Let this be the place to discuss any information about the "new" start-menu. I actually took the time to install StartisBack and ClassicShell - once I saw the presentation at build so I wouldn't have to wait until MS adds the start-menu. However I uninstalled these tools after a day - I actually got used to the right-click menu you get in 8.1. Takes me a lot faster to those things like command prompt, system properties etc. I now actually find the start-menu a bit dated. lol. Guess MS got me.
same here. never installed any 3rd party soft on either W8 or 8.1 and never missed the start menu. It is all matter of gett'n used to the new operating system. Wondering why they waste thoughts on bringing that stuff back
I got all my stuff arranged on start screen so it takes 2 clicks to launch stuff that i need. A lot faster than in windows 7 start menu. One thing cool about new windows 8 start menu is status updates from few useful metro aps. Judging from the size of this menu it will be usable only on higher resolution displays.
The majority of Computer and therefore Windows users are not such "Freaks" as user's of Computer forums! And I may would be interesting also to know, how many of this Forum Users are telling NO on the open public forum and still using a Start Menu on Windows 8/8.1! Fact is that the majority of Windows 8/8.1 user's like to have the Start Menu back. The "Average Joe" and "Ann" want to have the latest computers and software but like to change the way of using! Special the Corporate User's, which are the major base of paying customers of Microsoft are those who begging for to get it back! And why not? You don't like it? Don't use it! Is as simple as that! Why bothering around with arguing, shouting and so on? Everybody has his own mind and his own right and you couldn't change that! Even if you would like to do that, you didn't have the right to so! Don't get me wrong, nothing of what I wrote is personal or has personal meaning! That's just fact's! And by the way, as I wrote on an other topic, I've a Start Menu installed on one of my computers but used it since more than a year already. And I also didn't hardly use the new UI, just boot to desktop and do my work!
No, it is not just a matter of getting used to. It is a matter of productivity and SANITY. You wonder why they bring it back now? The answer is simple: because users want it back, and not because they are backwards-oriented or change-resistant. Please bear in mind that there are also users like me who have hundreds of programs installed, not just a few like you. Some of those programs I use on a regular basis, others only every once in a while, so sometimes I cannot remember their exact name (although I precisely remember their looks, purpose and operation). With a hierarchical start menu, it's very easy to find them (if you keep it clean and tidy). With a flat-structured start screen, it's close to impossible to see anything in this kind of mess. I'm not saying anything against your liking of the start screen. But it was a huge mistake of MS to force this on all users without giving them any kind of choice. They have learned the hard way (very low adoption rates and sales figures) that force doesn't work, so now they try to redeem their mistake. And rightly so! Until then, ClassicShell is just a fantastic replacement.
How you know about how many programs I have installed My all apps site is so big that it is impossible to make a screenshot of it. If I had the old fashioned start menu, it probably had 50 layers or even more
Fact is that most of the today's user's are never had worked with text based OS's. Many older computer techy's, programmer, system admins etc. even prefer today to work from command line instead of GUI! I do many action just using macros and hotkeys. The apps I need to access, which I didn't have covered with macros and/or hotkeys, have their shortcut's on desktop! Start Menu, new and/or old? Don't need! Would be a lose of time and effort!
I guess for some tasks the old start-menu may be faster while for others it's slower. Depends on your personal setup / arrangements. However I have a lot of stuff on the desktop now Although starting stuff through going to the start-screen and typing the name lets me open them as fast and typing their name in the old start-menu. It's just that you totally switch from your current screen to the start-screen which is like a cut in your workflow.
It is a different thing, if one is using w8 at home, is a computer enthusiast and likes to test new stuff, or.... if one has to work, has to be productive and a PC is just a tool to get his work done. (Documentation, calculation, presentation, scientific work...) I myself like to test new stuff, but that takes time. I do not deny new stuff, the contrary is true. I am curious. I mainly don't like w8, and that is just my personal opinion, because of the design and its poor customization abilities. It has to me more disadvantages than advantages, hence I am not using it as main OS. But the majority out there is not much familiar with PC related stuff. I guess almost all MDL members are different and do not represent the majority, since they have already more PC skills than average. A central thing is the start menu at windows. And it is a trademark of M$ used by every windows user before. M$ underestimated what will happen when they remove it. They underestimated it because they have no idea how the 'average' people are working with their OS. AND they have missed the potential of apps. This was not the first time M$ did a major mistake by being too late. The fault is here clearly located at their marketing 'experts'. When they got it that others as Google and Apple are making a lot of money with apps, they wanted to be a part of the game as soon as possible. As result they developed one 'OS for all'. Mr. Ballmer was no good CEO. They pushed a new UI, called metro to provide apps. Since windows is based on an old CPU technology (Intel) and win OS is already some years old (has a lot of legacy code to remain compatible on many systems, is sloppy programmed and needs huge resources to get a usable working performance), they needed to remove resource hungry effects. The result is an 90s looking plain boring UI. Apple has moved to Unix based system a long time before and Android runs on modern ARM CPUs. There you can see how effective program code can be when really modern(ized). And there you find stylish UIs on Android even highly customizable. The result now is: M$es w8 has low sales, because desktop people do not want apps, and are conservative concerning workflow. Companies do not migrate to w8, because they want to have productive people and no apss. Furthermore they would need to train their entire staff to use w8 and that costs money for actually nothing. To bring back the start menu can help.
Leaving aside any new start menu, I'd really like to see the Win-X menu enhanced - more configurable with branches and possibly small icons.
My provoking sentence. Often misunderstood, makes people think I am a M$ hater. I know both sides, I am a PC enthusiast, but also have to do my scientific work with windows. I have talked to company admins and know their concerns and reasons why they skip w8. M$ has to manage a hard marketing situation. Portables have changed the market completely, they cannot rest on their laurels. They need now to find a way to satisfy the 'old' conservative desktop people and the new market. My idea would be to extend and improve their strengths they have already and to include new features there. To me the mistake and hence I wrote designed to fail, was to completely focus on apps and to ignore the conservatives. A big 'disadvantage' for M$ is the fact that they have already a lot of customers due to their monopoly, whilst Android could start from square one. They cannot alienate long time customers since they had no. All I want is a good new OS and if something IMO goes wrong I speak it out. I post my opinion to be discussed, not as ultimate truth.
The problem, for pc enthusiasts, is that win8.x followed win7. I mean how can you follow a masterpiece like that? Of COURSE it's not gonna be a great seller and take time to adopt. The reason win7 was such a good OS was that it followed vista. Vista was a steaming pile. It looked good on paper, but in actuality it was a hard-drive raping nightmare. If win7 had been really bad and win8 came out, people would have much different opinions on it.
I do not USE APPZ full/half screen period. Why do I want the large icons from hell? I run quick launch on the taskbar (not default but still available) and the taskbar is set to small icons. These links and the desktop is all I need and of course classic start menu. I love change ...... for the better and a tablet interface for 30" monitors is not classified to me as for the better. I to maintain a number of computers and will be skipping windows 8 complete for anything that is production/business oriented. They obviously need to separate these two and if they do not Linux will inherit the desktop market. You do not abandon the phone lines and hardwired networks because wireless came out and you do not through out a windowed operating system because some have small phones. Regards
Yes, many good companies have also their weak products. It is not easy, when being on the market a long time already, especially after the success of w7. Anyway to develop the w7 UI by including better performance, adding customization abilities, more features AND just a button: app drawer, which is embedded into the current layout would have been a better solution IMHO.
I think the problems come when they try to re-engineer their design. If they would have just modified win7 to add a store feature and the multi-threading, it probably would have worked fine. The problem was they tried to make it like a dual-desktop thing with the store taking up its whole entire own screen. Someone at MS really got carried away with their store idea.
The idea of start screen is a "unified home screen" for PC and mobiles, although I am not using winphone ATM, I am used to the the start screen soon after win8 WDP was out. Anyway, I hardly used the start menu in win7.
Well, in that case congratulations on remembering all their names by heart. Either that, or congratulations on having enough nerves and time to spare to find the one you want in this non-hierarchical, flat start screen mess.