Anyone excited about the return of the start menu on Windows 8?

[xecutable]

Windows 8 was a big fail, considering major business and gaming companies said NO to the ridiculous upgrade. After a lot of stubbornness from Microsoft, they finally admit that it was not a good move and it will come back with a default desktop environment.

I was quite disappointed while testing the 8 beta. Full screen aps, useless wrapping around your programs, restricted access to system files, that you had to enable in the registry.

The only thing I saw improved was it's fast loading speed, especially on my ssd, about 7s. I am quite excited to see what came out of this new 8.1 version.

[kingsino]

Not really because as I understand it the start button will only bring back that annoying start screen. I might be wrong though, let's hope I am!

Edit: Read about it here: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/26/win...-start-button/

Cheers!

[xecutable]

Oh... I see now from the article. Though they took all of the negative feedback and fixed it all. I honestly wanted to give it a try, but this just killed my enthusiasm.

[universal4]

Un-necessary, just add the programs to the start or the desktop page.

The desktop was always there, although I did think they made it a little more difficult to maneuver with a mouse.

People did not like XP when it first came out also, since this was the release of the start menu that everyone is screaming for in 8.

Rick
Universal4

[xecutable]

Well I claim to have above average computer and technical skills and even I was confused. I don't get why they had to touch that desktop environment even with all of the tweaks you can download it to make it 7ish look alike. And if I am to download tweaks to make it a 7... what's the point.

I just hope that in future updates, everything will be sorted out and the old environment will be back. That memory management and system start up are a nice improvement

[Doolally]

I wasn't a Windows 8 fan but, after some perseverance, I actually quite like it and don't miss the start button at all. I must admit though, I don't use the Windows 8 interface and, like Rick, go straight to the desktop.

[universal4]

Well, let's go back to the windows 95 environment.

People resisted the change to the XP desktop, and then they resisted the Windows 7 environment too.....

Some of the changes in 8 are to satisfy what people like in the tablet and android environments.

The Windows 7 type of desktop is there, and I think the only thing they needed to do was allow users to set that desktop as default home environment, since switching back and forth between them is a little funky, especially with a mouse.

I agree with it being wasteful to download tweaks to make 8 look like 7, and I always thought it was a waste to download tweaks to make 7 look like XP, but a lot of people did.....(it is many of those same people who didn't like 7 when it first hit who are now looking to make 8 look like 7)

Humans resist change, and will often make excuses and place blame on others rather than evolve with the change.

Rick
Universal4

[lowrisk]

Well, let's go back to the windows 95 environment.

People resisted the change to the XP desktop, and then they resisted the Windows 7 environment too.....

Some of the changes in 8 are to satisfy what people like in the tablet and android environments.

The Windows 7 type of desktop is there, and I think the only thing they needed to do was allow users to set that desktop as default home environment, since switching back and forth between them is a little funky, especially with a mouse.

I agree with it being wasteful to download tweaks to make 8 look like 7, and I always thought it was a waste to download tweaks to make 7 look like XP, but a lot of people did.....(it is many of those same people who didn't like 7 when it first hit who are now looking to make 8 look like 7)

Humans resist change, and will often make excuses and place blame on others rather than evolve with the change.

Rick
Universal4

I agree we resist change, I remember when facebook bought out the timeline, there were lots of groups threatening they will stop using fb in protest to the changes, the huge number of statuses on the lines of "hate the new layout, I'm leaving fb", with their strength of conviction lasting for about.. hmm I don't know 4 hours.

But I've got to say, I really dislike Windows 8. Windows 7 is ideal imo. Regarding evolving with change, I think Windows 8 is regressing . I've never resisted any other update, apart from Vista, which was... just awful. The change from XP to Win 7 was fantastic.. Seamless, with real benefits.

[roulette-strategy.eu]

Not excited at all, was quite happy for the first time to find my "windows" button on the keyboard useful, when it went to the metro menu. Also it seemed quicker than start menu.

[Doolally]

Not excited at all, was quite happy for the first time to find my "windows" button on the keyboard useful, when it went to the metro menu. Also it seemed quicker than start menu.

Just as well you posted that, I didn't realise it did anything yet. Handy!

[universal4]

Windows Vista and Windows 7 is almost the exact same interface. There are some underlying code improvements to 7, and things are a little more polished, and actually Windows 7 installs with a few things turned off that are turned on by default in Vista. (mostly security things)

Rick
Universal4

[justbookies]

I try to embrace upgrades and not be a luddite, but windows 8 is a horrible design. It is because they have tried to make a system for phones and PC. They tried to copy apple but you can tell they never really believed in it because it is just copying rather than innovating. It took a lot of getting used to on my PC and I could imagine people in a work environment who are less computer literate having a total nightmare. I just added on the "Classic Shell" start menu add-on, which is free. It returns the start menu and ensures that the screen defaults to desktop on start-up. To be honest it solved all the issues I had in one go. Cant help feeling microsoft started losing the plot when Gates took a back seat.

[universal4]

Yep, you just confirmed the biggest and one of the only isuues Windows 8 has....

They should make it easy to set the environment you want to default to, such as defaulting to the desktop. (it's already there just doesn't default to that view)

When using Windows 8 on a touch screen, most people do not have as many problems moving around the interface or getting to their most used programs.

I agree that things did change quite a bit when Bill stepped down.

Rick
Universal4

[vinism]

I have to admit, I like Windows 8. I don't love it. But I like it. It's a speedy OS. I like the app architecture for many of the things I do, simply because an full blown application is overkill for some tasks, but an app is just the right tool. But I also like having the option of going into "full blown" computing mode when I need to get some serious work done. I like the "Metro" start screen. I've been able to customize it nicely to fit my own needs. And I'm ecstatic the e-mail app allows me to duplicate the e-mail experience I have on my phone (Galaxy S3). When you have a bunch of e-mail addresses, it's nice to have one app to manage everything (especially because I don't want one universal inbox).

There are many legitimate gripes about Windows 8, some of them listed in this thread. My own gripe is I don't like having to go back to the Metro interface to search for an application that I haven't pinned somewhere. In the end, these are minor quibbles for me. But I can see how they can be major annoyances for others.

Justbookies touched on something that's really working against Windows 8. It can be a nightmare for those that are not computer literate. They've been trained to work one way on a computer, and changing that up on them could explode their heads. As touch screens monitors become more prevalent -- and I think they will -- I think the learning curve will be a lot easier to manage with Windows 8. I'd enjoy my Windows 8 machine more if I could take advantage of the touch interface.

The one group of people that Windows 8 is definitely not good for is people who don't deal with change well (not casting aspersions here). This isn't a radical departure from Windows. But it's a semi-radical one. And that can be tough to navigate.

The Mac OS has improved dramatically over the last decade. But it's still the same basic OS. If you hadn't bought or used a new Mac since 1995, you'd still recognize and instantly be able to use a 2013 Mac. The same is definitely not true on the Windows side with the jump to Windows 8.

[universal4]

(especially because I don't want one universal inbox).

Interesting, Anthony just told me the other day he didn't want my inbox either....lol

Good points Vin, I think you brought to the surface of the biggest points....FINDING the apps or programs you want to run....and getting used to the most convenient ways to find and run your programs or apps....

Rick
Universal4

[sweetbet]

I'm still using Windows XP

[ocreditor]

Never get too excited for new updates since it just takes getting used to!

[medlington]

I absolutely hate Microsoft, they change things for the sake of change, other than security features I cant think of one improvement since 95

All they seem to do is bloat out their OS so that it consumes all of your nice shiny new computers memory and HD making it run slower than that old 486 with 95 running on it. Then they manage to hide or interfere with some of the basic functions that your happily using making simple tasks frustrating.

Just look at what they've done to hotmail now, its pretty much unusable to me anymore as its so slow and doesn't logon properly all for the sake of adding a few graphics instead of buttons and hiding the buttons you normally use.

So to summarise, NO Im not excited about the start button as Im going to do everything within my power to never have to install that OS in the first place. I still dont like 7 and love my old Laptop with XP on.

[universal4]

Eevery single OS upgrade since Windows 3.1 have had many many MANY securtity upgrades.

And Windows XP isn't half as safe to use on the internet as Windows 7.

Rick
Universal4

[clarar]

I didn't want to install windows 8 on my new pc but after some failures with Win 7 I decided to give it a try. I definitely miss the start menu but... I really like windows 8, even without it. The system is definitely faster than the previous versions. I will give a try to the new version once it comes out.