News - Windows 9 Threshold preview will debut a mini Start Menu this year

[Saracen]

The first thing I notice is that there are far fewer applications immediately available than with the Windows 8.1 start menu, which offers me as many tiles as I can fit onto one (or more) monitors, in whatever groupings I choose. Definitely looks like a backward step to appease the luddites.

No, because you can still use it that way.

Others being annoyed, even furious, at MS for trying to force them to change their way of wotking because it suits MS's strategic objectives, to leverage tablet/phone sales off the back of their desktop installed userbase doesn't make them luddites. It just makes them angry at MS arrogance.

[OilSheikh]

Still not improving anything over Windows 7

[Saracen]

Still not improving anything over Windows 7

I'm not so sure about that. Some if the hidden stuff, under the bonnet as it were, is markedly improved, IMHO. It's just a shame MS ruined what otherwise would have been a step forward by trying to force us all to accept MUI because it suited the objectives for phone and tablet hardware sales. IMHO, it's been a masterclass in how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and how to organise an object lesson in PR disasters.

Hopefully, MS will show a little more humility in future, having worked out that, first, we aren't all lemmings that will blindly accept what they want, and second, they aren't the only game in town. You'd think that MS, having become so big by teaching IBM that lesson, wouldn't need to learn it themselves. But apparently they do.

[teko03]

My only concern is the Modern UI on tablets/mobile devices. While at first thought, no Desktop at all sounds like a good ideal. What about when you want to use these 8-inch tablets as a PC ---- because after all, that's what is is right? Will it detect a USB keyboard connected though a hub? Because I knpw quite a few people are using Atom powered Windows 8.1 tablets as full PC's at times with HDMI/Miracast/USB to create a "worktation" environment.

[Jingee]

Bye Vist- I mean, 8.1!

[PaulLFC]

That's how they should have done it in the first place.

This.

That looks really good - I'm currently using Start8 which does a great job of making the start menu the same as it was on Windows 7 (if it aint broke...)

[Kumagoro]

After finally using Windows 8 & 8.1i feel that it's main problem was other than classic desktop functionality isn't there, is that modern ui feels unfinished.

In my opinion (and ignoring that modern ui isn't a very nice looking and we'll laid out) all or nearly all aspects of windows needed to be updated with the modern ui feel for consistency and practical use. There should be ui version of windows explorer, computer management and the like. With the old style running in parallel.

Touch screening computer management just looks and feels poor.

[zdn1042]

Looks nice. I still adore 7 but I'm gonna give this one a chance and maybe upgrade when it comes available.

[Spud1]

Yea because calling people names that dont like what you do really works well to get your reasoning across, don't it.

Name calling aside though - he's 100% right. Microsoft are taking a backwards step here to appease people who don't want to change. I'm not saying that's the wrong thing to do..in fact commercially its the /only/ sensible thing to do, but bringing back the tired old start menu concept is purely a marketing thing given how badly received Windows 8 was in the press. They made a huge mistake cluttering up my task bar with the "start button" in 8.1, and now I think they are a bit stuck.

Hopefully in a few more iterations they will be able to shake off the past and we won't need a start menu anymore, but I have a feeling it will take a while. The only true answer is to make it configurable so I can get rid of the thing but those who want it can keep it. Or maybe that is a bit too much like Linux

Now an out of the box well supported "WindowMaker" interface for windows? If only...

[aidanjt]

Name calling aside though - he's 100% right. Microsoft are taking a backwards step here to appease people who don't want to change. I'm not saying that's the wrong thing to do..in fact commercially its the /only/ sensible thing to do, but bringing back the tired old start menu concept is purely a marketing thing given how badly received Windows 8 was in the press. They made a huge mistake cluttering up my task bar with the "start button" in 8.1, and now I think they are a bit stuck.

Hopefully in a few more iterations they will be able to shake off the past and we won't need a start menu anymore, but I have a feeling it will take a while. The only true answer is to make it configurable so I can get rid of the thing but those who want it can keep it. Or maybe that is a bit too much like Linux

Now an out of the box well supported "WindowMaker" interface for windows? If only...

Actually, unless you only ever interact with machines with pokey little tiny resolution displays, full screen metro was a massively retrograde change for desktop machines. So restoring the start menu is progress for that usage paradigm. And 1 primary button is 'clutter', really?