Windows 8 UI is Dropping the ‘Start’ Button

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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After 15 years of occupying a place of honor on the desktop, the “Start” button will disappear from sight in Windows 8. The general consensus is Microsoft is accommodating the new Metro-style desktop and make it easier for cross-platform navigation.

It's possible that Microsoft may reintroduce the Start button if there is enough demand, but this isn't a recent decision for the company so we expect its removal is final.
 
After 15 years of occupying a place of honor on the desktop, the “Start” button will disappear from sight in Windows 8. The general consensus is Microsoft is accommodating the new Metro-style desktop and make it easier for cross-platform navigation.

... I have to ask... did Microsoft's design group read what Mark Shuttleworth said about HUD's in Unity... and then and then have the following conversation?

"Okay, with the Windows 8 Dev Preview we successfully made an interface worse than Gnome 2.x, that bar has just been lowered again, what do we need to do now is come up with an idea even worse than what we already have an more ludcrious than a heads-up-display. We have to do something worse!"

"I know, we can take the start button out. It's already useless in the Dev preview because just clicking on it switches to the full screen start menu rather than actually doing anything. The only real reason it's there now is just so we can have that overly large clock pop up in the lower right hand corner when people leave their mouse over where our start button used to be!"

KDE's already kicking Microsoft in the ass just in terms of usability compared Windows 7... and for some reason Microsoft is just convinced that instead of facing the competition it's just a smart idea to go share concepts and copy dead-end desktop enviroments that users are actively REVOLTING against?
 
Wasn't this posted about a month ago?

Also, Windows 8 is gonna be the next ME/Vista.
 
lol wow, so even after all the bad reactions, they're really going for the gold. Hilarious.
 
lol wow, so even after all the bad reactions, they're really going for the gold. Hilarious.

Which is kind of raises the question why the hell they bother with beta/developer versions to start with...:confused:

Lots of game companies seem to do this too...tell them during the beta how much a program sucks, they just ignore you and do it anyway. :D
 
Damnit Microsoft. I don't like Metro on winphone and its fucking worse when you contaminate my desktop with that shit.
 
Which is kind of raises the question why the hell they bother with beta/developer versions to start with...:confused:

Lots of game companies seem to do this too...tell them during the beta how much a program sucks, they just ignore you and do it anyway. :D

to fix bugs and glitches, not so much user UI perhaps?
 
lol wow, so even after all the bad reactions, they're really going for the gold. Hilarious.

But in the whole universe of Windows users these bad reactions are coming from .0001% of Windows users who are the most technical and resistant to change. I'm sure than Microsoft anticipated this reaction from this group of users, it's not like most changes to Windows aren't met with a lot of opposition. The bottom line is that the desktop just isn't the area of growth for computers, it's phones and tablets and getting Windows on those devices is imperative for Microsoft and the future of Windows. Windows 8 does pretty much everything Windows 7 does plus a lot more. It's not going to be like Vista, that had tons of performance and compatibility issues.
 
If it ain't broke,don't fix it!
It may be an old adage,but it's still all too true. Too many changes are made just for the sake of change.
 
Damnit Microsoft. I don't like Metro on winphone and its fucking worse when you contaminate my desktop with that shit.

I don't see how, I love the interface and find it quite intuitive.

have you actually used a windows phone?
 
Wasn't this posted about a month ago?

Also, Windows 8 is gonna be the next ME/Vista.
And when it comes out, everyone is going to flock to it and be like "OMIGAAADDDD WINDOZZZE ATE IS BETTER THAN VISTA U INCOMPETENT NOOB, SWITCH NAO"
 
guess I be getting more support questions next year or 2 (when ever it comes out) where's the start/gem/square flag button gone(it was hard enough for most users when they removed the word START from the start button that confused the fuck out if most of my customers and made support calls on phone harder when you ask them to press the start button)

win7 is most like the best OS they have made (can't remember last time my pc has bsod on me ) every thing works , apart from users ignoring basic security (run things that they should not and get an malware or scareware)
 
Really? Which ones in particular?

Obviously this remains to be seen but we should get a good idea of what's on the way when the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows Store Beta open in a few weeks. I would suspect however that there will TONS causal games and interactive media apps like those you see on the iPad and Android devices, but that will be available for use on the bigger screens of laptops and desktops and work well with keyboards and mice.

Windows 8 may be a flop for the next year there's going to be a crap load of Metro apps coming out, Windows 8 is probably going to launch with at least 10,000 Metro apps, Considering that Windows Phone 7 launched with 2,000 the MUCH larger Windows market should launch with many, many more. I just think that the full screen, chromeless, colorful and animated apps that so many like on tablets and phones will be well received by most causal desktop and laptop users, it'll just be fresh and new to desktops and laptops.
 
I don't mind it as long as it's still easy to get to my apps, regardless of how old or unused they are. I really like the Windows Phone 7 interface, it's very easy to use and find things.

But, as I support PC's, I find that users going from Windows XP to Windows 7 have some problems (Icons instead of text on taskbar items by default, etc.). Going to Windows 8 might be more of a hassle to these people than good. But, once the initial learning curve is past, I think it will be easier to use. It's just that initial hurdle that they have to get past.

That said, I'm torn on Windows 8. I really like it, but there are some quirks that bug me. Not enough to not use it, but enough to go "Huh?!". I am saving my judgement until at least the consumer preview when features are locked.
 
Metro apps may force the change faster than many are thinking.

It's going to depend on how hard MS doubles down on this. As a .net developer, and having access to the dev beta, I'm not excited at all about the changes they're making.
 
w8 looks like shit, looks like we will be running 7 for a loong looooong time to come
 
Wasn't this posted about a month ago?

Also, Windows 8 is gonna be the next ME/Vista.

ME/Vista were failures for "performance" reasons. I doubt people care that much about UI changes. Case in point, Facebook changes it's UI every 3 months and while people complain, no one really leaves.
 
It's going to depend on how hard MS doubles down on this. As a .net developer, and having access to the dev beta, I'm not excited at all about the changes they're making.

Even though a lot is changing, a lot is still the same. A .NET developer's skills are easily leveraged in Metro, especially if you've done any WPF or Silverlight programing and understand XAML.

It's easier to create compelling UIs in Metro than standard .NET Windows forms and I think it's a lot less obtuse than WPF or Silverlight on the desktop, it's very similar to Windows Phone I think, at least the concepts, the APIs are quite different.

I've been playing around with a few Metro apps and I think it's pretty neat, haven't worked on it in a while. I have some apps I would like to get into the store and I'll get back into when the CP is launched, there's a bit of flakiness in the Developer Preview that I saw particularity on my tablets, oddly enough my Windows 8 desktop is more stable I think.
 
Meh, I don't care. As a WP7 user I'm used to the Metro UI already and as long as it's easy to launch whatever program I want with ease then how I get to it is largely irrelevant. I'm waiting until WIn8 beta before I make any judgements on the OS itself, but from what I've been reading about the changes it'll be worth it.

Having read some comments on Windows 8 I've come to the conclusion that techies are the biggest luddites of them all. Your average user will be confused until they get over the learning curve but will ultimately accept it where as techies will hold on to their Windows 7 like it's the last bastion of civilization.
 
...I am saving my judgement until at least the consumer preview...

Same here. Hopefully we are not all disappointed. XP should have been a good lesson to them that people are willing to skip a generation or 2 if they find no compelling reason to upgrade.
 
The problem with cross platform UI is that its a one size fits all, rather than being optimize for a certain platform.

They should really come up with a UI that's customized for desktop/ laptop interface, rather than being lazy making one that fits all platform.
 
ME/Vista were failures for "performance" reasons. I doubt people care that much about UI changes. Case in point, Facebook changes it's UI every 3 months and while people complain, no one really leaves.

Exactly. Windows 8 will be 100% compatible with Windows 7, the desktop is essentially the same, with some pretty nice improvements like the settings synching. Windows 8 should be more stable and faster and have a lighter footprint than 7, something that Vista could never claim over XP.
 
ME/Vista were failures for "performance" reasons. I doubt people care that much about UI changes. Case in point, Facebook changes it's UI every 3 months and while people complain, no one really leaves.

To be more specific.

Windows ME failures

#1 They changed how Windows networks, and Windows 2000 was already better then WinME at networking. This caused a lot of problems for those wanting to connect to services like AOL, which hadn't support for WinME. Lots of devices lacked driver support, and lots of software didn't support it.

#2 They disabled the ability to shutdown into MSDOS mode. At the time, going into MSDOS mode was the best way to speed up Dos games, and Microsoft disabled it. You could enable it with a hack, but why do this to begin with? WinME was mostly Win98, so why hide such a feature?

Windows Vista
failures.

#1 Over performance. Nothing was snappy or fast in this OS. The dreaded drag and drop issue was a big one, as files that you copied took far longer to move.

#2 Graphics performance and stability. Despite being DX10, Vista can be 1/3 the performance of XP in games. Since the OS used graphic cards to render the desktop for the first time, neither Intel, ATI, or Nvidia were prepared with their drivers, caused severe stability issues.

#3 Removal of XP driver support. Lots of companies didn't make drivers that support Vista. What's worse is that companies claimed their devices were Vista compatible, but never supplied a driver.

#4 Removal of 3D hardware sound. Owners of Creative sound cards were left in the dust to wonder how they would gain support for the prime feature of their sound card. Creative actually charged their customers with a software update that would allow it to work again in Vista using OpenAL instead of Direct Sound.
 
nm, looked it up.. not going to be a game changer.. sorry

Metro has all the potential to be a game changer. A single program deployment that can run on both x86 and ARM architectures and any form factor. desktops, laptops and tablets with much of the code and APIs being compatible with Windows Phone 8 with one day Windows Phone 8 probably becoming just Windows period. That's a awful lot devices that can be reached easily with a single app deployment and can easily change the game.
 
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