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

[HEXUS]

The plan is to win over Windows 7 desktop stalwarts, at last.

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[abychristy]

Wow looks like its good thing I didn't upgrade my Windows 7 and thats how a Start Menu should look like.

[Bane2087]

A step (backward) in the right direction, but I see they are still retaining the bright coloured toy blocks design that makes Windows 3.11 look pretty. Under the hood each new version of windows is improved yet somehow they still make the interface look more and more fugly and even less customisable. Best part is they probably pay a panel of interface design experts millions for these strokes of genius like plain white icons in a blue square.

[aidanjt]

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

[crossy]

Desktop and laptop users are said to be getting the Windows desktop environment front and centre as default. Two-in-Ones with touch screens will get an interface depending upon the keyboard being attached or not, tablet and other mobile device users will get the Modern UI. With the new Start Menu users will be able to customise both the desktop and MUI apps which appear on it.

Finally - they do it properly, i.e. the way it should have been done in the first place.

The final release of Windows 9 Threshold is due in spring next year and might well be free for users of Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 according to ZDNet.

Can't see that happening - the loss of potential revenue would be hard to bear.

I've been forced to use Windows8.1 at the weekend (got app issues with my main Windows desktop so had to borrow one of the kids laptops), and I'm definitely less productive with it. The biggest problem was - strangely enough - being forced to switch to MUI to do an app search. Some other parts - like the new task manager - were actually pretty darned good. So if they can fix the forced switch to MUI then count me in, they can have a £50-75 pre-order for Window9 64bit now.

[shaithis]

It looks like the same image they used a while ago to show how it would look in the Windows 8.1 update due soon...

[Jonj1611]

I installed Start8 and have never had to use the Metro interface since.

However I am sure when Windows 9 comes out Stardock will bring out something to remove those coloured box's. I don't have any problems with Windows 8, only Metro let it down imo.

[Saracen]

Well, looks promising. Having been .... erm, mislead .... before, like the over-hyped "return" of the Start button, this time, I want locked-in detail before getting too excited. I want beef, not vaguely beef-flavoured pseudo-beef.

But .... looks promising.

I remember saying, a year or more ago, give US the choice of Classic or MUI, and a LOT of the antagonism would disappear. If a user likes MUI, and live tiles, etc, fine. I don't have a problem with that. But I, and a lot of others, don't.

Frankly, I don't much care if MS auto-detect hardware and install accordingly, or ask the use what to set as default on installation. I don't even really care if they default to MUI provided I can, relatively simply, override that and select "Classic, MUI disabled".

And I'm still not sure I sill be able to. Yes, it defaults to Classic, and that's great. If long overdue. But can I disable MUI? Really, I don't give a hoot about MUI, or W8-style "apps" on my desktop. It is not how I work, or wish to work. Provided MS provide a clean and elegant way to avoid being annoyed by MUI-mode, fine. Job done. If this is another Start-button style deceitful stunt, then for me it will be the final straw that permanently broke that poor camel's back.

So, promising noises, but I will reserve judgement until I taste the beef in the final, released version.

Meantime, MS, what on earth took you so long to extract your heads from your .... you know where?

Oh, and regardless of what happens with W9, my machines that have been migrated to Linux already are staying Linux. It's a drop in the MS ocean, I know, but for me, that ship has not only sailed, but arrived at it's destination. For that, this sort-of announcement is perhaps enough, just barely, but FAR too late.

[peterb]

I have one windows 7 machine, which still does exactly what I need it to do, so there is still no compelling reason to upgrade it to Windows 8, 9, 10 or whatever. n fact the only reason I still need Windows is because WordPerfect (and one or two other applications which I use only occasionally) won't run on either OSX or Linux, but I can do most of the Word processing I need with Open Office, which is cross platform.

So for servers and some specialised stuff I use Linux, and for everyday general stuff I'm currently using OSX - and I see no good reason to change - at the moment. And I could load BootCamp or Virtual box and run Windows as a VM, but I need it so rarely I just CBA.

If - and it is a big if - Microsoft offer a free or attractively priced upgrade path to Win 9 (and the interface is improved for desktop use) I might consider upgrading, although I can't see it being a game changer in my computing use.

[Denis_iii]

Suppose I can use the right click start menu but what I miss from Windows 7 start menu is the right pane which has computer, control, devices and printers etc.

[iranu]

Just give me the ability to customise the interface to how I want it. Give me the ability to delete all the gubbins I don't want and will never use.

[Jonj1611]

Suppose I can use the right click start menu but what I miss from Windows 7 start menu is the right pane which has computer, control, devices and printers etc.

Get Start8 mate, it puts that back, assuming your using Windows 8 currently

[LeetyMcLeet]

I run 8.1 on my main rig and one of my laptops and I'm genuinely very pleased with it, but this certainly seems like a step in the right direction. I can't help but feel that MS could have saved themselves the headache and huge cost of all this when it was first released. Even when it first came out, I always said, and I'm sure I'm not alone, why not add an automatic detection or at least offer a choice of what kind of hardware the OS was being installed on and apply the most appropriate UI for that hardware. Surely this would have removed all the negativity around MUI in the first place.

That said, I don't actually miss the start menu. All of the main 'power user' options are faster to access by right-clicking on the windows logo and I prefer a nice clean desktop, so the start screen takes care of shortcut clutter

[Brian224]

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.

[Corky34]

Definitely looks like a backward step to appease the luddites.

Yea because calling people names that dont like what you do really works well to get your reasoning across, don't it.
Just because you may like Windows 8.x or Metro does not mean everyone feels the same, people want choice in the way they use their devices. That doesn't mean a one size fits all design it means providing people with different sizes, different styles, different colors, not everyone want's to wear the same cloths as you.

[sgtfluffybutt]

Is this going to replace the update 2 that was rummored?