Windows 8.1 to have start button, except not really.

[Doppel]

You gotta admire the cojones on Microsoft. After a huge amount of bitching by people they are bringing back the start button.

And guess what? It loads the metro interface. Face palm.

It's like Microsoft has told all the detractors to pound sand. They really will drag users kicking and screaming along for this ride.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22714048

 

[Pardus]

Don't miss the start button, Windows 8 has been great for me. very stable and reliable, It's a slight learning curve, but well worth it.

 

[Mem]

You gotta admire the cojones on Microsoft. After a huge amount of bitching by people they are bringing back the start button.

And guess what? It loads the metro interface. Face palm.

It's like Microsoft has told all the detractors to pound sand. They really will drag users kicking and screaming along for this ride.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22714048

You don't need it,I can't understand the fixation with bringing back the old style Start button menu ,infact quite a few Linux Distro's don't have it but you can still navigate fine.

I've heard all the excuses about its hard to navigate without it etc,with respect to all users no its not if you can be bothered to customize both Metro and old desktop UI to your needs.
End of the day if you don't like Win8 fine but don't expect Win8 Start button menu to turn into Win7(unless you use a third party mod).


Btw more info on 8.1 features etc here http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/30/microsoft-windows-8-1-unveiled/

 

[MontyAC]

It's not much of a change. I'll continue use the third party start button program.

 

[smakme7757]

You don't need it,I can't understand the fixation with bringing back the old style Start button menu ,infact quite a few Linux Distro's don't have it but you can still navigate fine.

I've heard all the excuses about its hard to navigate without it etc,with respect to all users no its not if you can be bothered to customize both Metro and old desktop UI to your needs.
End of the day if you don't like Win8 fine but don't expect Win8 Start button menu to turn into Win7(unless you use a third party mod).


Btw more info on 8.1 features etc here http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/30/microsoft-windows-8-1-unveiled/

The problem is more that Metro hasn't bought enough to the table to make it a replacement worth learning.

I've never slagged off metro, because i never minded using it, but when you need a help file for a software package it's useless. Otherwise it just doesn't bring anything to the table that makes it a 100% worthwhile alternative to the old Start menu.

You and me can say it's perfectly fine. But other will just say "Why bother". To be honest I've never really found a compelling argument for switching out the Start button with Metro. I've always said the seartch is better, but if you use Start 8, all alternatives pop up while not requireing you to select a sub category.....so i don't know. Even i've started using Start 8.

 

[Maximilian]

You gotta admire the cojones on Microsoft. After a huge amount of bitching by people they are bringing back the start button.

And guess what? It loads the metro interface. Face palm.

It's like Microsoft has told all the detractors to pound sand. They really will drag users kicking and screaming along for this ride.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22714048

Ugh...

No start menu just a lousy button and also...

"Other changes that will appear to users running the update include:

Added customisation options, with more choice over colours and backgrounds on the Start Screen."

Just what everyone wanted! More colors and backgrounds to make that clusterf**k of an interface even less appealing Now you can hunt for bright neon tiles amongst a bright neon backdrop or wonder how to get out of this crap and back to the desktop whilst staring at picture of your dog/cat/pony in the background...

Maybe as a cruel joke M$ will include a picture of a start menu as one of the default metro background options.

 

[Pheran]

Yup, for a second I thought that Microsoft had come to their senses, but instead they managed to make the Windows 8.1 UI even more retarded than the Windows 8 interface, something I didn't even think was possible. The blind arrogance of trying to force a UI design that's obviously horrible down everyone's throat is amazing.

 

[nickbits]

The full screen aspect of metro is annoying, it isn't a learning curve.

I do like the flat look though.

 

[blurredvision]

You guys said you missed the start button, so you got it back and you're still bitching?

 

[Scooby Doo]

LOL using Classic 8... don't miss the stupid start screen at all

 

[AMDZen]

You guys said you missed the start button, so you got it back and you're still bitching?

But that's the point, you don't get it back here, its just an illusion

 

[Quantos]

I'm in the same boat as a lot of you. I'm using Classic Shell right now. I thought numerous times about give a serious go at the Metro start screen, but I really don't see the point.

My main problem with W8 is the way a lot of the functionalities are either missing in Metro, or are actually duplicated in Metro/Desktop for no good reason. People would then say: "well, uninstall all Metro apps, or modify the file associations so that everything opens in desktop mode, and use the Metro start screen!" That's fair enough, but the question remains at that point: why? What's the big advantage that the start screen brings over the start menu? There doesn't really seem to be any. Some people like its looks better, but that's entirely subjective. Some people like the fact that it's full screen, whereas some people prefer the start menu for the very reason that it isn't full screen. Arguments can be made either way, but at the end of the day, most differences seem to be cosmetic only. Most people are not going to learn a different interface unless there is a benefit in doing so. Also, that's ignoring the fact that we're only talking about using the start screen as a replacement of the start menu. That is not how Windows 8 ships by default. By default, it has all the annoyances of duplicate applications and missing functionalities.

Moral is: keep using a start menu replacement and enjoy the core of Windows 8, where the real improvements of 7 were made. ^_^

 

[KlokWyze]

Don't miss the start button, Windows 8 has been great for me. very stable and reliable, It's a slight learning curve, but well worth it.

Agree with the former, but not the latter. Had to switch back to Windows 7 because I couldn't find drivers for 2 pieces of h/w that worked.

Additionally, my printer would only occasionally work. Couldn't nail down the reason.

The whole panel sliding mechanic in the desktop environment is completely retarded and unusable (as others have surely mentioned).

 

[BigToque]

I thought MS was insane when they first released Windows 8. Then I started to use it, I actually started to appreciate it. My biggest concern, having used it since launch, is that the two interfaces just lacked consistency. The disconnect between the two was really very distracting. Based on what I've seen now, 8.1 should fix most of the issues.

The last thing I think will be a problem though, and I don't see this as something being addressed in 8.1, is that I like to use the desktop as a bit of a scratch pad location for random things I'm using, and then deleting them when I'm done, and there's no easy way to bring up the "show desktop" with just the mouse, in the orientation that I use the task bar.

I keep the taskbar on the left side of the screen, and that means that the "show desktop" sliver of the taskbar that was really easy to hit by moving the mouse to the bottom right corner is now located right between the clock and the area to bring up the start screen. It takes mental effort to click that area now (and I'm far to lazy to press Win+D).

If the start screen had some method of Right click -> new text document, or copy + paste that I could use, I'm not sure I'd have any major complaints, or at least nothing I can think of off the top of my head right now.