Microsoft: You Are the Reason Why We Killed the Start Menu

[njt]

microsoft has long quoted user studies and user preferences in order to justify questionable features, which more often then not, are then abandoned for the next big thing(tm) in defiance of such claimed studies/preferences. remember that they fail as often as they succeed.

so don't worry about it so much. they're doing this due to the incredible success that apple has had with the ipad and iphone, and the amazon kindle, of course. the lesson that such sales volume cannot be replicated by anyone other than apple and amazon themselves has been received by some of the smarter players who have discontinued their tablet products, but microsoft is a lumbering monster that does not shift directions quickly. it's taken them so long to come up with a (poor and ugly) solution to a product category for which there is very little market, and in the process they have - wrongly - decided that instead of metro and the classic desktop being equal class citizens you can switch from freely, they're betting the big money is in touch computing. yes, that may be true, but not for the likes of intel and microsoft. that boat has sailed. wait for windows 9 to see metro having the same relevance that vista widgets now enjoy in w7 - legacy status.

so why are you worried? simply skip windows 8 on the desktop, not only it would not help you at all on a pc, it actually hinders traditional usage and reduces the usefulness and investment in multicore/multiprocessor systems by forcing the user to single/serial tasking like they would on a tablet. besides, there's absolutely nothing that the next generation of windows brings to the party that is worth the upgrade aside from the new filesystem, which, ridiculously, is not going to ship in the box anyway, and which will eventually trickle down to w7 in any case, it has to.

seriously, aside from refs what would you get w8 for? the updated task manager? the copy/move dialog? the ribbon on explorer? let's be serious here. go get a free replacement for those components that will offer you similar or greater functionality.

 

[bigdragon]

When I read this article I got the immediate impression that now I have to turn on the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program in order to help stop Microsoft from taking away features I like and use constantly. I always turn off the MCEIP when prompted. I always figured information gathered from industry-segment study groups (ie: business users, media consumers, gamers, etc.) would be more relevant than trying to make sweeping generalizations based on data collected by the MCEIP.

Am I the only one who turns off the MCEIP? It seems like every power user I know turns that off because they don't see a purpose to it collecting data. Joe Sixpack home user just leaves it be generally, or the people at the store their comp came from already turned on MCEIP. I really think Microsoft is putting way too much faith in their MCEIP tool. There are a lot of places where that is turned off or unable to report. The data collected by that program is being relied upon too heavily I think.

 

[djscribbles]

[citation][nom]supr3m3justic3[/nom]You are an idiot, it [Windows 7 Start Menu] is 100x better than XP, you just dont know what you are doing.[/citation]

Not to single you out, but I get the feeling people will be saying that about Windows 8 (though it may take until 9 to catch on) interface; I haven't really used it much yet, so I'm not really defending their decision.

Just goes to show change isn't always bad, but it's rarely welcome.

 

[Guest]

I do not understand the problem. The button is gone but all the functionality is still there. Instead of clicking a button you use the windows key. You see the all the apps you would have in the start menu. You start typing and it filters/searches just like in vista and win 7.

 

[ohim]

I was against this shit at the begining but slowly i got used to Win8 , it`s a more responsive OS than 7 just some quick figures:

AMD Phenom II 940 3 GHz
8 GB DDR II 800
120 GB Corsair GT SSD
Nvidia GTX 465 1 GB

Win 7 marks : CPU 7.3 , GPU 6.9, HDD 6.6
Win 8 marks : CPU 7.3 , GPU 7.5 , HDD 7.6

Boot time full loaded OS programs and stuff:

Win 7 : around 30-40 seconds after the BIOS detected everything
Win 8 : around 5-10 seconds after the BIOS detected everything , i loose around 1 more second to input the pass.

Totally hated the metro start , now i still think is ugly shit but is very responsive and i don`t mind it. Start button.. i don`t miss it since i always pinned my key programs to my task bar.

Drawbacks till now ? I`m one of the unlucky guys out there with a AMD 780G motherboard and i can`t use RAID on my 2 TB drives, this issue is only for the 780G Chipset MBs.

I like that by using the same windows user my laptop`s calendar appointments get automatically synced so i don`t have to worry about that while using bouth of them.

My opinion, give it a try and try to see the benefits that it brings over the ugly metro start that you`ll get used anyway.

 

[mobrocket]

Usage of IE has dropped dramatically, MSFT why not delete that from Windows 8 as well

 

[newbcakes]

individuals (read end users) through telemetry (Windows Customer Experience Improvement program - that optional thing that a lot of people blindly say "yes" to), have determined in mass that they tend to pin their commonly used apps to the task bar. So... now you "pin" it to the Metro interface?

I pin anything I repeatedly use to the taskbar and actually rarely use the start menu. Would be nice if they made the interface optional (Metro or Start Menu).

 

[Prescott_666]

[citation][nom]bigdragon[/nom]I always turn off the MCEIP when prompted. ... Am I the only one who turns off the MCEIP? It seems like every power user I know turns that off because they don't see a purpose to it collecting data. ... I really think Microsoft is putting way too much faith in their MCEIP tool. [/citation]

As other posters have commented, there is a correlation between users who turn off MCEIP and users who use the Start Menu. The same users who don't know how to turn off MCEIP are the same users who don't know what the start button is for.

The Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program is fundamentally broken, because Microsoft doesn't take this into account, and Microsoft doesn't realize that it produces bad results.

 

[jdwii]

Even two Microsoft presenters were struggling to make gesture controls work on laptop trackpads during the show.

According to Sareen, the touchpad drivers were still "very, very early" and were "still being refined." He also said the Metro interface "really works well with the mouse and keyboard."

Lol Ok?

But how do they expect us to pin 30 programs to the toolbar? This does not explain why they are not making this a option to turn off metro 100%. I don't want to see metro on my PC. To me its ugly plus why can't i change the picture in the background of metro and why did they not let us make metro transparent to the desktop heck Ubuntu looks better with their crap.

What is worse is their server edition, and i'm telling you that admins are going to use Red hat or free BSD or just stick with 2008 server or worse 2003. basically METRO sure doesn't belong on a server OS that i'm 100% sure of.

I said it before and i'll say it again Microsoft is to late to the game and metro is not anywhere near as good as Android or even IOS. This is going to be a failure, this is going to be worse then Vista this Microsofts new windows Me.

All their going to say is windows 8 sold this many copy's and that its the best selling os Ever. But what people forget is more people buy PC's now a days then they used to. If this statement is even true anymore with Tablets.

Kind of like how casual users are ruining hardcore games tablets are ruining desktops and laptops. And the only reason why metro is even on the OS is for Microsoft to make money THAT's IT.

 

[cscott_it]

I think that taking out the ability to switch it on/off is a mistake or at least being able to slowly integrate it together (have a classic skin with the same functionality, for example). It's certainly not going to do them any favors, but who knows, maybe it will take a few years.

Still, I haven't had much an issue with using 8 or getting used to it. Then again, you can still just press the windows key and type in whatever you are searching. The categories take a moment to get used to, but for me it's been a pretty smooth transition. (I use run a little more often).

 

[sammymax]

For instance, by pressing the Windows Key and "1" once Internet Explorer is pinned to the taskbar, the browser loads. It's not as quick as simply clicking on the icon pinned to the taskbar, but it's quicker than digging through the Start menu.

Umm, I use that keyboard shortcut all the time, and it's a lot faster than using the mouse.

 

[shin0bi272]

Again people in high places making decisions that affect the general public not thinking straight then when there's backlash they blame someone else. In the case of obamacare its the supreme court blaming congress... in the case of windows 8 its microsoft blaming us for using 1 small feature a little bit to eliminate a large feature thats widely used by everyone in the 90% of the computing community that uses windows. They both basically said screw the little guy this is what we think should happen and we're going to do it even if you dont like it then we'll shift the blame elsewhere so you dont stop and think a little bit on what just happened.

 

[cscott_it]

[citation][nom]jdwii[/nom]Lol Ok?But how do they expect us to pin 30 programs to the toolbar? This does not explain why they are not making this a option to turn off metro 100%. I don't want to see metro on my PC. To me its ugly plus why can't i change the picture in the background of metro and why did they not let us make metro transparent to the desktop heck Ubuntu looks better with their crap. What is worse is their server edition, and i'm telling you that admins are going to use Red hat or free BSD or just stick with 2008 server or worse 2003. basically METRO sure doesn't belong on a server OS that i'm 100% sure of. I said it before and i'll say it again Microsoft is to late to the game and metro is not anywhere near as good as Android or even IOS. This is going to be a failure, this is going to be worse then Vista this Microsofts new windows Me. All their going to say is windows 8 sold this many copy's and that its the best selling os Ever. But what people forget is more people buy PC's now a days then they used to. If this statement is even true anymore with Tablets. Kind of like how casual users are ruining hardcore games tablets are ruining desktops and laptops. And the only reason why metro is even on the OS is for Microsoft to make money THAT's IT.[/citation]

Actually you can pin stuff to your start menu, except you have much more room to do it. So, it's much more manageable if you pin say 80 items to your start menu. I'm still playing around with Server 8, but it's not been a problem for me and the features more than make up for the small learning curve. If you work in IT and are worth your salt, this should be an easy adaptation in my opinion.

 

[fb39ca4]

They sound like the people pushing DRM, that said "we are forced to put DRM on our products because you pirated them" making their products even less worth it.

 

[Dolph123]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

 

[Guest]

Microsoft seems to have gone back to their bad habits. Making the windows UI inefficient and confusing just so they can say it's new. It may work well for tablets and touch pc's, but I tried it on my dual display desktop pc and the experience was not great. Making the menus popup by moving your mouse to the edge of the display is not easy when there is a second display adjacent to that edge. It does work, but it's easier with 7.

 

[njt]

[citation][nom]Dolph123[/nom]If it ain't broke, don't fix it[/citation]

no, that's not it, with that kind of attitude all we'd get is stagnation, what we need are options. it doesn't have to be "metro or bust" or "traditional desktop is the only way of working". make the two environments both 1st class citizens in the os, and give people the option of which to use. going as far as removing start button support from the apis makes no sense whatsover. what message are they sending here? no, you can't ever get it back, not even with third party tools. why? that's just mind boggling.

and all of the objects raised so far are only concerning the client, imagine metro on a server.

 

[shagittarius]

[citation][nom]jamessneed[/nom]I'm not sure if Henry Ford actually said this but this reminds me of Microsoft.“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” ― Henry Ford[/citation]

Maybe the people who raced horses. The people who used them for work would have preferred horses with endurance over fast horses. The point being one size doesn't fit all.

If all you do is use email and facebook this might work great for you. This might not work so great if you use your computer for many other tasks.

 

[maqsabre]

microsoft should give us the power to choose, to customise,
but scrapping the whole start menu is outright monopoly,
especially just because a few people pin up icons on desktop and refrain from using start menu,
personally i don't like pinning all garbage to the start menu, doing so makes it look very cluttered,
moreover start menu hides all our stuff in one simple button, and the search option retrieves almost every relevant data we need at that moment

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Great job trying to make us happy by blaming us MS lol

 

[jurassic512]

You know you can pin programs to your Start Menu right? That's what I do. I hate desktop icons. Even my Recycle Bin is to the far right of my taskbar just before my system tray icons.

 

[Guest]

effective usage of the start menu requires active management, allowing programs to throw themselves onto your start menu as is ends up in a mess, after a while it becomes too much a hassle, the taskbar and smart search works well, i don't think im going to miss the old start menu all that much

 

[gm0n3y]

So start menu usage goes down a little because people are 'pinning' software to the taskbar. And your solution to this is to get rid of the start menu? That makes no sense. Just because some people like a one method doesn't mean you get rid of the other option. There is no downside to having a start menu. I get the feeling that all of this metro UI is just to get people into their App market where they will make a cut of the sales.

 

[jurassic512]

For instance, by pressing the Windows Key and "1" once Internet Explorer is pinned to the taskbar, the browser loads.

Why the hell would you want to press TWO keys to open a program pinned to your taskbar if you can open it with ONE mouse click?

 

[DRosencraft]

I just find it hilarious how people nit-pick little things to blow out of proportion, like complaining that there isn't room to pin 30 o 80 programs to the taskbar... as if there is anyone here who uses more than probably a dozen programs regularly enough that they would tag them all to the taskbar. It's also funny that for the longest time the Start button was a major complaint from "gamers" and "power users" who felt it was a horrible interface option and left everything buried. I'll probably stop commenting on these Win8 articles for a while. It's too hard to talk sense into people who have already made up their mind to hate something regardless of the facts.