Microsoft: start button removed? you were not using it anyway!

I admit, that I hardly click on the start button. But I often use Ctrl-Esc to open the start menu

Every modern keyboard has at least one key for it. Will this mean we will see newly developed keyboards on new computers as well?

Same here but I have a keyboard that has a single key to push which has the Windows logo.

SJ

What about the right click on the Start button for "Open all users" ?
I guess you can consider I'm still using Vista & I use Windows Classic as my "Theme".

It seems to me a very lame excuse to justify their (very unpopular) decision to remove it... the truth is that they want to make more money from the mobile market, but I still can't understand why they want consider a desktop PC like a mobile device

Yes I was! Bring it back or watch me start planning whether to switch to Linux or to Mac in the future. I'm not going to use Metro or Program Manager on my desktop/laptop so don't try forcing it on me!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...am_Manager.png

It is the best way to get people/consumers to use their 'Metro'<-( ) style.

SJ

I don't use it because when I install programs/applications I have it place an icon on the desktop. When using the Windows 8 Release Preview, I switch to the desktop view as soon as Metro launches, and I have an icon there for every program/application (except those downloaded from the Microsoft Store that can only be launched from Metro).

But I for instance don't even SEE the desktop! And I prefer the quick keyboard access through the windows start button, pressing start and then typing the first two or three letters of whatever program, document or even music track, meaning I don't need to plague my screen with lots of the programs I don't use that often (cause the often-used ones are either pinned to the taskbar or are in the most-used list in the start menu, again) but I can always access them with a few button strokes!

What i say is, I understand Microsoft's will for progress, but that's why they should've kept an option to KEEP the Start button! Screw Metro! I'm using a workstation! I'm totally downloading whatever 3rd party program will offer the replacement of the Start button!

I don't quite understand why they couldn't make Metro an addition and leave the start menu as it is. It doesn't take much to think of another quick & easy way to bring up metro.

Some suggestions:

1. Place a button next to the start button for Metro
2. Click bottom-left for Start menu or bottom-right for Metro
3. Right-click start button (or touch with touchscreen) for Metro

Then again, I'm sure that if Microsoft figures that as it successfully forced the ribbon on Office 2007/2010 product users, it can do the same with forcing the Metro on Windows 8.

That was my reason to switch from Microsoft Office to Libre Office and I don't regret this choice.

Different users with different experiences, the Ribbon interface was the one that brought me back from Open Office to MS Office 2007 And I'm still enjoying it .
But it doesn't mean that they shouldn't have kept the traditional layout as optional at least...

Windows 7 should also have the option of keeping the Windows XP interface as well as the interface for Windows 3. I think it's stupid that digital cameras these days come with their own LiOH batteries instead of allowing me to put my own NiM rechargeables. At some point migration is necessary and not everyone is happy about it.

The classic UI has been preserved throughout generations of Windows development, and it was always kept as an optional alternative to the "newer" or "modern" theme. So don't really know what's the point with Win3.1 as it's already been 20 years of it's gradual evolution! While start menu did not "evolve" to the "void" of it. They simply removed a useful button without a real convincing alternative and it isn't optional.

But your point about batteries is absolutely invalid IMHO. It is okay when you migrate to newer environments or solutions sacrificing backward compatibility as you offer more features and extended capabilities, kinda like the migration we had to go through from 16bit to 32bit and later 64bit programs support, though even in that case, backward compatibility is still existent EVEN NOW.

But the removal of the "Start" button was just like the stupid move MS has done with Vista when they removed the "New Folder" button in explorer. They had to bring it back in Win7, and honestly it was one of the very first and praised features I've noticed in the system!
You're removing a feature that is useful and being used by many, without any gain in performance, capabilities or features in return. And it's not even optional.

Oh! And just about the Windows 3.1 thing, if you check the "Compatibility" tab in your application's properties window, you'll find that you have compatibility modes for all systems dating back to Windows 95, plus 256 colours, and 640x480 resolution modes. And believe it or not, I still have video games from the late 80s and early 90s that are running quite smoothly and perfectly with these compatibility modes in an almost native-feeling 16bit VM. So YES, MS CAN KEEP THE START BUTTON, it's not as if they don't know how to do it! They just wanna force Metro as the only option.

Maybe someone can write an app for that?

I wonder if Microsoft is doing this to test out a Ryanair approach.

For anyone not familiar with Ryanair, they generate a lot of publicity by removing features standard on other airlines (e.g. ability to check-in at certain airports) or charging ridiculous fees such as up to €120 to check-in a bag each way that was not declared when booking the flight, which all generates a lot of talk on the radio and TV.

So it seems like Microsoft is doing the same by getting everyone talking about Windows 8 over the missing start button and making the assumption that people will get over this "minor" inconvenience.

I remember reading something about a third party developer creating an application very similar to the start button. Just a little bit too lazy to google it right now.

I hope not! Because it failed miserably the last time they did it with Vista !

i won't be getting win8 anyway because of its bad usability, so i don't care.

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4boTbv9_nU

I will be honest when I say I liked lots and LOTS of the new capabilities of Win8, but there were a few drawbacks and honestly, for me, the missing Start button IS a killer. I've left Windows to Mandriva Linux after Vista was released, only got back to the MS wagon after the Win7 RC release, but now I'm really looking into getting Ubuntu, I really like where these guys are going! And with better new dedicated graphic and A/V editing software being released for Linux I think I can handle myself well there with the least amount of WINE usage, strictly for Adobe products

And that video IS BRILLIANT, even though you know that all new stuff can be learned, but still it doesn't mean it is a wise move to remove the frankenshtucken button

I use it mainly to start explorer (right click)....

Someone should sue them for wasting windozze leaked keys now....

I use the WinKey+E combination for the same purpose which makes me wonder; do the WinKey+button combinations still behave the same way under Win8? I tried the developer Preview when it was first released, but I don't remember if the WinKey+D, +E, +F, +S (For MS OneNote) and others worked the same way, and IIRC the Start menu was still there in the Dev Preview!

I think it's part of the MS sales strategy.
Good OS followed by flawed OS .
Some people have to have the latest so buy the flawed one anyway.
Then they're sorry so are ready to buy the next one that's new & a good OS.
I have & use Vista . I wouldn't want the OOB version but a well tweaked Vista works fairly well. My main complaints with Vista are it is slow to boot , it is a resource hog in many ways ( I especially hate that it constantly checks for blu ray DRM here ) , & I can't get it to open a -VR recorded DVD.
Way back I also used the hated Windows ME & it worked OK for me but I went back to Windows 98 SE at the time . I did keep some ME stuff like the USB drivers for auto recognition . Matter of fact I still have this 98 available of my older computer if I need it .

I kinda have to agree with you, even though in my case whenever I used the "flawed" OS I never actually bought it but it was mostly an OEM pre-installed or supplied by my workplace . I think the only versions of Windows I didn't use were versions of NT Pre-4.0 and whatever Windows that came before 3.1, and the OS seems to go through these cycles all the time, even though the Betas are usually impressive, somehow MS manages to mess it up at the final launch, I really don't remember Longhorn to be that sucky! Neither was Win8 Dev Preview! I mean, of course there were missing stuff, but the future wasn't as grim as it always turns to be !

I can never forget WinME dying and refusing to boot whenever you tried to update to the latest DirecX drivers (I guess 9.0 was launched at the time?) or Win98 First Ed. crashing on EVERY action you're doing, but mainly, Vista being the sloth, resource hog crippling my high-spec top-of-the-crop HP laptop at the time, with so many missing features and annoyingly awkward issues and incompatibilities with software and hardware ( most of which were fixed in Win7), Making the move to Mandriva Linux-regardless of the MANY MANY missing application alternatives-sound like a sweet soothing Klingon lullaby.

Anyway, Ubuntu looks quite promising, MS better handle this new 8 well or they're simply losing MORE customers to Linux and Mac, thanks to their introductory platforms of iOS and Android which most of us have become quite familiar with, so it's no more the scary OS change that protected Windows for a long long time now!

I don't use my surround sound speaker system every day either, in fact not for the last 2 weeks, but I'd be right royally peeved if some bastard got rid of it because I only use it 5% of the time.

Sometimes I need it, I just don't use it all the time when I'm playing boring stuff with stereo sound .......

Sure, everyone has their favourite stuff pinned, but sometimes you just need access to everything ..

Metro is hell ....

Ubuntu's Unity interface is for the same market as Metro and I find it just as annoying on a desktop. Luckily there is Linux Mint Cinnamon and the Gnome fallback modes.

I also don't like the Ribbon. It makes some things easier to find but everything else is much more difficult. I switched from AutoCAD to DraftSight for that reason (and DraftSight is much faster too).

Ditto

It is like fire extinguisher: they are used rarely, but this doesn't mean that is wrong to keep them available

M$ is definitely using very lame excuses

I got a somewhat similar circular arguement from a ford engineer a decade ago.

Back when ford was discontinuing the "Retro" styled Ford Thunderbird based
on the lincoln-LS platform I asked why they never offered a manual transmission option... (the parts existed as the 6cyl LS was offered with a manual as was
the Jaguar models based on the same chassis)

It was explained to me that only 20% of prospective buyers
(of that specific model) were interested in a manual transmission....

Yet in the next paragraph out of this twit's mouth was that they were
discontinuing the car because they needed to sell 15% more of them
to make it profitable...

I just love it when people who believe thesmelves to be "intelligent" and/or educated babble on blissfully unaware of their own inherent contradictions...

I just love the whole "we know what the customers want,
because I have a paper from college that says I do"...

You sell what the customers want, not what you want to sell them.

AD

@AllanDeGroot, well said!

Exactly! What's next? Remove the command line terminal? Less than 2% of PC users use it anyway! Right?! How about RegEdit? Ha? Haa? Let me delete that "Windows" folder for you! I never saw you open it anyway!!

I agree with you about the Unity UI, especially after the "HUD" improvement, it looks like they were the inspiration for Microsoft to remove the start menu button, but I remember how turned off I was when I first tried Natty Narwhal; the shockingly Mac-ish looking and feeling UI, the over-simplification of the system, the system properties panels where you cannot find your advanced settings anymore. It was a total NO NO for me, that was when I started looking into other Linux alternatives, probably going for Mageia.

Anyway I'll be looking forward to seeing how the next Quantal Quetzal is gonna work with their GNOME 3.6 shell. Fingers crossed

How to put the START button back in Windows 8

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/win...windows-8/5945

I don't care that much about Start buttons. QUICK LAUNCH or toolbars loaded with MY apps where I want them, handy, small - an option that repeat-computer-users will easily get used to. That's what I want. More customization, not less.

Allan, your comment about Ford & Retro T-Birds. Why oh why didn't they bring back the GOOD looking one, like the 1957. Of course, I'd go back to the 1966 Mustang, too. To heck with bit fat stuff.

Of course, for Ford, I generally clear my nose in their general direction. The car company that believes lights should be left on when ignition keys are removed has ALWAYS had a very lame notion of consumer uses.

Frankly the one that always cracked me up was my friend's Nissan which would chime then tell you with a computerized voice that you left your lights on... (or whatever problem)

At the same time my Saab had a relay that turned off the headlights when you turned off the key. this was in 1984...

Now I drive a Ford Ranger that I've had for 17years
and if I'm dumb enough to leave my headlights on, well that's what my second battery and "cross connect" relay are for.

Yeah, I can "jump-start" my truck just by flipping a switch.

My Ford Ranger Lariat Super Cab is old enough to know not to leave its lights on .
So is the Capri .
The Ranger has an automatic but the Capri has a standard . I like a standard in most situations .
As you can tell I'm a Ford driver by choice .
I like the looks of the retro T-Bird but it really needed a standard option . I would like to have one with a 6-speed standard. Then again I think that cars should have always had a 2-speed rear-end . Something like a 3.60:1 for town & maybe a 2.50:1 for highway. That would conserve a lot of gas.
Just one comment on the 57 T-Bird I think the V8 for that model was a 292CID but it may have been the 312CID by then. Both were based on the same engine block. These were not one of Fords better designs . They had upper oiling problems . The 4-barrel carb was also an odd design.

no start button and I tell everyone that windows 8 is not worth there time or money

I personally believe that Windows8 is the modern equivelent of "this way to the Egress" to gullible Windows7 users

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_way_to…

What is not noted on this wiki page is that people finding themselves outside after being suckered by Barnum's sign had to the pay again to get back inside and see the rest of the exibits.

Much the same way windows7 users have to pay to reinstall windows7 after "Trying out" Windows8