This Windows 8.1 Demo Actually Uses Mouse, Start Button

[AgostoNunyez]

The start button IS the one we've known and loved since Windows 95, it was actually the start menu that never left, it moved to the charms bar, and now all those who don't take the time to see what's underneath the system can't find it because they don't use ''the Hot Corners'', THE START gsdioujngrfsd BUTTON IS RETURTNING QWIETHRE WITNDOWS 8.,1, there is no reason for EVERY PARKI*(ernos so called0-0- -- -)NG news corporation to post about it EVERYT SINGLE SATFNIOR / DAY IVDOS GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
I'm twitching over all the headlines I read about the return of the start button rather than discussing the countless of other cool features like the improved Windows Store, the more organized or integrated version of Xbox Music, nor the new apps like Bing Food & Drink, Bing Health & Fitness, Movie Moments, heck even the calculator.
People praise/hate the return of the start button, but the REAL CHANGE is in the new added features, not the returned old things.

 

[AgostoNunyez]

I've been using Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard since it came it, it takes 0 days to adjust to it, I've never used a touch based device, and I personally prefer it my way, because I know when to use my right mouse button, on a touch device I would honestly have no idea how to do half the things I use my mouse and keyboard for.
For me, Windows 8 is for the mouse, not the hand, nor the stylus.

 

[chronium]

I could have a better time adjusting to metro if they had a option to bind the browsing to the mouse wheel (is that default?) and change the horizontal scrolling to vertical scrolling so that it is more visually mouse friendly then its current touchscreen only design.

 

[JPNpower]

The Windows 8 start screen is much better and way more intuitive to start apps. frequently loaded or not. There's just more space and things work better. The problem is that starting apps were only like the 3rd most important task that one does with the start menu. It was a place where the shortcuts to the Control Panel, Computer, Pictures, and power settings were. That's the important bit. I'm all for the "start screen" If only I could easily start the Control Panel, power options, and desktop apps for Pictures/Videos/etc. A metro start screen which only starts desktop apps would be awesome for all of us!

 

[pologoalie8908]

That's not a start menu

 

[happyballz]

Microsoft freaking trolling... when people asked for "Start button" They meant not just a damn button but all the menus and options that came with it... you know like in windows 95 to windows 7! Unbelivable.

 

[jj463rd]

"Change for the sake of change is irrelevant. (Like metro for non-touch displays)"
Agreed.
"Change for the sake of progress is useful. (Like the automobile)"
Disagree here.
The automobile is a predominant transportation device of the 20th century.
Mathematically,Physics (especially from the Energy,Kinetic Energy standpoint) and Chemistry wise (though it's Internal Combustion Engine fuels and emissions) it can be proven to be a deceptively insidious wasteful,destructive and a obsolete (though current) method of transportation.It needs expensive infrastructure,Kills,maims and injures millions per year worldwide and the carbon dioxide emissions required by these energy inefficient machines is a proven large major contributor to worldwide anthropogenic greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions.Also we are past Post Peak Oil under E.R.O.E.I rules so it's unsustainable from that angle too.The much older Kinetic Energy experimental proof of Willem Gravesande advocated by Emilie du Chatelet will give much insight from the physics standpoint into why the current automobile transportation model is a huge catastrophic error in judgement for civilization.
It can be easily replaced though.

 

[John Hadley]

What a joke! Who was asking for a start button? People wanted the start MENU back. All you had to do is move your mouse into the corner to get the start button to appear in Windows 8. The problem was what would happen after you clicked it.
I upgraded to Windows 8 from Windows XP ONLY because Microsoft is making all of its software and all development software that everyone else uses to develop Windows applications and games incompatible with Windows XP so I have no choice if I want to be able to run all the new games and applications. I still prefer the Windows XP start menu and Windows desktop applications to anything the Windows 8 GUI has to offer and I don't see Windows 8.1 changing that one bit. Windows 8 is not all bad since there are some good under-the-hood improvements in non GUI-specific functionality like improved system startup speeds, but the GUI seems to have taken a definite step back.
I hate the start SCREEN. I hate the cloud. I hate the "modern" apps. They are designed for a phone or a tablet (or maybe an Xbox game console) not a powerful desktop machine. There's a reason that when Microsoft shows demonstrations for Windows 8 they use touch screens and not the mouse. Its because Windows 8 is a step back for mouse users. I ended up installing Classic Shell to get a real start menu and I never touch any of the "modern" functionality.

 

[nitrium]

"Microsoft demonstrates who the Start button and wallpaper unifies the desktop and Modern UI experience."
"who" the start button, I guess is meant to be "how".

 

[bigdragon]

Not enough. 8.1 still comes with Metro. Metro apps are set as default pulling people out of desktop mode, the Start Screen app dumping ground (like iOS, Android, Gnome 3) is still there as opposed to neatly organized menus/folders, and Metro apps still cannot be run in resizable and layerable windows. Metro should be a bolt-on like Windows Media Center rather than take the central role it does in Windows 8. Listening Microsoft? I'm telling you how to make Windows 9 such that I buy it and stick with your products.

 

[darkavenger123]

MS still in denial and try to force people to use the crap METRO UI with a confusing "Start Button" hybrid. Fortunately, there is this thing called Start8 which totally remove the METRO UI from your life (leaving only a link in the Start menu, in case you want to look at it), including all the stupid corner "Charms" (which isn't very charming at all). If it weren't for Hyper-V in Windows 8, i would stick with Win 7. Those people who don't need Hyper-V, there is no reason to upgrade at all. Now i just use my Windows 8 like a traditional Windows 7 thanks to Start8 (worth the small price for returning the way things should work!). There is also a free option called Pokki, similar to Start8, but i am not sure if it can remove the corners pop-up like Start8. Give it a try guys. No need to wait for another confusing interface from MS. The solution is already here and available TODAY.

 

[darkavenger123]

MS still in denial and try to force people to use the crap METRO UI with a confusing "Start Button" hybrid. Fortunately, there is this thing called Start8 which totally remove the METRO UI from your life (leaving only a link in the Start menu, in case you want to look at it), including all the stupid corner "Charms" (which isn't very charming at all). If it weren't for Hyper-V in Windows 8, i would stick with Win 7. Those people who don't need Hyper-V, there is no reason to upgrade at all. Now i just use my Windows 8 like a traditional Windows 7 thanks to Start8 (worth the small price for returning the way things should work!). There is also a free option called Pokki, similar to Start8, but i am not sure if it can remove the corners pop-up like Start8. Give it a try guys. No need to wait for another confusing interface from MS. The solution is already here and available TODAY.

 

[razorblaze42]

People are so sick of Microsoft and all their BS, Windows 8 is a failure...and so will 8.1...all people want is the performance improvements of Windows 8...in a Windows 7 package...not the metro...not metro ui BS.
But there's hope... Android is on the rise, and hopefully game devs, and programmers will start writing code for Android the way they do for x86...when that happens..as I think it will...Microsoft is dead and I will be screaming The King is dead...hooray!!!!!

 

[soundping]

Windows 7 isn't broke. Windows 8.1 is just a public relations stunt.

 

[knowom]

Task bar and start menu is a great convenience that is silly to take away same can be said with alt tab.
Even with alternative windows shell ui's I just can't stand using them w/o the inclusion of them they are convenient features.

 

[falchard]

The main problem I have had with the Windows 8 UI is that the UIs are separate. Click on something in the start, it can only be accessed from there. Click something in desktop mode, it can only be accessed there. If they managed to click on something and it can be accessed from either screen I am cool with it.

 

[dimar]

The beginning of end for WIndows, and probably the MS...

 

[John Hadley]

Task bar and start menu is a great convenience that is silly to take away same can be said with alt tab.
Even with alternative windows shell ui's I just can't stand using them w/o the inclusion of them they are convenient features.

Alt-tab still works in Windows 8. That functionality was not removed. It can switch between all applications on the PC, both the desktop and the "modern" UI, unlike the desktop taskbar at the bottom of the screen (still available but only in desktop apps) or the modern ui task bar in the upper left hot corner. There's a number of valid reasons not to like the Windows 8 UI but alt-tab is not one of them.

 

[MichaelSP]

I get along fine with Windows 8. Am I a Microsoft employee saying that? Hardly. I'm a student in Australia. But whatever. I like Win 7. I now like Win 8 too. I use both in their times and am used to both. I personally don't find Win 8 hard to use with keyboard and mouse, nor do I find it interrupts my flow. Never have seen the touch version. I'm not fond of the garish background currently so to have my desktop background being common will be a welcome sight. Chances are, While Win 7 is fantastic and all, I doubt MS will drop 8 and return to it. And 8 is looking to get better. As on OS, it has none of the bugs or issues like Vista that prevented easy running - it runs equally as well or better than 7. It just lacks customisation. Which, please, I'll have back. (Oh, and am the type who would muck about in the registry to change stuff to get customisation - not just a do-as-MS-wants person). ALL just my opinion. It just annoys me the way people have an opinion that all gets blocked and marked as spam below because so many disagree with it.

 

[anxiousinfusion]

The new start button is actually pretty clever of them. It allows for a middle ground to be met somewhere between what I'm familiar with and their vision for a new interface. Hate me, toms.

 

[Teeroy32]

I always found win 8 to be not bad especially when you ad the classic shell app to it and get the start menu back, but I am starting to see their vision, it's like unity on Ubuntu, I loathed the first few versions of it, but it's now developed into quite a decent setup, I feel given time metro or what ever they call it will be quite good.

 

[17seconds]

You can easily set up your desktop icon and task bar icons so that you never miss the old Start bar. Just make sure you actually set it up, because looking around for the "Start Scan" function for your printer is not fun at all.
Hint: You have to create an icon for your printer on the desktop, then right-click on it to pull up the "Start Scan" option. Actually it's kind of a pain in the ass, but Win8 is nowhere near as bad as others make it seem. You just have to get it figured out.

 

[DarkSable]

I think that the problem with the people who hate on windows 8 is that they see the windows 8 store and automatically presume it works like mac - their limited thinking prevents them from realizing that they don't have to use ANY metro apps if they don't want to, and that nobody is forcing them into it.

Once you realize that, windows 8 suddenly becomes a lot better. Yeah, metro apps are not good for desktop setups... but you never have to use them anyway, so why does it matter?

 

[ohim]

Stop crying about the start button already, once you get used to it, you`ll understand that it`s actually faster and better than the old classic start menu. Everybody is going crazy about W8 just for the start menu and ignoring other potential good things that comes with it. Ok, you don`t like it .. just sit there, i don`t go to linux guys and constantly tell them that i don`t like linux (just for the compiling stuff etc).

 

[ingtar33]

I think that the problem with the people who hate on windows 8 is that they see the windows 8 store and automatically presume it works like mac - their limited thinking prevents them from realizing that they don't have to use ANY metro apps if they don't want to, and that nobody is forcing them into it.

Once you realize that, windows 8 suddenly becomes a lot better. Yeah, metro apps are not good for desktop setups... but you never have to use them anyway, so why does it matter?

you don't get it. windows 8 (metro/microsoft store) is the first step for microsoft to create the MS version of the iOS walled garden. If windows8 and the MS store catch on in any appreciable way, MS will move forward with their walled garden and erect the barrier. Win8 has all the code necessary to prevent all aps and programs from running on your system unless approved by microsoft and activated.

You're right, currently it's not apple, but there is no doubt in my mind that's where they're aiming to go. In another generation or two of their OS it will happen.