For those of us who tried the new Windows 8 preview or one of the release versions, we soon realized that the familiar Start button had vanished. Yes, I am talking about the Start button that first made an appearance with the release of the Windows 95 OS and has been sitting silently in the bottom left in all versions until now. So why did Microsoft decide to arbitrarily remove the Start button and send it riding into the wild blue yonder?
The answer to why Microsoft removed it and decided it wouldn’t be returned surfaced just this last week when, according to an article at PCPro, a Microsoft program manager claimed that, starting with the release of Windows 7, people were no longer using the Start button. This decision, per the article, went on to say that Microsoft, using telemetry, found that removing the Start button would not cause any undesirable effect on users. The word telemetry, in a non-dictionary definition, means that data is transmitted, from a distance, and does not affect user preferences. This does not mean, however, that Microsoft is spying on us without our consent; prior to installing or starting up a new PC using Windows 7, the user is asked if they would like to make ‘Windows better’ by sending back data to the mother ship.
So, while Microsoft critics continue to scream foul, my first impression after reading the thoughts expressed by a Microsoft honcho were these:
- I have chosen to put the icons for the programs I use the most onto the taskbar.
- I only use the Start button when I wish to access programs that I rarely use.
- People are making way too much noise about the Start button disappearing.
However, like many of you, I have always found myself balking at purchasing another upgrade to the latest and greatest Windows OS. Generally, this is due to the cost associated with the upgrade, though I also have to admit that I will usually break down, after a period of time, and do the upgrade just to take advantage of the newest features. However, because I need an OS that will support older hardware, I have also experienced a need, over the years, to change direction. This was especially evident with the release of both Windows Vista and Windows 7 — neither of which support older hardware. To deal with this issue, I have kept and repaired an older laptop that is loaded with Windows XP, an OS that keeps this system up and running. Our other PC units are fairly new and happily function with the Windows 7 OS.
Is Microsoft out of touch with its users?
For anyone who has used an Apple iPad or Android tablet, the general consensus is that these devices that are not only easy to use, but fun. This is just the crest of the wave that is making a splash on the technology market. With that being said, I don’t think that Microsoft is out of the ballpark with the introduction of its touch screen tablet; rather, I think that it is right on the money. I believe that Microsoft and Google are both well aware that the future will be the tablet and the usefulness of the standard, non-touch desktop/laptop computer will go the way of the dodo bird.
I also believe that Microsoft still has a few aces up its sleeves that it hasn’t played. As an example, I am sure Microsoft still sees a profit in selling the Windows 7 OS since businesses, gamers, and professional users still need a full-blown operating system that supports non-touch PCs. I also believe that, even after the release of Windows 8, Microsoft will do what it has done before and allow certain computers to come preinstalled with Windows 7.
If you have a non-touch screen PC, should you upgrade to Windows 8?
For me, Windows 8 is just another means for an industry leader to fill its coffers. Let me explain. I already have a wife who is buying applications for her Apple iPad, while I’m buying applications for my Android smartphone and my Kindle Fire. So for me to sign into another ecosystem of applications from Microsoft and its developers just doesn’t make sense. I am already suffering from application overload.
However, this isn’t the only reason that I won’t be upgrading. The main reason comes down to ease of use. In Windows 7, if I wish to open a program that is not on my taskbar, I follow a simple, familiar procedure that requires the following steps:
- Click on the Start button.
- Choose Programs.
- Click on the program icon and away I go.
Since Metro was designed for tablets, the process is not so simple. In fact, I personally find the keyboard and mouse a handicap in Windows 8 where the following steps are required to open a program:
- You will have to install the program as a desktop icon or place it on the taskbar. Gone will be the days of having a clean, uncluttered desktop.
- If you balk at installing the icon to your desktop and don’t set up a program icon, you will need to click on the left bottom of your screen to open Metro or press the Windows key.
- Then you will be required to locate the program you wish to launch. This will require you to use your mouse or keyboard to scroll through the list of applications and programs you have installed.
- You can then click on the program and it will take you back to the Desktop.
For me, this is too much of a hassle and, while I am sure that Microsoft received plenty of feedback as to why the Start button was still needed, it chose instead to ignore the public who will continue to need a full-blown OS minus Metro. Unfortunately, however, Microsoft seems to no longer need nor require any non-Microsoft drummers who once included the consumers that bought their Windows non-touch computers and the OEMs that supplied the hardware. However, I also realize that Microsoft needed something new and exciting to attract the masses and stop the flow to Apple and Android devices. But how can a company that beats to its own drummer and ignores the needs of its market hope to succeed?
So what do you think?
Comments welcome.
CC licensed Flickr photo above shared by ebarrra
Good article, but …
“You will need to click on the left bottom of your screen to open Metro or press the Windows key.
Then you will be required to locate the program you wish to launch. This will require you to use your mouse or keyboard to scroll through the list of applications and programs you have installed.
You can then click on the program and it will take you back to the Desktop.”
Why can’t you just type the first letters of the app and boom, there it is!
So, I never use Word, but I want to open it? It’s not in my task bar and it’s not on my main tiles. All I have to do is press the Windows Key which will take me into metro, then type “W” or “Word” ..?!
That’s not so hard. And if you’ve done it once, it’s probably quicker than scrolling through the programs list.
Correct. It’s exactly as easy as Windows 7 with no extra steps to finding rarely used applications. It works the same as the Windows 7 start button; you can pin often used applications for easier access, and typing when it’s active does an instant search. There’s no speed decrease or extra steps.
Correct. It’s exactly as easy as Windows 7 with no extra steps to finding rarely used applications. It works the same as the Windows 7 start button; you can pin often used applications for easier access, and typing when it’s active does an instant search. There’s no speed decrease or extra steps.
Might be easy in english but in localized versions of windows it is clumsy, slow and somewhat innacurate…
Assuming that all users actually do just that, and type the name.
My father has never done that, nor has my mother because they are using XP.
It is not intuitive, because of a lack of visual feedback or targets on both the access to the metro ui, and the hotspots.
Forcing a new UI which has ultimately been shoehorned into a platform it was never designed for is simply bad for users.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Just because a feature isn’t used “that much”, doesn’t mean it’s not necessary _at all._ Most apps I use I have an icon either on my desktop or in my quick launch bar (yep, you can bring that back in Windows 7). Sometimes though, I’ll need to run an app that I don’t use daily. For that, I do exactly as you said, go through the start menu. Metro has removed so many important features that it’s become useless to me.
I remember an argument I had about 10 or 11 years ago with a coworker who didn’t understand the importance of object oriented programming. He was arguing against the use of templates in C++ (known as “generics” in .Net). He said, “Yeah, but you only use them 2% of the time, so what’s so important about switching to a language that doesn’t have them?”
Well, to answer both THAT question AND the question about lesser used features in Windows: Because that supposed 2% of time (or say 1 hour per year) can save me 100 hours or more.
It’s not about how much time I spend using the feature, it’s about how much time I waste when the feature is GONE! Imagine how much time we’d be spending spell checking everything we write if automatic spell checkers were taken away? I’d imagine very little because we’d just give up and publish without checking because it takes to much time.
It’s not gone. The start screen works exactly the same as the start button except it looks different, takes up the whole screen, and gives you faster access to more information via live tiles. Click the bottom left corner of your screen, or type the Windows key on your keyboard to get to it, then type the thing you’re looking for. The only loss in productivity is the 60 seconds it takes to learn what has changed, which I agree is a problem and could be fixed with a few better-placed visual cues.
So you have to pin applications specifically to it rather than them all being there by default.
Yes that is exactly how it works now.
Live tiles which very few applications will support and will until then be glorified icons several times the size of what we have at present.
Assuming all users are on windows 7, and assuming all users use it the way you do.
No, any application that you install is pinned on the primary start menu screen by default. You can remove and rearrange them just like on Windows 7, and you can right click to see all programs in a bigger list just like you can click “All programs” in Windows 7. Everything is the same number of clicks away as in Windows 7, but you can see a greater number of programs at one time since it’s a full screen start menu. Some things are actually less clicks since you have the charms in the upper/lower right corners. Plus it has the added advantage of being very touch friendly as well as Kinect 3D motion gesture friendly (in the future).
I just counted 166 entries in my Programs Menu on Win XP, not counting submenus with multiple programs in some entries. It looks like Windows 8 is out to kill off the desktops of the world by withholding a valid Start Menu. There should be some class-action lawsuit about this.
”
I believe that Microsoft and Google are both well aware that the future will be the tablet and the usefulness of the standard, non-touch desktop/laptop computer will go the way of the dodo bird.”
Why, why, why is it that every time a new ‘type’ of computer comes in then it is believed that the standard desktop/laptop will die out? I feel like this is always such a black and white issue with people that think there will be a “next big thing”. Technology never just jumps ships to the new method of doing things, but evolves. While I cannot see tablets and touchscreens replacing their non-touch parents, I sure can see them compliment them. Tablets makes mobility easier for a lot of entertainment and small task functions, but useless for much more demanding and large tasks. Trying to be everything to everyone never works, especially in technology. IMO, the desktop is here and will always be here. It will just evolve and utilize new technologies to compliment it, but not replace it. /rant
p.s. I cannot see any benefit of having my 30″ monitor be a touch screen. It would just be a pain to reach across the desk and make the screen dirty.
If one is doing *real* work with the PC — number crunching and writing — a tablet is about as useful as paper & pencil. No, the desk/lap top machine isn’t going away.
I seem to have thrown my keyboard to the other side of the room and just want to use my mouse to get the Start Menu opened.
I think you are wrong about Windows 8. It has a great potential and it
can break the market, especially allowing people using Windows for home
and/or work to continue using a lot of applications they are confident
on a tablet.
Personally I use for work Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my laptop. I agree with the
concept that Start button is no more necessary, anyway it seems missing
something without it.
The store is really poor at the moment, and I’m not confident that there
will be thousand of apps when Windows 8 will be launched. Anyway I believe in a few months the apps will coming a lot. Don’t forget that with Azure any app could be easily host their data (or share data) in easy way, and this is a strenght point in my opinion.
I definitely imagine a future when Microsoft will integrate something like Kinect on their tablet.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/final-thoughts-on-windows-8-a-design-disaster/20706
Oops.
This awful review could be true if the title was “First impression” rather than “Final thoughts”. I doubt that he used his Win8 setup more than 10 minutes.
Considering I drew the same conclusions as he did as both a ‘first impression’ and ‘final thoughts,’ I’d say he’s on the mark either way.
Buy a Mac
um..no thanks
I see no need for the Start Button, in Metro if your app isn’t pinned to the takbar or has a tile… Type the name of the program. Dead simple and requires no mouse clicks. Since my personal desktop has no visible icons at all, I just don’t see the issue.
I seem top be a minority here, but I find the organization of Windows 8 around the Start Screen rather than start button superior even on a desktop with a mouse/KB.
-Programs I use with great frequency on the traditional desktop are pinned to the Taskbar, exactly the same as in Windows7
-The above and desktop programs I use less often are pinned in logical groups to the Start Screen (Currently: Games, applications, Office, non-system tools, misc). I find this better, it’s more visual and organized than looking for company names or whatever the application filed itself as in the Programs section of the old Start menu.
-Metro applications are in logical groups, separate from desktop ones on the left side of the Start Screen.
-Uncommonly used programs are a Start Screen search away, exactly the same as in Windows7.
-Many system items are a simple right click on the bottom left corner.
So…
“You will have to install the program as a desktop icon or place it on the taskbar. Gone will be the days of having a clean, uncluttered desktop.”
Nope, just as always leave it off your desktop and create a Start menu shortcut.
“If you balk at installing the icon to your desktop and don’t set up a program icon, you will need to click on the left bottom of your screen to open Metro or press the Windows key.”
Same as Windows 7, just bigger
“Then you will be required to locate the program you wish to launch. This will require you to use your mouse or keyboard to scroll through the list of applications and programs you have installed.”
Same concept as in 7 again, this time though you can put things where you want them to appear and it’s highly visual and not in a long text-only list so it’s faster to find what you want.
“You can then click on the program and it will take you back to the Desktop.”
Same result as Windows 7 again.
As far as opening rarely-used programs in Windows 8, it’s as simple as pressing the Windows key then typing the name of the program, which automatically searches for and locates it.
Two points
1)The world has yet to see fully developed “Metro apps”. Where is the Metro version of Office, a decent photo editor, audio editor, video/DVD editor etc.
The verdict is well and truly to be decided on the Metro platform, and I predict that Metro apps will always only be a compromise from the desktop versions
2)The wider question of desktop computers dying out
“the usefulness of the standard, non-touch desktop/laptop computer will go the way of the dodo bird”
For content creators, the desktop will never die. Now that the majority of the worlds computer users may eventually prefer a tablet over a desktop computer, but Im willing to bet that enterprise and most content producers (as compared to content consumers) will always have desktop computers as part of their setups
Saying desktop computers will be dead is a very brave statement, and I argue misleading
Using Classic Shell’s Start button & a script found elsewhere for automatically switching to the desktop at logon, I’m happily using 8400 without ever dealing with the atrocious Metro UI. Of course, I’ve observed no difference between 8 & 7 — except for some minor cosmetic changes to the logon — so it’s sort of an exercise in time wasting to switch but as long as this ability to get back the old UI remains, I guess I’m happy.
The response, while flippant, is exactly what many users will do.
It would seem to this user that what S has done is taken the Windows / Mac battle in-house, so to speak. There will be outspoken supporters and critics in and of both camps. Only time will tell, but, as yet, both sides of the fence have proven to be entrenched and totally content with their beliefs, impressions, and habits.
Ok, am I missing something here.. I dont like a cluttered screen on my iPad, so I group my apps once installed into folders. Does Win 8 not allow this? If not then MS seriously naffed that up. It’s a simple solution that works well..
Not having an actual tool, icon, button or whatever, to activate something ( metro ) is the dumbest design decision ever. A design should make sense. Thinking that the user is going to assume he/she should bring the cursor to the corner of the screen, or press the windows key, to bring back metro is stupid.
I agree that this is going to cause some serious confusion, but metro is geared towards touchscreens, so people are going to be changing their input method anyway.
Sure I will pay an excess just to get a monitor with allows use of a UI which was designed with touch first, and desktop users second.
I agree with previous messages and add: I never once clicked on programs and searched for the one I wanted.. I just pressed the windows key or clicked the start button and started typing what I wanted to use and it would come up.. I use the same process on Windows 8 and no-longer use my Windows 7 partition, Ever!.
I love the new UI and the way Microsoft have laid everything out in an easy to use and see manor.
In the past Microsoft sold new versions of Windows by pointing at flaws in the current Windows. Even at the Windows XP Launch Bill Gates demoed the blue screen of death and claimed it would be a thing of the past. Windows 7 was an easy sell after the experience with Vista.
Microsoft’s biggest problem is Windows 7 doesn’t suck.
Bill
Well that’s the same problem they had with XP and the way they got away from it was by making sure things don’t work on it and it started to look like crap in comparison to newer stuff. Otherwise many of us would have never left it!
U 2 are both right. Microsoft forced many people into upgrading. By excluding XP from updates so modern programs don’t work.
Also selling Windows 8 will be very hard because W7 is still the best windows release.
You can work perfectly without a start button, Apple has proved it by using the dock with a programs, documents and downloads stack.
XP is over 10 years old. Upgrade already unless you’re using a P2 processor still.
the start button is important, majority of people who use Windows grew up with and love the start button. Accessing the hard drive folders, space etc.. or anything important needs the start button, im sure you can still access all that with Windows 8 but it wont be as helpful or give much guidance if the start button is not there. People will have to get used to basically a whole new Windows experience with Windows 8 and it will take a while.
7: Click the start button, or tap the Win key.
Click “All Programmes”, and scroll to the program You want; Or
Type the name of the program You want.
8: Tap the Win key
Type the name of the program You want.
even in 7 tap the win key and start typing.
I am a hardcore geek and developer, but I’m also like a lot of casual users, I don’t like change. I think Microsoft is forcing change on the users because that’s the only way they will change… if they have to. You can switch between metro and classic, but it won’t be long before that’s no longer an option.
If it improves usability I’ll change when I’m forced to, if it doesn’t help usability the backlash from people might be enough that they put it off for another version or two. Only time will tell. But personally, I love my start button, even though I use ctrl+escape to bring it up
News flash: Windows 8 ≠ business use. How about that learning
curve? There is a balance between the snazzy interface and usability. The success of W7 is that MS got close to
that balance. W8 looks like a miss. Pretty much as Vista was. You go Bill! Ata
boy! Let’s create problems so we can heroically resolve them.
One point i have yet to read in any of this debate…
MS learned from Millenium and Vista is that they can make a loser OS and not lose market share. With this, they can confidently “roll the dice” with Windows 8. If it is a loser, they just go back to what they had in Windows 7 and call it Windows 9. Windows 7 is quite new, so if people hang on to it for 5 to 10 years, that’s a lot of cushion to offset new bad versions of windows before it can cause a market share loss.
Therefore, it’s a great time to gamble.
A few thoughts of my own.
1) The tablet is not going to replace the desktop/laptop. I put my tablet on a stand, and when I touch the screen, the whole thing moves. A heavier stand makes it less portable. Working with it on my lap or in my hand is only good for a short time. I don’t enjoy working hunched over. It would also be awkward to tap tap tap away on a virtual keyboard on a 24 or 30″ screen. A physical keyboard on a desk is going to be necessary, at least until I can get a Bluetooth-connection for my brain. Same for a pointing device.
2) My tablet is fine for watching a few YouTube videos, but that’s about it. In the hospital I had a small screen (TV) to watch. It was on a swing arm that let me position it as I chose. There’s nothing like watching a ballgame on a 10″ screen. It’s just like being there, if “there” is the roof of a building a mile away with opera glasses. A larger screen is going to be necessary too.
3) Today you can get a lot of computing power in a very small package. However, you can get even more power in a larger package, along with a lot of other “stuff” that can be quite useful, like today’s CD/DVD burners, or tomorrow’s devices, whatever they may be. It’s also hard to open up your tablet and upgrade, update, or modify it.
4) I don’t need or want tiles that continuously update my info. I have no desire to have constantly streaming annoyances competing for my attention. I have no stocks. I follow only one team (Go Yanks!). When I want to know something I look it up.
5) I have a lot of software on my machine. Yes, I can type in the name of the application I want to run. If I can remember it right. Lots of names start with the same word or letters. It will be a lot of fun opening Office programs by first typing in Microsoft Office
and then the rest of the name.
They will get my Windows 7 when they wipe it from my cold dead hard drive. Or when they realize how many people hate the very idea of Windows 8 and come out with Windows 9 Desktop/Laptop Edition.
Even if 3/4 of the market adores Win8 and would die for it, that leaves a very large number of people who don’t like it or want it.
First of all, I absolutely HATE a dirty monitor, I would go crazy with fingerprints all over my monitor. It hinders concentration and blurs words/pictures/etc.
After a horribly confusing experience with the Developer’s version, I gave the Consumer 8400 version a try and, after getting the Start button back, was reasonably happy with the *near* Win 7 experience. Happy, that is, until it irretrievably (apparently) broke after I tried customizing the Start button (using Start Button Changer 2.6). I sort of figured that this would not end well but what i *didn’t* figure is that it would completely break the OS; giving me an error on applying it THEN breaking subsequent start ups and preventing going further. Safe/repair mode couldn’t be called up and no menu allowing me to fix it came up before the error was thrown. If I had had a Win 8 disk, I probably could’ve fixed it but I didn’t (I installed it from the image directly from Win 7). The point? Sure it’s a beta but Win 7 would’ve at least allowed me to fix the problem (or wouldn’t have broken in the first place).
Will I be using Win 8 in the future? Hells to the no.
It’s actually easier to launch programs from Windows 8. I feel that people who think the new Metro-ized Start screen is cumbersome have yet to actually use the product (i mean really use it) — you can do so for free by downloading a Windows 8 preview.
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