Why Microsoft Killed the Windows Start Button

[DrDoug]

I don't see how you can consider Windows 8 on tablets as a success, since the "on tablets" part makes it a failure already. Heck even the iPad is a failure since it's simply an Angry Birds/Draw Something/Tap Tap Revenge gaming gadget, and not a tablet.

What's funny is that he is telling us that the desktop/keyboard/mouse is going to be a thing of the past, thus the use of Metro on Win8. Then he tells how cool it would be having Win8 on a tablet and then plugging in an external keyboard, mouse and monitor...

which makes it a desktop with a mouse and keyboard, the very thing that he says will be a thing of the past...lol!

I have been here for a bit of time but I'm still classed as a noobie because I normally stay out of the endless 'one versus the other' arguments here that never produce anything more than smug people on both sides (AMD/Nvidia - AMD/Intel and so on) who know that they are right and the other side is wrong.

I read both sides and draw my own conclusions after further research but the pitched battles can be fun to peruse. The Win7/Win8 'argument' is fun to engage in because it's one company whose products I have been selling and using for many years now. I've personally run Win8 on my main system and currently have it on a demo system for customers to check out, and I've seen and heard more than enough to draw my own conclusions.

Microsoft is making a mistake trying to make a desktop look and run like a tablet. While I acknowledge that others may love Win8, a majority of my customers, my family (eight computers there alone) and quite a few of my friends all agree that it isn't their cup of tea.

But what do we know, we're just people who use Windows every day.

 

[FYMbyIce]

I think they are late in removing the start menu hell I cant imagine why we ever needed it in the first place.

 

[heatlesssun]

What's funny is that he is telling us that the desktop/keyboard/mouse is going to be a thing of the past, thus the use of Metro on Win8. Then he tells how cool it would be having Win8 on a tablet and then plugging in an external keyboard, mouse and monitor...

which makes it a desktop with a mouse and keyboard, the very thing that he says will be a thing of the past...lol!

I've never said that keyboards and mice and desktops are going away. Never, not once. I've said, and the sales numbers of tablets seem to be saying the same thing, that more and more people will also use tablets. Some people will not have conventional computers anymore, they can do all that they need to do with a smart phone or tablet. Some people won't have tablets and continue to use conventional PCs. But I think in the middle you'll have most people that will have a need and desire to have both a conventional PC and a tablet.

Microsoft is making a mistake trying to make a desktop look and run like a tablet. While I acknowledge that others may love Win8, a majority of my customers, my family (eight computers there alone) and quite a few of my friends all agree that it isn't their cup of tea.

But what do we know, we're just people who use Windows every day.

But the other side of it is where and how would Windows grow remaining a keyboard and mouse only OS? How would it fit into the ever growing push to tablets and touch? Getting Windows to run well on tablets is a MUST for Microsoft. It simply can't allow its flagship product to not run on the fastest growing computer form factor. Yes, a separate OS, but Microsoft is late, everyone else is doing that and this approach does have the advantage of allowing for one device to do it all.

We'll see this fall but I'm pretty sure that overall the conventional PC crowd won't like the UI but they won't find much in the way of technical fault, it'll run as fast or faster than 7 and probably boost mobile battery life a bit. But on the tablet/hybrid/convertible side of this, I think most people will like Windows 8 because this is kind of hardware it was designed to run on the best.

 

[ZodaEX]

Just when I think people could not get any dumber.

It wasn't dumb, it was BRILLIANT!

 

[DrDoug]

I've never said that keyboards and mice and desktops are going away.

You keep saying that you aren't saying anything that you say that you aren't saying. Since you aren't saying what I think you are saying then I'm going to slowly back away from this issue and let you keep saying what you say that you aren't saying.

 

[SkribbelKat]

You keep saying that you aren't saying anything that you say that you aren't saying. Since you aren't saying what I think you are saying then I'm going to slowly back away from this issue and let you keep saying what you say that you aren't saying.

I think I have a migrane now.

 

[KENNYB]

Huh? You said the last time you have seen Windows on a tablet was from software and hardware from a decade ago. I'm using Windows 8 on the best x86 tablet hardware less than a year old. Try that again because insulting it's not.

Where did I mention a decade? I saw that less than 5 years ago when I was in college. Windows 8 is still unreleased and most users have not used it. What part of that don't you understand? You are part of the 0.01% of people who have used Windows 8 on a tablets.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

I understand that they want a seamless phone/tablet/desktop interface so all the morons out there don't get confused... but why not leave the start button in for those of us who want it? Why make it so hard for 3rd parties to put it back in just because your user surveys show that 'people like pinning things?'

This is my start menu. I don't need a full screen start menu.

 

[heatlesssun]

Where did I mention a decade? I saw that less than 5 years ago when I was in college. Windows 8 is still unreleased and most users have not used it. What part of that don't you understand? You are part of the 0.01% of people who have used Windows 8 on a tablets.

Around five years ago the tablet would have been running either Vista or XP. The hardware and software of five years ago compared to Windows 8 on even today's tablets is simply far superior to a Tablet PC of 5 years ago.

 

[Unknown-One]

I understand that they want a seamless phone/tablet/desktop interface so all the morons out there don't get confused... but why not leave the start button in for those of us who want it? Why make it so hard for 3rd parties to put it back in just because your user surveys show that 'people like pinning things?'

This is my start menu. I don't need a full screen start menu.

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/4631/mystartmenu.png

No search box? ...ew...

 

[Arainach]

I understand that they want a seamless phone/tablet/desktop interface so all the morons out there don't get confused... but why not leave the start button in for those of us who want it? Why make it so hard for 3rd parties to put it back in just because your user surveys show that 'people like pinning things?'

This is my start menu. I don't need a full screen start menu.

To quote myself from the first page of this thread:

Because once your mother manages to launch a Metro app somehow, how will she know how to get back to anything else if she' been relying on clicking the Start Button from the desktop?

 

[KENNYB]

Around five years ago the tablet would have been running either Vista or XP. The hardware and software of five years ago compared to Windows 8 on even today's tablets is simply far superior to a Tablet PC of 5 years ago.

Now go back to what I initially said about most users have not seen a Windows OS running well on a tablet. But, but, Windows 8, Windows 8... is that what you're going to counter with? The unreleased OS that most people haven't tried yet? The OS where we won't see the final GUI changes until it's released?

 

[stop!theradio]

So they're explaining WHY they removed the start button?

Odd - turns out I don't give a single fuck about WHY they did it, I just wish they NEVER did it at all.

 

[heatlesssun]

Now go back to what I initially said about most users have not seen a Windows OS running well on a tablet. But, but, Windows 8, Windows 8... is that what you're going to counter with? The unreleased OS that most people haven't tried yet? The OS where we won't see the final GUI changes until it's released?

Exactly. It is an unreleased OS still in beta and you've not used it across multiple devices and input methods like I have. You may very well understand something about Windows 8 that I don't. And it it's equally as possible I understand something about Windows 8 that that you've never seen.

The reason why I like to get into these Windows 8 debates is because I've been using Windows on tablets daily on devices at least labeled as tablets for a decade. By your own admission that's .01% of current users. Fair enough, but do you really think that that number won't change significantly in the coming years?

 

[Romale23]

Lets face it, the surface is the future. I'm going to have a big desktop rig because i game, graphic designers and coders are probably going to have big desk top rigs. Lets face it, we'll be fine no matter how bad they jack it up if its not good on a desktop. But the other 90% of computer users are going to have this sleek little tablet they going to plug a mouse and keyboard into, does everything a laptop does and is SUPER portable and can just take it with them wherever they go. Its just the natural evolution of things.....

Bottom line is, if you put microsoft office on a phone, gave it plug ins for keyboard monitor and mouse. That would be enough for 90% of people out there...

 

[ccman]

"We’d seen the trend in Windows 7," said Chaitanya Sareen, principal program manager at Microsoft, referring to the telemetry gathered by the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program. "When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar. We are seeing people pin like crazy. And so we saw the Start menu usage dramatically dropping, and that gave us an option. We’re saying 'look, Start menu usage is dropping, what can we do about it? What can we do with the Start menu to revive it, to give it some new identity, give it some new power?'"

Am I alone in thinking that one thing does not a trend make. Usually, when you talk trends, you talk about across products. For example, we've seen vehicle manufacturers trend towards including hybrid electric vehicles, not, the trend in 2011 Honda Civic drivers who chose to participate in our CEIP. The trend of this pen I am holding has been to write on sticky notes, therefore I think we should get rid of all paper that isn't sticky notes and force all pen users to write only on sticky notes.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

No search box? ...ew...

I can pull up the regular windows 7 start menu with the Windows key (or anything else I want to assign it to). It's the best of both worlds: start search when I know what I want to launch or I need a file, easy to read menus when I need to browse through my apps.

 

[Tae]

Bottom line is, if you put microsoft office on a phone, gave it plug ins for keyboard monitor and mouse. That would be enough for 90% of people out there...

Yep. I bought my wife an IPad and she is almost never on the PC anymore. She only goes on when she wants to make longer replies as the IPad can be annoying.

As far as the thread goes, I never use the start menu at home, but I do a lot a work. I have quite a few more apps to juggle at work and not a big enough screen at work to desire to put them all on the taskbar. The only thing that disturbs me about the Win 8 complaints is the lack of startup customization, but I will still try it out for myself. One thing I know for sure is people hate change, so I can ignore most of the negative rhetoric. I had no intention of going to Win 8 until the $40 upgrade was announced, that is because I am happy with Win 7. But I plan on getting a Surface, so upgrading to Win 8 for $40 to remain consistent in interface seems ok.

 

[heatlesssun]

I can pull up the regular windows 7 start menu with the Windows key (or anything else I want to assign it to). It's the best of both worlds: start search when I know what I want to launch or I need a file, easy to read menus when I need to browse through my apps.

There is not real best of both worlds with Windows 7 and prior versions unfortunately. All keyboard and mouse all of the time for the most time.