control panel to your task bar; not that hard)

Having the start page is actually a lot better because I can look at all of my live tiles to see what I want (sports, weather, news) without actually searching for it.

Windows 8 boots up much quicker than 7 or XP ever could on my netbook (28 seconds from hitting the power button to typing in the password). The task manager in 8 is a lot my user friendly and more helpful than it ever was in 7 or XP and almost rivals Ubuntu's task manager in information I have at my disposal.

Everyone needs to quit being so shallow minded and look past a *minor* issues of not having something I bet almost none of you used on a regular basis, and see what the new OS can actually do for you. Yes, the beta was buggy (name one that isn't). The RTM and gold are so much more polished up and very user friendly for the PC user

[DKT27]

the biggest complaint you have about the new OS is the lack of a Start button? Really? Really?

It's each to it's own.

Everyone needs to quit being so shallow minded and look past a *minor* issues of not having something I bet almost none of you used on a regular basis, and see what the new OS can actually do for you. Yes, the beta was buggy (name one that isn't). The RTM and gold are so much more polished up and very user friendly for the PC user

Many of us are already on Windows 8. And some of us have even given the "Start Screen" a good try, but haven't been able to like or find a personally good use or satisfaction for it. I was satisfied by Windows 7's start menu, and by no means, I give right to take it away from me, what is essentially, the identity from more than last 15 years, of the most used Operating System in the world known as Microsoft Windows.

Start screen isn't the improvement of Windows, it's an insult of all the work that has ever been done with and on desktop environment. Originally aimed only at touch screen, start screen is only used as a leverage to sell Windows Phones and Tablets. Instead of making use of the power and size of the PCs, it has been given step-brotherly treatment, making a PC a living zombie for the sake of it's aims on Phones and Tablets.

I don't mind using any apps to bring the Start Menu back, but what I want is Microsoft to care for PC users and their sentiments, something they have stopped doing in a view to be another Apple.

[nIGHT]

It's each to it's own.

Many of us are already on Windows 8. And some of us have even given the "Start Screen" a good try, but haven't been able to like or find a personally good use or satisfaction for it. I was satisfied by Windows 7's start menu, and by no means, I give right to take it away from me, what is essentially, the identity from more than last 15 years, of the most used Operating System in the world known as Microsoft Windows.

Start screen isn't the improvement of Windows, it's an insult of all the work that has ever been done with and on desktop environment. Originally aimed only at touch screen, start screen is only used as a leverage to sell Windows Phones and Tablets. Instead of making use of the power and size of the PCs, it has been given step-brotherly treatment, making a PC a living zombie for the sake of it's aims on Phones and Tablets.

I don't mind using any apps to bring the Start Menu back, but what I want is Microsoft to care for PC users and their sentiments, something they have stopped doing in a view to be another Apple.

I REALLY REALLY liked your post! (but I'm out of likes to give for now hehe! But I will later)

Perfect! +1 yottas (2⁸⁰)! :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Marik]

doesn't win8 already have a start menu?

so the UI reverts back to that of win7 but the start menu feature is still there

i'm talking about that "RPenabled" entry in the HKCU registry and how changing it to 0 or w/e makes the start menu return

[nIGHT]

doesn't win8 already have a start menu?

so the UI reverts back to that of win7 but the start menu feature is still there

i'm talking about that "RPenabled" entry in the HKCU registry and how changing it to 0 or w/e makes the start menu return

If I'm not mistaken, this only works on the dev build. It didn't make it through the consumer preview then.

This is an unsupported windows registry hack. Hacking "RPenabled" no longer works, the reason why we have lots of

start menu software sprouting everywhere. :idea: :tooth:

[heyyahblah]

Yea the hack was patched, just like in the dev version of IE9 (for the people that used it) there was a hack to bring the MENU BAR back to the top but in the RTM/Final release it was patched, but not like it matters though, who uses IE anyways right?

But yea, MS really messed up on this one, thats why START 8 took control of things, just check out this video to see how bad WIN8 really is.

[dcs18]

The biggest complaint against Windows is not about the Start Menu - it's about the lack of Aero. ;)

[dcs18]

In fact, I found a way to make the Metro Start Screen work in my favor - in as much, that the Start Menu wont be missed, at all. JFTR, I implemented the Start Menu as late as yesterday (was managing quite comfortably without it.)

[RadioActive]

You already have “a whole screen as a Start button,” Ballmer said.

What an idiotic and arrogant response..

[myidisbb]

since he is out maybe window 7 spk 2 now?

[calguyhunk]

the biggest complaint you have about the new OS is the lack of a Start button? Really? Really?

Not so much just the lack of a Start menu, but the bi-polarity and identity crisis that Win8 suffers from. Half of the older features has been taken away and the ones that have mercifully been left alone, are also not entirely or partially implemented on desktop. It is this confused change between desktop and Metro that has a lot of us a bit peeved ;)

But as DKT said, a lot of us are using it and trying to come to terms with it. But it's pretty clear that MS never intended for it to be used on traditional KB/Mouse desktops. Touch enabled devices will prolly work better with this thing ;)

Lots of small little niggles that MS just failed to iron out. One such small annoyance is as follows -

I don't have an always-on net connection. I've to connect manually every time I log on. In win7/XP, double clicking on the desktop connection icon (create that shortcut after setting up your connection) will automatically start your connection, But no siree. Not on Win8 :angry:

Double clicking on the icon does exactly the same thing as a single click on the taskbar icon, rendering it redundant :(

And the problem is only starting. Firstly, the whole half-screen panel comes up every time I try to connect/disconnect (single left-click on the taskbar internet icon) and I've to move my mouse all the way from the bottom-right to the top-right corner just to double click and connect :angry:

But here's the really annoying part. Now normally, in Win 7/XP, once you click the panel went away, the previously activated window would get automatically re-activated and you could start working straight away. But on Win8, you'll have to re-click on Office, Outlook, Browser, Notepad or whatever application you were working on, to re-enable it before you can start scrolling or typing :mad2: 4 clicks instead of 2. And for what? This is what they call intuitive? :wtf:

P.S. - Here's a great article about a few other such niggly little mind-numbing pieces of dumbness and a perfect example of why the same OS cannot work on everything from a 3 inch phone screen to a 30 inch one not to mention a multi-monitor set-up

Kinda' ironic, since that's exactly what they're advertizing - "Everything at once" did anybody say? :P

[dcs18]

But here's the really annoying part. Now normally, in Win 7/XP, once you click the panel went away, the previously activated window would get automatically re-activated and you could start working straight away. But on Win8, you'll have to re-click on Office, Outlook, Browser, Notepad or whatever application you were working on, to re-enable it before you can start scrolling or typing :mad2: 4 clicks instead of 2. And for what? This is what they call intuitive? :wtf:

That's strange - with my configurations, I don't see that behavior (meaning - my Windows 8 acts as normally Windows 7.) :unsure:

[House_maniac]

i'm not against changing but when changing means making something which was easier in previous version then i'm against it! i'm using start is back! other than that if they didn't remove the start button i could say it would be a great sucess! its faster! also i hate that they removed aero! i guess it was done for people under low budget pcs and old one :)

[nIGHT]

Windows 8 on our desktop/laptop sux big time! Now after reading a lot about the "User Xperiencee" of the metro thing on our laptop,

I now decided not to buy any smartphones with windows 8 metro on it, as well as not to recommend it to my family, relatives, friends, and even to my enemies! My enemies (opponents in games) would use this as an excuse of my quite easy victory as they will say

that the fight is not fair for they only have the latest quad-core "Windows 8 metro" smartphones, while I have the Jelly Bean 4.2 Android OS running in my old :lmao: single-core XPeria!

Bill Gates, even though I'm not a fan of him and hates what he did to the developers, ruled the world by his versions of DOS,

windows and PSx. He made portability, usability, ease of use and flexibility factor a household name. This is his legacy. But only that you

mr. donkey gates. hehe! :(

Ballmer's legacy would be he will be the reason windows becoming like apple. The start of the "Post-Microsoft-Windows-OS-era." :P

[InEvX]

Would you people recommend me to upgrade to windows 8 for $14.99? Is it even worth the upgrade?