The History Of The Windows Start Button

The Start menu is pretty much synonymous with Windows nowadays, but do you know how it became the operating system’s defining feature?

Oran only worked at Microsoft from 1992 to 1994, but he arguably had a massive influence on the Windows team when he was charged with coming up with a better way to interact with the OS. His solution was to create one button that led Windows 95 users to everything.

The Windows programmers wouldn't recognize that the problem was with the operating system and not the users.

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This quote works for windows 8 also not just windows 3.1.

gxp500 said:

This quote works for windows 8 also not just windows 3.1.

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This is true. I do know that some people did call those people that didn't like or were slow with it morons.

Interesting history on how the Start Menu came to be, though. It was definitely an excellent idea that really did work as proven by the longevity of the Start Menu. It's the best solution for the job, apparently. At least on the desktop.

Lots of different opinions even then. I think after it being changed so much and the way people react really shows that it was truly a huge success.

Nothing wrong with Windows 8 start menu. It's just as easy to navigate -_-

Tengis said:

Nothing wrong with Windows 8 start menu. It's just as easy to navigate -_-

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I, among many others, thought that Windows 3.11 was extremely easy to find and do things, too...

Like the article said - Users are morons. There is something wrong with them....

Tengis said:

Nothing wrong with Windows 8 start menu. It's just as easy to navigate -_-

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The biggest problem with 8.x particularly from a desktop perspective is that it was so different from prior versions of Windows. It wasn't necessarily difficult but it did require some training. For the most part Microsoft got that message loud and clear and all of the issues like hidden UI elements and gestures, full screen elements like the Start Screen and Windows Store apps were eliminated. To the chagrin of some Windows 8 tablet users.

I think 10 overall strikes a good balance between the desktop and tablet experience though there plenty of things that could be improved. Some type of folder system for tiles like the one on Windows Phone would be nice.

Windows 8 was an EXCELLENT tablet OS. Windows 10 is missing some of those elements that made it so great, even the hidden gestures (I still try swiping to close an app, or looking for charms). 8 was an excellent touch based OS.

Windows 10 is excellent for desktop and so-so for touch. Almost makes me think that there is no perfect solution that caters to both. I think Continuum or even giving the user the ability to change from Tablet (classic Windows 8.1 mode) or Desktop (standard Windows 10 mode) would be ideal.

But, with Windows 10 and the way the OS is continuously updated and improved, it wouldn't be very difficult at all to push updates that would allow that sort of thing. Like the folders for tiles. Easy update.

Ur_Mom said:

Windows 8 was an EXCELLENT tablet OS. Windows 10 is missing some of those elements that made it so great, even the hidden gestures (I still try swiping to close an app, or looking for charms). 8 was an excellent touch based OS.

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Swipe down to close is still there. The Charms concept was perfect for tablets, now what functionality is broken out across the task bar, Action Center and in app canvases. The task bar in tablet mode is nice though I wish there was an option to auto hide it only in tablet mode. Overall it's a wash for me between 8.1 and 10 on the tablet mode.

Ur_Mom said:

Windows 10 is excellent for desktop and so-so for touch. Almost makes me think that there is no perfect solution that caters to both. I think Continuum or even giving the user the ability to change from Tablet (classic Windows 8.1 mode) or Desktop (standard Windows 10 mode) would be ideal.

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From what I've seen of Continuum thus far, I think it's perfectly possible have two switchable UIs that are optimized for specific type of input. The key to it really are the apps and those actually have tended to work well between tablet and desktop even in 8. The tablet mode just needs to be tweaked a bit more like controls directly from the Action Center, the ability to auto hide the task bar in tablet mode only, etc.

heatlesssun said:

Swipe down to close is still there. The Charms concept was perfect for tablets, now what functionality is broken out across the task bar, Action Center and in app canvases. The task bar in tablet mode is nice though I wish there was an option to auto hide it only in tablet mode. Overall it's a wash for me between 8.1 and 10 on the tablet mode.



From what I've seen of Continuum thus far, I think it's perfectly possible have two switchable UIs that are optimized for specific type of input. The key to it really are the apps and those actually have tended to work well between tablet and desktop even in 8. The tablet mode just needs to be tweaked a bit more like controls directly from the Action Center, the ability to auto hide the task bar in tablet mode only, etc.

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Cool. Tried it on my desktop and it works. Doesn't work worth a shit on my Lenovo Twist with touch screen, though. Not at all.... I'll have to try it on the Surface and see how it works.

Ur_Mom said:

I, among many others, thought that Windows 3.11 was extremely easy to find and do things, too...

Like the article said - Users are morons. There is something wrong with them....

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everything becomes easy once you got enough training on how to use something. it doesn't mean that it's actually easy to use (as in "intuitive") because that needs to be judged from a perspective of someone who has never used something.

for example: i consider myself fairly tech savvy. i put together my own hardware, can solder together basic electronics, i know programming (java, c, php...), can manage databases and cubes... yet, for me, fixing something in linux is the hardest thing ever. i hate that OS, i have no idea where anything is and how the most basic things in linux work. to me it's an utter waste of time to bother with it so every time i give it a shot i return to windows, but other people have put in enough time to get used to it so it appears "easy" to them. i am not bashing linux, but merely trying to show a different perspective on "easy". i hope it makes sense.

temujin987 said:

everything becomes easy once you got enough training on how to use something. it doesn't mean that it's actually easy to use (as in "intuitive") because that needs to be judged from a perspective of someone who has never used something.

for example: i consider myself fairly tech savvy. i put together my own hardware, can solder together basic electronics, i know programming (java, c, php...), can manage databases and cubes... yet, for me, fixing something in linux is the hardest thing ever. i hate that OS, i have no idea where anything is and how the most basic things in linux work. to me it's an utter waste of time to bother with it so every time i give it a shot i return to windows, but other people have put in enough time to get used to it so it appears "easy" to them. i am not bashing linux, but merely trying to show a different perspective on "easy". i hope it makes sense.

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Exactly. The devs and tech savvy people were great at it. Of course, we also would go looking for stuff and 'playing' with it to find things. Most users won't do anything if it's not intuitive. They want it to be simple and just work.

I have the same feelings about Mac OSX. I can't stand that OS. It's not bad, but I just don't know how to use it. Others say it's easy...

I think an OS should be intuitive. You start it up and if you've had any exposure to a computer in the past, you know what to do. Start? Well, I know that's where my programs are. Control Panel? Same thing. Documents? Sure. Move things around or change things too drastically, and people will be wondering what to do.

Give them a command prompt and they won't know anything.

So the start menu had it's roots in classic Mac OS. Say it ain't so!

heatlesssun said:

The biggest problem with 8.x particularly from a desktop perspective is that it was so different from prior versions of Windows. It wasn't necessarily difficult but it did require some training.

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This is something i totally disagree with. Every pro MS supporter that jumps on those that voice their dislike for something in Win8/10 always claim that its because you either "don't like change" and/or you just had to learn it. But as pointed out by a post a few lines up, learning something isn't "ease of use". I've wondered why that wasn't obvious to claimed technical users.

We didn't like 8, because it wasn't thorough. It wasn't fully thought out. It was like as if they had a fleeting thought and jumped into programing it without having some kind of thorough plan for what Windows is.. what its used for.. and where they want it to be used int he future (which in this case... was from HEDT's to Tablets just for the kids to fuck with and brake while posting immature YouTube comments).

You even contradict yourself in this very sentence. I've read you claim that the desktop in Win8 was "exactly the same", yet here you are explicitly saying that its not the same "from a desktop perspective". AFAIC, the desktop side is virtually identical aside from them removing the proper functional and highly usable thing we call a Start Menu (Win7 style). All they needed to do to make Win8 a reasonable step forward was to polish the start menu in Win7 and while not removing any functionality (yeah i know... a very unheard of concept from MS these days). Whilst not giving us a half arsed touch interface for tablets and touch screens when they finally arive for some desktop type scenarios.

I absolutely like how Win 8 works on a tablet. The charms work great. But the problem is... its HALF ARSED!! Why can't i turn off Blue Tooth right next to WiFi/Airo mode? Why can't i bring up my auto-hidden taskbar in desktop mode... did not one person fucking auto-hide their taskbar at MS since the Surfaces years long existence? Like WTF. This lack of attention to NORMAL detail is what pisses people off. I have to actually USE these machines, for pleasure and for work. I've only just started getting RSI in my hands from holding a mouse after 20 years of computer use ( i was late to the game but hit it hard ever since), and i don't want to have to click twice to do the things in a User Interface that i've been efficiently clicking once in for over 15 of them. Its just backwards.

heatlesssun,

your comments on 10 on the surface are kind of scarey. I've held off installing 10 on mine due to my fear of it being a bit "less better" to use in touch because i had heard the charms were gone, and that was one feature for touch that was a hit i felt. (once you knew it was actually there and how to access it, another failing of logics from MS, new feature" how about a "whats new" guide you tools!).

Do you think i should install 10 or will it frustrate me that its now been disjointed within its touch interface?

The start menu is there for people smart enough to understand how this stuff works but don't work with it everyday so they will never have the magic keyword or keystroke committed to memory.

At home if I add a printer driver more than once every 3 years, the printer failed early.

HoffY said:

This is something i totally disagree with. Every pro MS supporter that jumps on those that voice their dislike for something in Win8/10 always claim that its because you either "don't like change" and/or you just had to learn it. But as pointed out by a post a few lines up, learning something isn't "ease of use". I've wondered why that wasn't obvious to claimed technical users.

We didn't like 8, because it wasn't thorough. It wasn't fully thought out. It was like as if they had a fleeting thought and jumped into programing it without having some kind of thorough plan for what Windows is.. what its used for.. and where they want it to be used int he future (which in this case... was from HEDT's to Tablets just for the kids to fuck with and brake while posting immature YouTube comments).

You even contradict yourself in this very sentence. I've read you claim that the desktop in Win8 was "exactly the same", yet here you are explicitly saying that its not the same "from a desktop perspective". AFAIC, the desktop side is virtually identical aside from them removing the proper functional and highly usable thing we call a Start Menu (Win7 style). All they needed to do to make Win8 a reasonable step forward was to polish the start menu in Win7 and while not removing any functionality (yeah i know... a very unheard of concept from MS these days). Whilst not giving us a half arsed touch interface for tablets and touch screens when they finally arive for some desktop type scenarios.

I absolutely like how Win 8 works on a tablet. The charms work great. But the problem is... its HALF ARSED!! Why can't i turn off Blue Tooth right next to WiFi/Airo mode? Why can't i bring up my auto-hidden taskbar in desktop mode... did not one person fucking auto-hide their taskbar at MS since the Surfaces years long existence? Like WTF. This lack of attention to NORMAL detail is what pisses people off. I have to actually USE these machines, for pleasure and for work. I've only just started getting RSI in my hands from holding a mouse after 20 years of computer use ( i was late to the game but hit it hard ever since), and i don't want to have to click twice to do the things in a User Interface that i've been efficiently clicking once in for over 15 of them. Its just backwards.

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The gist of what I've said about Windows 8.x's UI problems is that the biggest issue was that the new was so different from previous versions b at running apps on the desktop want significantly different once you're in those apps on the desktop. Windows 10 from a desktop perspective while more in line with 7 than 8.x because of the removal of the full screen elements, hot corners, etc. is more different than 7 or 8.x on the desktop. The task view, new window snapping, virtual desktops and resizable Start Menu provide a lot of useful desktop productivity functions out of the box, more so with multiple monitors.

HoffY said:

heatlesssun,

your comments on 10 on the surface are kind of scarey. I've held off installing 10 on mine due to my fear of it being a bit "less better" to use in touch because i had heard the charms were gone, and that was one feature for touch that was a hit i felt. (once you knew it was actually there and how to access it, another failing of logics from MS, new feature" how about a "whats new" guide you tools!).



Do you think i should install 10 or will it frustrate me that its now been disjointed within its touch interface?

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While the desktop mode I think is unequivocally better in 10 than 8.x the tablet side is a mixed bag. The removal of the Charms is a negative. Desktop elements get intertwined in the tablet more like the desktop File Explorer as the modern file dialog has been removed.

One the plus side I'm starting to like the new pen input panel better. At first I didn't care much for it and there are still things I don't like about it like only one line of input no quick key to input symbols but it does seen to be a bit more accurate and faster. I like having the task bar available in tablet mode though I wish there were an option to autohide it while in tablet mode only and not system wide.

One thing that may not be appreciated by average tablet users because of the complexity it introduces is being able to run store apps in a window. While split view in tablet mode lets you run two apps, desktop or store, side-by-side you can run as many as you want in desktop mode windowed, desktop and store. And in this mode apps don't suspend so video players like Netflix keep running even if they aren't the active window though minimizing will suspended playback.

While I know a lot of folks have issues with Cortana it does come in handy on a tablet. A good deal of what I do on tablets is web searching and while she's not 100% it's generally faster than typing with thumbs.