Microsoft to restore the Start Button in Windows 8.1

[Candlelight]

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/34515...dium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter

Microsoft Corp is bringing back the Windows "start" button, offering a stripped-down version among a slew of improvements aimed at winning over tablet users and placating PC customers alienated by Windows 8.
The world's largest software company is looking to re-energise sales of its latest Windows version, which has not made the splash with computer users it was hoping for. Executives say the plan is now to update Windows periodically, rather than waiting three years or so between big releases.
Although Microsoft has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses since October, broadly in line with Windows 7 three years ago, the company must tackle a dwindling PC user base and its inability to make a mark in the exploding tablet market.
Shipments of traditional PCs - the most reliable gauge of Windows' popularity - are expected to fall almost 8 percent this year, while Microsoft's Surface has taken less than 2 percent of the tablet market.
Windows 8 was designed to be used both on touch-screen tablets and traditional PCs. But while touch-screen users tend to like the new "tile"-based interface, many mouse and keyboard users complained that the new design was confusing.
Confirming speculation, Microsoft said the Windows 8.1 update will have a button in the bottom left corner of the screen that acts like the "start" button in previous versions of Windows. Although it will not be labelled "start", it features the Windows logo and takes the user straight to a grid of applications.
"The work you are seeing us do here is continuing to advance the modern (interface), while really taking into account some of the things we've learned from people who still want to use the desktop, to make the transition easier," Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of the Windows unit, said in an advance briefing on the Windows 8.1 update last week.
Windows 8.1, previously known by the code name "Blue", will be available for free to all Windows 8 users some time later this year. Microsoft will make a test version available at its annual developer conference on June 26.

Despite knackering Metro I found myself not missing the start button, then again I do have a rather large quick launch bar...

 

[Sephiroth]

*looks at the classic shell start button* I'm fine, thanks

 

[Amaris]

*looks at Windows 7 Start Orb*

Yeah, I'm not in a hurry.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

*looks at Mac OS X Dock*

Yawn.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Still getting used to my laptop's Windows 8 without the touchscreen.

Where I work, everyone just got a new PC with Windows 7 and Office 2010, which I seem to like better than the version I'm using at home.

 

[John Clark]

*looks at the classic shell start button* I'm fine, thanks

Yeah, me too.

I tried Pokki and while it worked, Classic Shell works better for me. They don't plan on updating to 8 at work any time soon (or ever if some of the IS guys get their way).

 

[sojourner]

What IT guys in their right mind would want to update a company to the latest version of MS operating system??? It's virtually a truism in the industry to stay one generation behind (and sometimes skip a generation) to give time for MS to work out the bugs.

 

[RoJoHen]

*looks at Mac OS X Dock*

Yawn.

Yep.

The couple times I have used Windows 8 on other computers, I have been confused as hell. Couldn't figure out where anything was supposed to be.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Still getting used to my laptop's Windows 8 without the touchscreen.

Where I work, everyone just got a new PC with Windows 7 and Office 2010, which I seem to like better than the version I'm using at home.

Without a touchscreen I think you're better off with a start button replacement (or waiting for this long-rumored 8.1). The Metro/Modern UI works OK if you have touch and play by the rules but I prefer working in the desktop of 8 with my keyboard/mouse and habits. With a start button, Win 8 is quite nice.

 

[Candlelight]

The couple times I have used Windows 8 on other computers, I have been confused as hell. Couldn't figure out where anything was supposed to be.

See this is something I've never understood about people that have used Windows 8:

Things are in a different place, the metro interface is new but not once have I ever found Windows 8 'confusing'. A co-worker who is VERY smart when it comes to IT took several minutes to locate the control panel.

I found it in 10 seconds.

 

[cultcross]

The couple times I have used Windows 8 on other computers, I have been confused as hell. Couldn't figure out where anything was supposed to be.

See this is something I've never understood about people that have used Windows 8:

Things are in a different place, the metro interface is new but not once have I ever found Windows 8 'confusing'. A co-worker who is VERY smart when it comes to IT took several minutes to locate the control panel.

I found it in 10 seconds.

It's just familiarity - if you navigate a computer by knowing where things are, if they're all moved, you're back to square one again. I find myself wrestling Windows 8 into being as much like old Windows as it can be, instead of genuinely learning to use Windows 8 as if I'd never used an OS before. So I look for the control panel where the control panel used to be, instead of thinking 'right, where's the most logical place for that setting to be on this new design?'. I suspect that's true of a lot of people who are used to being around IT which has always worked roughly the same way. You could argue it's backward of us, and it is, but you could also say 'if it ain't broke...' - what was wrong with the desktop layout?

 

[Amaris]

^ Exactly. I set a system up for my Aunt and W8 was as confusing as hell (it also crashed twice on setup), and I've been using Windows, in one form or another, since 1993. Not once was I confused or stymied by any particular layout. Windows 8 is fine for tablets. I think it's a poor option for desktops and laptops that don't have touch screens, though.

 

[Tribble puncher]

To me, the main problem seems to be how microsoft's p.r. dept is handling Window's 8. They've either been denying people are unhappy, or are basically saying "this is the future, so deal with it" and making people who bought a non-touch device feel like second class citizens. it would have been very simple to release a quick update that would have allowed you to boot to the desktop mode, or have this out of the box, they could have prepared a separate "demo" for non touch screen computers to show off the desktop mode at retail stores. The Mouse and Keyboard aren't dead, Apple is proving that by selling more Macs than ever.

 

[RoJoHen]

The Mouse and Keyboard aren't dead, Apple is proving that by selling more Macs than ever.

Indeed. Tablets are gaining popularity, for sure, but that's because of their portability. If I'm sitting at a desk typing stuff out or creating some designs or photoshopping stuff, I want a mouse and keyboard.

I've been using a MacBook for the last 5 years, and I'm seriously considering my next computer to be a traditional desktop.

 

[Amaris]

To me, the main problem seems to be how microsoft's p.r. dept is handling Window's 8. They've either been denying people are unhappy, or are basically saying "this is the future, so deal with it" and making people who bought a non-touch device feel like second class citizens. it would have been very simple to release a quick update that would have allowed you to boot to the desktop mode, or have this out of the box, they could have prepared a separate "demo" for non touch screen computers to show off the desktop mode at retail stores. The Mouse and Keyboard aren't dead, Apple is proving that by selling more Macs than ever.

Well said.

I like Microsoft, I've been an avid Windows user for decades, but I like to remain as open minded as possible, so I try to stay as familiar with other operating systems as much as possible. I've used Apple's various OSes since the Apple IIe days. I use various flavors of Linux, and even a few niche OSes, just to get a feel for them. Windows 8 is not very user friendly.

Actually, maybe it should be said that Windows 8 is TOO user friendly, in that they think all you need is right there in front of you, and if you want to do anything, like use the control panel, well you must be a power user. I think they've underestimated how people prefer to use their computers.

Mouse and Keyboard do not like a touch based interface. A desktop is a bad place for a touch based interface anyway. Can you imagine working 6-8 hours a day constantly tapping your screen? That would get tiring real fast, yet Microsoft just rolls right over any such objections and says, "No! One OS for everything is totally going to work! Especially when we made that OS more for a tablet!"

It's like saying a lawn mower engine works fine in a lawn mower, so it should do just as well in a boat, a car, and a plane. Don't worry, you'll get used to it!

 

[Kelthaz]

Meh, who cares? Everyone knows that you skip the even numbered Windows.

 

[FPAlpha]

*looks at Mac OS X Dock*

Yawn.

Yep.

The couple times I have used Windows 8 on other computers, I have been confused as hell. Couldn't figure out where anything was supposed to be.

Same with me.. a bit before last Christmas my dad got himself a new netbook and my task was to get it up and running.

Granted.. installation ran very smooth and quite fast.

However once i started to play around with it.. as Sam Beckett used to say: "Oh Boy.. "

I am used to cleaning up Windows and deinstalling/changing crap everytime i do a clean Windows install i was not prepared at the level of crap Win8 came with.. some things were downright maddening in its insistence to let itself known and force you to install/login to enable certain features (which often enough you don't want/need).

Currently running Vista for a few years and only recently got some small problems with performance and such so i'm contemplating a clean reinstall.. might even get Win7 but i'll be putting a huge distance between me and Win8.

 

[RoJoHen]

Meh, who cares? Everyone knows that you skip the even numbered Windows.

Valid point.

XP and Windows7 are great. Hell, we still have XP at work!

 

[Kelthaz]

Meh, who cares? Everyone knows that you skip the even numbered Windows.

Valid point.

XP and Windows7 are great. Hell, we still have XP at work!

I'm running Vista at work.

 

[RoJoHen]

Meh, who cares? Everyone knows that you skip the even numbered Windows.

Valid point.

XP and Windows7 are great. Hell, we still have XP at work!

I'm running Vista at work.

At least you get the neat Bubble screensaver. Pretty sure that's the only good thing that came out of Vista.