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Windows 9 Start menu, posted on arstechnica

The second video showing the menu w/o the garish live times is OK. I suppose we have to keep the finger touchers happy with those childish color blocks. 🙂
 
corkyg said:
The second video showing the menu w/o the garish live times is OK. I suppose we have to keep the finger touchers happy with those childish color blocks. 🙂
Click to expand...


Works both ways,got to keep those that can't use an OS without Start menu happy 😉,personally I can adapt either way it's not rocket science.

Btw OcUK have a thread about it here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18619271&page=3 .


A lot seem to like it in OcUK forums in that link above.


FYI I'll be buying Win9 regardless,something new to play with 🙂 .


Now if Microsoft would make just a PC gaming OS without all the desktop PC bloat I'll be more then happy to use it with my Linux distros 🙂 .
 
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I don't care much for the live tiles, though the ones for news and weather are nice. What I like about the Start Screen (and why I'll likely keep using it) is that it has the real estate to let me pin a lot of things at a size that lets me see the text as well as the icon (since I scan for text more)--it's what finally got me to stop littering my desktop with application launch shortcuts. I can't pin that much on a Start Menu.

As for the tiles themselves... I wish I had more control over the color so that I get something more uniform than the mishmash that I have. But it's still a lot prettier than XP's Luna (which, admittedly, isn't saying much 😛).

I am, however, very much looking forward to Metro-in-a-window. The problem with Metro right now is that, being full-screen, it destroys what makes Windows... well, Windows. Because there are no windows. And what windows enables in Windows is multitasking (and no, that flimsy split-screen doesn't count). You know, that big important leap in going from a DOS GUI program to a Windows GUI program. The reason I never used Metro was that it was a giant step backward for mouse/keyboard users. It's like being thrown back into the Dark Ages of DOS single-tasking (and no, I don't think single-tasking is what makes iOS or Android appealing; being able to fit it in your pocket is what makes them appealing, and single-tasking is merely a necessary sacrifice to make that possible). But with Metro now properly multitaskable on desktop environments, it actually might be useful outside of space/interface-constrained tablets.

And there are benefits to Metro. Like it being a high-DPI-friendly greenfield.

Frankly, I don't care much about the new Start Menu (as I'll likely continue to use the SS). But windowed Metro--now that's the thing worth attention.
 
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bbhaag said:
I hope they don't abandon the All Apps screen. This is my favorite feature of 8.1.
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really? thats the only part i entirely disliked. i pin regularly used programs to the taskbar, sometimes used ones to the start screen, and search for the rest

but then, i didnt use the windows 7 start menu for much more than "click - type to search" because i also disliked wading through the folders. /taskbar ftw
 
Mem said:
Works both ways,got to keep those that can't use an OS without Start menu happy 😉,personally I can adapt either way it's not rocket science.

Btw OcUK have a thread about it here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18619271&page=3 .


A lot seem to like it in OcUK forums in that link above.


FYI I'll be buying Win9 regardless,something new to play with 🙂 .


Now if Microsoft would make just a PC gaming OS without all the desktop PC bloat I'll be more then happy to use it with my Linux distros 🙂 .
Click to expand...

All they would have to do to make me happy is add back the Windows 7 Win key search blank that would allow me to get to any installed app on the machine by simply hitting the Win key and start typing to the current 8.1 "Start Button".
 
Linflas said:
All they would have to do to make me happy is add back the Windows 7 Win key search blank that would allow me to get to any installed app on the machine by simply hitting the Win key and start typing to the current 8.1 "Start Button".
Click to expand...

That... is already there in 8.1. Hit the Win key. And start typing. The only difference is that in 7, you see the text box immediately after hitting the Win key. In 8.1, you don't see the text box until you start typing. But that is merely a cosmetic difference: the process in both cases is 100% the same: hit the key and just start typing.
 
code65536 said:
That... is already there in 8.1. Hit the Win key. And start typing. The only difference is that in 7, you see the text box immediately after hitting the Win key. In 8.1, you don't see the text box until you start typing. But that is merely a cosmetic difference: the process in both cases is 100% the same: hit the key and just start typing.
Click to expand...

More accurately, it was already there in Windows 8. It wasn't a new feature in 8.1.
 
I felt like that search feature actually worked much better in 8.1 than 7 as well. Maybe I'm wrong, or have a limited perspective on it, but it seemed to get me what I wanted more often on 8.1 than 7. 8 is another story since it by default limited you to apps forcing you to click over to files etc, making searching more cumbersome than it should have been.
 
I wonder if the right-hand column of the start menu can be used like the left one can. However, I would have thought that it would make more sense to have tiles on the left column and the more 'windows 7' style on the right, so that submenus don't potentially block live tile information.
 
Looks like a step forward.

The graphical side still looks like a step back to win 3 with only 2D menus and buttons, One of the reasons why XP and 7 were so popular was it stood out or popped out.

If I was using a touch screen only device, Win 8 would be tolerable, Yet would be useless for any active game playing.
 
Lorne said:
Looks like a step forward.

The graphical side still looks like a step back to win 3 with only 2D menus and buttons, One of the reasons why XP and 7 were so popular was it stood out or popped out.
Click to expand...

IMO XP's popularity was mainly timing and it marked the end of the Win9x line. XP was Win2k with a few bells and whistles.

Windows 7 was popular because it was a fixed version of Vista that didn't take yonks to settle down. Looking back, I cannot believe the fact that I encountered (on numerous occasions) big-name Vista kit with 512MB RAM, it's like running Windows XP with 64MB. Even 1GB RAM on Vista isn't fun. In 2006, DDR2 prices were optimised towards 1GB (and dirt cheap for 512MB), not 2GB.

Win8 RTM's problem (ie. the reason why it didn't achieve mainstream acceptance) was its interface, and not because the big red X button on windowed apps had a flat look to it. If Win8 had Win7's start menu and no Metro apps/screen, people in general would not have been bothered in the slightest by the other UI alterations.
 
mikeymikec said:
IMO XP's popularity was mainly timing and it marked the end of the Win9x line. XP was Win2k with a few bells and whistles.

Windows 7 was popular because it was a fixed version of Vista that didn't take yonks to settle down. Looking back, I cannot believe the fact that I encountered (on numerous occasions) big-name Vista kit with 512MB RAM, it's like running Windows XP with 64MB. Even 1GB RAM on Vista isn't fun. In 2006, DDR2 prices were optimised towards 1GB (and dirt cheap for 512MB), not 2GB.

Win8 RTM's problem (ie. the reason why it didn't achieve mainstream acceptance) was its interface, and not because the big red X button on windowed apps had a flat look to it. If Win8 had Win7's start menu and no Metro apps/screen, people in general would not have been bothered in the slightest by the other UI alterations.
Click to expand...


I never had any real issues with Vista,but then I had 4GB ram and dual core even back in 2007 when Vista was launched,Win7 was only a slight improvement in my books(yes I did upgrade like I always do) and the only two things that stick out for me was slight speed increase,not surprising considering they had two years further refinement over Vista and new faster hardware available,the other thing less UAC nagging but that did not bother me,so overall only a minor improvement over Vista in my experience.


I think XP popularity was due to its long life,you have to remember it took them ages to bring out their next OS ie Vista in 2007, XP was around back in 2001 so that is virtually six years without another Microsoft OS.

Win8 well I applaud Microsoft for trying something new and updating the OS to modern times,glad they tried a different menu and layout,the Win95 to Win7 one was getting too far long in the tooth IMHO.

Win9 looks like a hybrid type start menu yet still modern,regardless easy to adapt like always until you get somebody moaning they can't use this or that etc ,maybe I've been spoiled on Linux and Windows over the decades where I have seen so many different things to play with.

Regardless Win9 and 10 I will be buying for sure,always fun to play with new stuff and adapt like I always do 🙂 .


End of the day only two things I really care about in Windows,stability and gaming.

I also hope Microsoft do some really good pricing deals on Win9 like they did for Win8.


🙂
 
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Looks okay to me. Not that I ever spend more than 30 seconds a day in the start menu anyway...

Most days I click desktop after logging in and that's only because I'm too lazy to look up the boot to desktop option in 8.1

I guess it puts to rest the "start menu went full screen and it made me forget what I was doing because I still need to see my other apps open while I pick a new one to start" argument.
 
I am a heavy Start menu user so I'm glad they've reinvested in it. I've got 28 small icon shortcuts on mine, plus the jump list support is really handy for accessing filtered lists of recently opened documents.
 
mikeymikec said:
I am a heavy Start menu user so I'm glad they've reinvested in it. I've got 28 small icon shortcuts on mine, plus the jump list support is really handy for accessing filtered lists of recently opened documents.
Click to expand...


I have 47 icons of various sizes all on Metro Start listed A to Z and none are Windows ones(that adds another 12 or so),all my personal ones like games etc,better then the old Start menu IMHO since I hate the tree method and found the old Start menu limited on pinning of apps.

I have 6 on left side on the old desktop taskbar,I do cheat sometimes ie right click on Steam or Origin taskbar icon (on right side)and select game of my choice but then that's why its there 🙂 .



Basically like any OS it's easy access if you have it all organised.
 
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RampantAndroid said:
...it looks like a flat calculator? Not seeing the point of the rage here.
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because its showing the metro calculator instead of the normal one. they are both there.

The one thing that bugs me in the Metro Start Screen is there is a lot of vertical space lost.

I have a few groups that only have 2 or 3 icons but the rest it blank. if i could add groups under each other that would be nice
 
Step in the right direction. Not a fan of the look though. I hope they keep the option to go to Windows Classic. Does windows 8 have that option? I know 7 does and I always enable it.
 
xSauronx said:
really? thats the only part i entirely disliked. i pin regularly used programs to the taskbar, sometimes used ones to the start screen, and search for the rest

but then, i didnt use the windows 7 start menu for much more than "click - type to search" because i also disliked wading through the folders. /taskbar ftw
Click to expand...

I don't have a lot of programs installed. Right around 24 not including the ones built into Windows. The only program I use on a daily basis is Chrome and I pinned that to the task bar. Because of that I love the All Apps screen. I click on the start button and it jumps me right into all my programs. I've also cleaned it up so it doesn't look so cluttered.

Here's a screen cap of what I mean. Because the screen rolls horizontally in Win8.1 I wasn't able to get an entire cap, but hopefully you get the gist of what I'm saying. IDK.....when I got Win8 it just seemed easier to me so when 8.1 came I just stuck with it. That's the beauty of an OS though. You can make it work for you and nobodys setup is the same.
appscreen_zpsd2e428e9.png
 
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