Windows 8.1 TV Ad Highlights Return of Start Button

By Jane McEntegart
published

The Start button is back!

One of the biggest criticisms with Windows 8 was that it ditched the Start button, a feature that's been a part of Windows for as long as many users can remember (it was first introduced with Windows 95 and Windows NT). Together with the introduction of the Metro UI, a lot of people found the lack of Start button confusing. So much so, that users actively looked for ways to bring it back (Tom's Guide even ran a story on how to make Windows 8 look like Windows 7, and a big part of that was bringing back the Start button).

For months, the rumor mill has been churning out reports that Microsoft would bring back the Start button in Windows 8.1. Finally, in June, the return of the Start button was confirmed. Microsoft gave a demonstration of Windows 8.1 at Computex and it briefly showed off the returning Start button. In case you were worried that the months since Computex have seen the Start button cut once more, you needn't have worried. A commercial for Windows 8.1 has shown that the Start button is still present in Windows 8.1.

Microsoft is showing off the Start button in this commercial, telling users then can use it to flip back and forth between Desktop mode and the new Metro/Modern UI mode. As we saw back in June, it's not the same Start button we've come to know and love since 1995. Instead, it serves as a quick hop to the Start screen for mouse-based customers and a comfort blanket for those that have missed the Start button immensely over the last year. Check out the ad for Windows 8.1 below:

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Jane McEntegart
94 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DiaSin
    They need to get it through their thick skulls, it is not the start BUTTON people want, it is the start MENU. Looks like the 5 bucks I spent on start8 will remain to be well worth it.
    Reply
  • bejabbers
    The start button is only part of the problem.... The issue is the metro/tile/modern UI. Putting the start button back doesn't give back the start menu, which is what everyone wants.
    Reply
  • huskersforever
    Solution: startisback.com
    Reply
  • lutel
    Microsoft plays silly games with its users, we want normal Start MENU to be back on desktop, somebody at Microsoft decided to step back 20 years in GUI development, I'm administrator of 300 workstation and I'll never replace Windows 7 before this issue is resolved, even with discounts on upgrades.
    Reply
  • lutel
    Microsoft plays silly games with its users, we want normal Start MENU to be back on desktop, somebody at Microsoft decided to step back 20 years in GUI development, I'm administrator of 300 workstation and I'll never replace Windows 7 before this issue is resolved, even with discounts on upgrades.
    Reply
  • Deadfred
    Microsoft needs to really listen carefully to its users. Windows 8 is an abortion of a UI because it offers little organization and zero intuitive navigation to the items we are looking for. We want our start menu back simply because it got us to where we needed to go quickly. A tile based approach is akin to throwing my shit all over the floor then hunting around whenever I need something. I know there are some people will want to point out the search mechanism, but to that I say, is this a GUI or a CLI operating system? Secondly, sometimes it is difficult to get a seach hit on items I know I have installed. Why should I have to try and remember or guess the name of what it is I'm looking for vs. going to the start menu location I know it will be in. Tiles are a really poor substitute to an organized start menu and this is why we want it back. MS, Please stick this implementation of the start button in the same place you keep clippy the office assistant.
    Reply
  • ta152h
    Does it really matter much? Microsoft is losing market share every month. Chromebooks are popping up like crazy and are best sellers on Amazon. We're seeing SteamOS now making its appearance. Android for PCs is gaining more traction. Tablets are eating into PC sales more and more.

    Microsoft doesn't matter. They made sure of that with Windows 8 by telling people what they wanted, and then with 8.1 by acting like people are so stupid they can't tell the difference between a start button, and the start button that opened the menu they want.

    Result? Month after month Windows market share loses a tenth or two of market share, inexorably declining. It will keep accelerating, as once a competing platform reaches critical mass, it gets more support and software, gets better hardware and software, gets more mass, gets more support and software, etc...

    There's no way for Microsoft to compete. You can't sell an OS for $100 when the competition is free. $100 is too much hardware, whether you want a faster processor, better mass storage, a nice screen, etc..., especially with the popularity of lower cost machines.

    Microsoft has become irrelevant, and Windows is a dying platform. Better to review new Chromebooks, or Android based machines, as the free OS is the future, Microsoft is the past.
    Reply
  • nikolayivanov321
    The Start button is back! ... sort of
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    microsoft screw with everything in market with windows 8 and now give back the start button... NO microsoft we are moving to linux! ITS FREE!
    Reply
  • burkhartmj
    11628954 said:
    Does it really matter much? Microsoft is losing market share every month. Chromebooks are popping up like crazy and are best sellers on Amazon. We're seeing SteamOS now making its appearance. Android for PCs is gaining more traction. Tablets are eating into PC sales more and more.

    Microsoft doesn't matter. They made sure of that with Windows 8 by telling people what they wanted, and then with 8.1 by acting like people are so stupid they can't tell the difference between a start button, and the start button that opened the menu they want.

    Result? Month after month Windows market share loses a tenth or two of market share, inexorably declining. It will keep accelerating, as once a competing platform reaches critical mass, it gets more support and software, gets better hardware and software, gets more mass, gets more support and software, etc...

    There's no way for Microsoft to compete. You can't sell an OS for $100 when the competition is free. $100 is too much hardware, whether you want a faster processor, better mass storage, a nice screen, etc..., especially with the popularity of lower cost machines.

    Microsoft has become irrelevant, and Windows is a dying platform. Better to review new Chromebooks, or Android based machines, as the free OS is the future, Microsoft is the past.

    Of the top 20 on Amazon, 2 are chromebooks, two are macbooks and 16 are Windows based.While a single model of chromebook MIGHT be outselling any single model of Windows, Windows is still outselling Chrome OS by multiple orders of magnitude. The fact of the matter is chromebooks are too low power and nowhere near versatile enough, Android is a phone OS, and Linux has been free and marginalized for decades. Windows isn't going anywhere, and if people took 2 seconds to stop complaining or looking for workarounds and actually used Windows 8, they'd find it's nowhere near as bad as everyone suggests. The old start menu was limited and frustrating and offers zero organizational ability over Windows 8. It was a great interface when it came out 20 years ago, but it's dated and Windows needed to move on.

    At this rate, I'm more likely to use startisgone when 8.1 hits than I EVER was to use startisback.
    Reply