Is This What The Windows Start Menu Will Look Like?

[Durandul]

WTF, I'm still seeing tiles on there. Is it too hard to understand that quite a few users don't like the whole live tile thing? It also probably comes with a bunch of bloatware that must be removed like a stupid weather app and live facebook updates. I'd rather just open my browser to look at such things. They better give us the option to disable that stuff completely or I'm staying with 7. On a related topic, I wonder how steam is doing with their O.S.?

Totally agree on the tiles thing. As for Steam OS, it's running pretty well now, and installation is easier. Steam O.S. and Big Picture are still ugly though in my opinion, and beyond that, lack function. It's simply unwieldy to navigate, and is quite slow because of all the animations. Also, it's debian based which is nice, but uses Gnome 3 as the desktop environment, which is a steaming pile of shit. Honestly, XFCE would be better.

 

[WCW]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

 

[WCW]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

If I have a metro app opened and I want to switch back to a legacy program, I just hit the windows key on my keyboard and I am right back to the desktop and my metro app still shows on the task bar so I can switch back and forth in two seconds max.

 

[Alec Mowat]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

 

[CooLWoLF]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

Yes. Exactly ON-POINT.

I think way to often people on this board forget that we are a niche when it comes to tech-savyness. I get shivers when I think about my family upgrading to Windows 8 and the phone calls I would be getting.....

 

[MidnightDistort]

It actually took MS several years before realizing that W8 was a waste of time doing it their way instead of what people wanted. If W8 really was the future of computing it is looking pretty sad. On one hand, the tiles don't offer anything, just takes up too much space versus a regular desktop icon and on the other hand people are not accepting it. That new start menu still looks bad, nothing that classic shell couldn't fix but that still makes it virtually not much of a reason to upgrade from W7. Heck, MS still hasn't gotten XP users off what are they doing about that? They tried getting XP users to upgrade, hoping that the end support would get these users onto W8x but instead they either stuck with XP or got W7 or iOS.

It's not really that hard to figure out that W8's design in the beginning was bad and MS is trying to make it work, but it's not also hard to believe that some people will not like it for whatever reason. I don't need a desktop OS to function like a tablet. In some strange other reality that might work but it doesn't seem to work here. Most people use a computer to check their facebook or do work on it. They don't use it to see what they else they can do with a different UI.

 

[Guest]

One thing I will never understand is the fact that all of the hate towards Windows 8 could have been totally avoided by Microsoft giving users the ability to use the Windows 7 start menu and interface, or the elementary tile shit. How much work would it have taken for them to implement that from the beginning? How did they not think we were all going to hate the new UI? Apparently, 3rd party developers can fix it. And there are programs that give you a start menu of a sort (probably missing some tools and such though), but having to pay more money to change and customize something you already paid good money for, no thank you. Why the hell would someone buy something (win 8) to have to fix it when you can buy something (Win7) and not fix it? That's like saying "I love this new car I just bought, but the brakes are piss poor, so I paid more money to install functional brakes on it". They would have been better off to push it back so they could make it usable for everyone then release what they did.

 

[WCW]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

Its all in the same folders as windows 7, did you even try using "start is back"?? Everything is the same as the windows 7 start menu.

 

[AsTheDeath]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

For most of those, I wouldn't say they are more difficult to find in Win 8/8.1, but it does work differently from Win 7 - which understandably is not very helpful for everyone that's used to Win 7.

To find pretty much any tool/program in Win 8, just go to the start screen and start typing. I can find paint, Defrag, Notepad etc. just by typing them in. If I find I use them often, I can pin them to the start screen (you can fit quite a lot of programs on there since it's full screen).

To be fair, Windows Backup is now called Recovery, so you would have to google that first, and many administrative tools don't show up in Start until you change some setting somewhere. I think for most users Windows 8.1 is not really worse than Windows 7, but you do really have to get used to it first, which MS haven't done a brilliant job of making that very easy.

 

[AsTheDeath]

I still use Windows 7 myself. After 20 minutes playing with a new Windows 8 PC at Best Buy, I built my new rig with Windows 7. I have always used the start menu. The main reason I would miss it would be that I hate clutter on my desk top. I link short cuts to games and my favorite browser, that's it. The task bar contains links to my internet browsers, Windows Explorer, as well as driver control panels on the right. You can configure the start menu in 7 to save as many recently used programs as you want in it's list, which does not take up the whole screen so you can still see open windows. And also makes your desktop less cluttered. On top of that, I organize any custom made directories into folders with sub folders and use Windows explorer to view them. For example, E: Pics/Projects/Gimp/InProgress. I know ALL pics are in the Pics folder, because I put them there. And I am only a few clicks away from opening my projects which are in the appropriate sub folders inside the Pics folder. This method allows me to view all picture "albums" using only one shortcut, the explorer one, instead of links to every individual thing I do, which would create quite a mess. It also eliminate the ugly folder links on my desktop, which is a pet peeve of mine. If I want to open a program, I just scroll down the All Programs list at the bottom of the start menu and find it in it's folder if it isn't listed as a single executable file there. The control panel, system tools, event viewer, etc., etc., and more etc. are also not in one place where they can easily be found as they are in the start menu. The whole start menu system is much more streamlined and easier to navigate for almost everyone. It's so basic and simple, everything is laid out on a list for you to see. It shows everything you want it to in by far less space. If I had live tiles of everything on my rig, it would take up a lot of room, and take longer to scroll through than a list of words would. Also a word that says, "Photoshop CS6" is impossible to misinterpret where a picture could be misleading. It also scrolls sideways, which feels weird on a PC. There is also the annoyance of closing some programs by swiping them down like on a phone and hot corners or whatever they're called, all things that are not needed if the start menu is there.

The main issue I and many others have is the drastic difference between 7 and 8 when trying to simply navigate through your computer and finding simple tools and less used programs, which has been done basically the same way for about 20 years now, and was suddenly turned upside down. 7 was the pinnacle of the original Windows 95 UI ideas, and many loved the way it looked and felt. You had complete control of what was shown, what was made into a shortcut, and where it all was displayed. Aside from the slight customization of recent programs list and appearance, NOTHING needs to be customized to be useful. A little long winded, but this is the best way I can describe why I hate the whole Metro UI design.

Thanks for the extensive reply. You make many good points, and to be fair Metro does very little BETTER than the start menu anyway so I think I could live with either. I still think Metro is not that much worse than the start menu either, but it undeniably requires some getting used to and MS has done some very unintuitive things with settings. I guess we'll see what the future brings - at least Win 7 is good for couple more years anyway

 

[jimmysmitty]

So I wonder what 'feature' microsoft will take away in Windows 9 to make sure that people have to install windows 10?

It's a bunch of BS that Windows 8 won't have an official start button and that they are basically attempting to hold people hostage over it with 9. I'm a big windows guy, but this is a part of Microsoft that I don't particularly care for.

That is like saying Microsoft took away DOS and was holding those people hostage. As time goes by, things will change and things will be removed then added and so on.

In this market it is all about testing the waters. Even Ubuntu got some bad feedback when they introduced their newest GUI.

And 8.1 does have a Start Button. It just doesn't have a Start Menu. Personally I don't care that it isn't there as it didn't change a thing for me or some of my old work mates. We used it at our jobs and we were just as fast at what we did as we ever were.

Then again we don't let a little learning curve stop us and rather go with the changes.

I just want a lighter version of Windows, less code, less features, just enough to run the applications I install. (such as Steam, Office, Firefox)

Why does Windows need to get bigger, heavier, slower with each iteration?

Windows 8 is actually lighter in resource usage than 7. In fact when first installed with the same drivers and basic apps (AV) it uses about 100MB less.

This is like people who want a 8 core CPU, 16GB of RAM and a super high end GPU saying XP is more efficient than 7 when in fact 7 is more efficient since it knows how to utilize that hardware unlike XP that sees 8 cores and doesn't know how to manage threads.

I love the complaints and people who forget history. Windows 7 was great and much more accepted but that was also because of a better marketing campaign at the time. There were still plenty of people who hated it. Hell I ran into people who preferred Vista over 7 and others who would stay on XP or Vista because they were told that 7 had tons of bugs and issues.

The truth is that eventually we will all be old farts who will just whine and complain and tell kids how our OS was better yadda yadda. But in the end, it will change from what we know because touch is the future. The majority of normal people love the idea of a small touch screen interface instead of a massive box and the screen.

So my suggestion is to get used to the change and to learn it because in the end it will prevail and what we want will not.

It used to be that we enthusiasts embraced change and new ideas. Now it is so filled with stubborn people that we are just like everyone else. Tis truly sad.

 

[Guest]

I still use Windows 7 myself. After 20 minutes playing with a new Windows 8 PC at Best Buy, I built my new rig with Windows 7. I have always used the start menu. The main reason I would miss it would be that I hate clutter on my desk top. I link short cuts to games and my favorite browser, that's it. The task bar contains links to my internet browsers, Windows Explorer, as well as driver control panels on the right. You can configure the start menu in 7 to save as many recently used programs as you want in it's list, which does not take up the whole screen so you can still see open windows. And also makes your desktop less cluttered. On top of that, I organize any custom made directories into folders with sub folders and use Windows explorer to view them. For example, E: Pics/Projects/Gimp/InProgress. I know ALL pics are in the Pics folder, because I put them there. And I am only a few clicks away from opening my projects which are in the appropriate sub folders inside the Pics folder. This method allows me to view all picture "albums" using only one shortcut, the explorer one, instead of links to every individual thing I do, which would create quite a mess. It also eliminate the ugly folder links on my desktop, which is a pet peeve of mine. If I want to open a program, I just scroll down the All Programs list at the bottom of the start menu and find it in it's folder if it isn't listed as a single executable file there. The control panel, system tools, event viewer, etc., etc., and more etc. are also not in one place where they can easily be found as they are in the start menu. The whole start menu system is much more streamlined and easier to navigate for almost everyone. It's so basic and simple, everything is laid out on a list for you to see. It shows everything you want it to in by far less space. If I had live tiles of everything on my rig, it would take up a lot of room, and take longer to scroll through than a list of words would. Also a word that says, "Photoshop CS6" is impossible to misinterpret where a picture could be misleading. It also scrolls sideways, which feels weird on a PC. There is also the annoyance of closing some programs by swiping them down like on a phone and hot corners or whatever they're called, all things that are not needed if the start menu is there.

The main issue I and many others have is the drastic difference between 7 and 8 when trying to simply navigate through your computer and finding simple tools and less used programs, which has been done basically the same way for about 20 years now, and was suddenly turned upside down. 7 was the pinnacle of the original Windows 95 UI ideas, and many loved the way it looked and felt. You had complete control of what was shown, what was made into a shortcut, and where it all was displayed. Aside from the slight customization of recent programs list and appearance, NOTHING needs to be customized to be useful. A little long winded, but this is the best way I can describe why I hate the whole Metro UI design.

Thanks for the extensive reply. You make many good points, and to be fair Metro does very little BETTER than the start menu anyway so I think I could live with either. I still think Metro is not that much worse than the start menu either, but it undeniably requires some getting used to and MS has done some very unintuitive things with settings. I guess we'll see what the future brings - at least Win 7 is good for couple more years anyway

No problem dude. Honestly, I know I could get used to 8 if I spent some time with it, but I really don't want to. I like things the way they are in 7 too much to want to change it. Hopefully in the 9 retail version, they give us the option to make it look and run the way we, their customers want. Some people like using 8, which is great for them. And a lot of others like 7's UI. What they could do is just make it able to be installed to look like either of the 2, with the guts of the OS being the same. Like when you install Windows, it will prompt you to make your decision on what UI you want with a few picture previews and a description of what these different UI's offer. The only downside is there would probably be no way of changing it unless you re install Windows again. I'm sure they will do nothing of the sort, but we can always dream!

 

[Alec Mowat]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

For most of those, I wouldn't say they are more difficult to find in Win 8/8.1, but it does work differently from Win 7 - which understandably is not very helpful for everyone that's used to Win 7.

To find pretty much any tool/program in Win 8, just go to the start screen and start typing. I can find paint, Defrag, Notepad etc. just by typing them in. If I find I use them often, I can pin them to the start screen (you can fit quite a lot of programs on there since it's full screen).

To be fair, Windows Backup is now called Recovery, so you would have to google that first, and many administrative tools don't show up in Start until you change some setting somewhere. I think for most users Windows 8.1 is not really worse than Windows 7, but you do really have to get used to it first, which MS haven't done a brilliant job of making that very easy.

Yes, but again, you know those programs exist. If you came from a Mac environment and your first Machine was Windows 8, you would have no idea that you could search Paint, Notepad, or Calc. There are no 'Windows Tools' or "Administrative Tools" directories to look under to find all of these tools. Windows Backup is hidden so deep, it would be a miracle for a new user to find it.

 

[Guest]

The search function already exists in 7 as well. It works exactly the same as it does in 8. With 7 you could use that if for whatever reason you can't find the program. But it usually is not needed as everything is already well organized in 7.

 

[Guest]

WTF, I'm still seeing tiles on there. Is it too hard to understand that quite a few users don't like the whole live tile thing? It also probably comes with a bunch of bloatware that must be removed like a stupid weather app and live facebook updates. I'd rather just open my browser to look at such things. They better give us the option to disable that stuff completely or I'm staying with 7. On a related topic, I wonder how steam is doing with their O.S.?

Totally agree on the tiles thing. As for Steam OS, it's running pretty well now, and installation is easier. Steam O.S. and Big Picture are still ugly though in my opinion, and beyond that, lack function. It's simply unwieldy to navigate, and is quite slow because of all the animations. Also, it's debian based which is nice, but uses Gnome 3 as the desktop environment, which is a steaming pile of shit. Honestly, XFCE would be better.

Man, that is not good news Looks like we're all stuck with whatever MS decides to do unless Steam gets it together. If they do, I might just try it out, assuming of course that MS screws the next OS up again as badly as they did 8. Judging by their timeline over the years, this one should be good lol.

 

[WCW]

I use Windows 8.1 with "Start Is Back" and it functions just like windows 7 there is no difference, I have windows boot up in desktop mode and just go to the start menu and open the program I want, I pin the metro apps I use to the start menu and the normal legacy programs, I use the most, so they are right there as soon as I click on the start menu. "Start Is Back" is also highly customizable.

The problem is, if you know nothing about Windows, how would you figure out where Paint, Notepad or Disk Defrag tools are? Where's Windows backup?
There's no way to find simple tools. Everything from the start menu is missing from the Metro screen.90% of the Windows tools are "missing" because of poor design choices.

For most of those, I wouldn't say they are more difficult to find in Win 8/8.1, but it does work differently from Win 7 - which understandably is not very helpful for everyone that's used to Win 7.

To find pretty much any tool/program in Win 8, just go to the start screen and start typing. I can find paint, Defrag, Notepad etc. just by typing them in. If I find I use them often, I can pin them to the start screen (you can fit quite a lot of programs on there since it's full screen).

To be fair, Windows Backup is now called Recovery, so you would have to google that first, and many administrative tools don't show up in Start until you change some setting somewhere. I think for most users Windows 8.1 is not really worse than Windows 7, but you do really have to get used to it first, which MS haven't done a brilliant job of making that very easy.

Yes, but again, you know those programs exist. If you came from a Mac environment and your first Machine was Windows 8, you would have no idea that you could search Paint, Notepad, or Calc. There are no 'Windows Tools' or "Administrative Tools" directories to look under to find all of these tools. Windows Backup is hidden so deep, it would be a miracle for a new user to find it.

"Windows Tools" and "Administrative Tools" both appear on the start menu on windows 8.1 using " Start is back" http://startisback.com/ if you go to control panel and look in the upper right hand corner you will see the option to change the view to small or large icons, change it to large icons and you will see that everything is extremely easy to find including windows backup.

 

[WCW]

Since I've installed Start is Back http://startisback.com/ I haven't had to even go to the metro interface, everything is on the start menu including the metro apps. Nothing is different from windows 7 it all appears and functions exactly the same.

 

[Pash G]

wow those who whine about the Win8 lacking in functionality, are talking straight out of their asses after trying it one time and becoming intimidated by something new. I've been loving Win8 since I got my Surface Pro - the OS is great with finger/stylus control when I'm on the move, and for mouse/keyboard when I'm at home. The new task manager is alone (among many other things) enough reason for not going back to Win7! Installed Win8 on both of my desktops long ago and never looked back

 

[JIMBODAVIS]

I've adapted to Windows 8.1, and I don't want anything to do with a massive overhaul via whatever in the hell Windows 9 / Windows 8.1 v.2 will potentially be. NO THANKS. I've found a way to be happy with what I have, and I don't want to enter another adaptation process. I like the touch/tile screen option - not to mention the desktop option; I have the CHOICE between the two. Demanding we use one versus another because of a massive uproar among the Windows 7 fans is throwing the baby out with the bathwater in my opinion. I'll avoid the "update" if I lose the flexibility of the tile screen vs. the desktop; I like both interfaces. I'm not sure what's wrong with having the choice.

 

[Shneiky]

Speaking from the point of view of a person whose bread is dependent on computers and his own productivity (I am 3D generalist/Compositor).

The main problem are
1 - we want a Master Switch for Metro to turn it permanently off.
2 - we want all those compatibility issues in Windows 8 with drivers and professional software resolved (such as in Windows 7)
3 - we want the stability of Windows 7

That's what we want. We don't want a downgrade such as Windows 8.

 

[tds777]

Those tiles are so ugly and forced. Give me a Windows 7 look and feel with Windows 8.1 performance.

Wait. That's to much to ask....

That is because it means they know Windows 7 has something Steve Balmer Detested from Bill Gates UI Design, the "Classic and XP" skins to are the reasons Steve Balmer Created the "Metro Tile" Touch Screen only Design, plus I figure some Excuse about the "Classic and XP" have Multiple Security Flaws that they can not restore them,

You know if people give me a bad rating for this, then I figure I am not joining the "Touch Screen" crowed for Windows because I am not into that too Futuristic stuff...

Those tiles are so ugly and forced. Give me a Windows 7 look and feel with Windows 8.1 performance.

Wait. That's to much to ask....

That is because it means they know Windows 7 has something Steve Balmer Detested from Bill Gates UI Design, the "Classic and XP" skins to are the reasons Steve Balmer Created the "Metro Tile" Touch Screen only Design, plus I figure some Excuse about the "Classic and XP" have Multiple Security Flaws that they can not restore them,

You know if people give me a bad rating for this, then I figure I am not joining the "Touch Screen" crowed for Windows because I am not into that too Futuristic stuff...

Micro$oft should have had something in W.8 like Classic Shell instead of jamming Metro in our face and telling us which are not on a tablet or Windows Phone just to get over it. I would have not bought my last mid tower or 2 laptops if something like Classic Shell was not available. METRO UI = Windows PlaySkool

 

[Alec Mowat]

"Windows Tools" and "Administrative Tools" both appear on the start menu on windows 8.1 using " Start is back" http://startisback.com/ if you go to control panel and look in the upper right hand corner you will see the option to change the view to small or large icons, change it to large icons and you will see that everything is extremely easy to find including windows backup.

Super easy to find with Start is Back. To bad Microsoft didn't put that in Windows 8 by design.

If you toss a V6 into a Pontiac Sunfire, it's actually a fast car!

 

[saurus]

I'm thinking the next big laugh will come from W9 when they try and make it pay to use or in other words "Ransomware"! Can't afford the monthly payment; computer unusable until you pay up?
So having shot themselves in both feet via Vista and W8 will the leadership of Microsoft being aiming for the head next, in order to really kill off the rest of their existing customer base?

 

[reversiblean]

I wonder why people don't just switch to a more stable, fast, secure, beautiful, FREE OS like Ubuntu.

 

[Shneiky]

Because Ubuntu or any Linux based system for that matter does not support 90% of the software I use on a daily basis.