Microsoft May Bring Full Start Menu Back in Windows 8.2
Back to the start.
One of the biggest complaints consumers and critics have ranted about is the lack of a proper Start Menu in Windows 8. Microsoft heard those cries and added the Start Button with the release of Windows 8.1, but it's still not the same, sending users back to the touch-friendly Modern UI overlay. However, with Windows 8.2, that will likely change.
Sources told Windows SuperSite's Paul Thurrott that Microsoft plans to bring the Start Menu back to Windows. This will reportedly be an option; customers don't have to use it if they're already accustomed to the new methods of finding apps and services. There's also a chance that the Start Menu will only be offered to the product versions that support the desktop (like desktops and laptops).
"As you can today with third-party utilities such as ModernMix, the next version of Windows will let users optionally run Metro apps in floating windows on the desktop," writes Thurrott.

When Vista came out and had the newer style interface. If you went into Desktop Properties/Personalize you could revert back to a regular Classic windows desktop if you chose to do so. SIMPLE I don't understand how or why they think a lack of choice is such a bad thing. Stop trying to force people to change and allow them to change at their own pace jeez.
And I will go on record saying coding this to do this is literally a few lines away. The regular desktop is still there they just disabled features to make it problematic to use so it would seem work worse than metro so people would just use metro. its bull.
I think if this continues.. this will be the downfall of windows... if Apple decides to come into PC market with their OS able to install on any PC, days are over for microsoft and apparently apple is not doing so..
I'm not against something replacing the start menu if it's a true improvement, but this feels like change for its own sake.
Well, I happen to like it. It is as fast as the old Start menu...one click to open it, and then one more click on the tile (shortcut), same as before, but with bigger icons and what I think is a cleaner layout. So personally I think that the Metro UI makes perfect sense and I use it on my personal PC and my work machines. It has not hindered anything, and it feels nice and fluid.
Is it "innovation"? Hard to say. Considering the other nonsense that counts as "innovation" these days, like apps that let you find hook-ups nearby and tweet your dog's dog food preferences, I'd say that this counts if that's the bar something has to meet.
we all know (but may not admit) that the old desktop experience is utterly unusable in the tablet form factor, must like how Metro UI just makes desktop users more frustrated (and lost). just make the UI elements options and let the end user choose.
Well, I happen to like it. It is as fast as the old Start menu...one click to open it, and then one more click on the tile (shortcut), same as before, but with bigger icons and what I think is a cleaner layout. So personally I think that the Metro UI makes perfect sense and I use it on my personal PC and my work machines. It has not hindered anything, and it feels nice and fluid.
Is it "innovation"? Hard to say. Considering the other nonsense that counts as "innovation" these days, like apps that let you find hook-ups nearby and tweet your dog's dog food preferences, I'd say that this counts if that's the bar something has to meet.
it just feels intrusive when your entire screen changes when you try to access the 'start menu'. honestly, that's it. all the elements of the old start menu are still there, just in a different form. some of us have learned short-cut keys such as window+x, windows+s, etc etc, which reduces the need to open MetroUI dramatically.
When Vista came out and had the newer style interface. If you went into Desktop Properties/Personalize you could revert back to a regular Classic windows desktop if you chose to do so. SIMPLE I don't understand how or why they think a lack of choice is such a bad thing. Stop trying to force people to change and allow them to change at their own pace jeez.
And I will go on record saying coding this to do this is literally a few lines away. The regular desktop is still there they just disabled features to make it problematic to use so it would seem work worse than metro so people would just use metro. its bull.
Ok, give me a hierarchy like I had on the Start Menu. Instead of flipping through multiple pages let me just click on a tile that opens another screen of tiles to select from. This would work better for mouse users. I always had my start menu categorized to make it efficient to finding that program that I haven't used for the last 6 months.
I agree conditionally. There is absolutely nothing about Windows 7 and earlier that should be considered sacred in my opinion; its never been a well-designed interface or one that made much sense. The Start menu tends to be a mess on most machines, and I have to believe there's some smarter alternative. I've always avoided using it.
I disagree on much of the rest. If the Metro interface is an innovation at all, its an artificial innovation—innovation purely for the sake of it, or to further Microsoft's agenda. It probably creates more UI design problems than it solves, and its clear that at best, users merely tolerate it. I've never met anyone, tech-savvy or not, that particularly wants to use Windows 8.
But then, that basically sums up Microsoft's business model for much of the Windows/Office/DirectX projects: if you have enough market ubiquity, users don't actually have to like your product. They need it.
To launch any program on my computer, I press the windows button, type 2-4 letters, press enter, and I'm done. I find that more than efficient enough.