If Microsoft does end up reintroducing a Start Menu to a future
release of Windows, as sources are hinting, does it necessarily mean
that menu will be identical to what exists now? And if it's not, does
that defeat the purpose?
Your best friend or worst nightmare? Looks like a new version of the Windows Start Menu may be making a comeback.
Windows SuperSite's Paul Thurrott blogged earlier this week that his sources had indicated Microsoft might be planning to make two key user-interface changes to a coming version of Windows.
One of these is the ability to "float" Metro-Style/Windows Store apps
on the desktop. The other was to bring back the Start Menu, alongside
the recently re-introduced Start Button.
I've seen a number of commentors wondering why Microsoft might
reintroduce the Start Menu, since the Windows 8.x Start screen (the
tiled interface) was designed to be a new representation of the Start
Menu. The short answer is to help existing Windows users --
specifically, the more casual, non-power-user types -- figure out how to
navigate Windows 8 without tears or fears.
Windows 8, even with the positive changes Microsoft made with the 8.1
release, still presents a usability hurdle for some who are familiar
with older versions of Windows. Even if it can be mastered relatively
quickly, Windows 8 works and looks different enough to keep some from
considering the move away from their more familiar and productive
Windows variants. And Microsoft wants Windows XP, Windows Vista and
Windows 7 users to upgrade, not hold back or switch to a totally
different platform because they are worried about Windows 8's learning
curves and/or retraining costs.
A number of third-party tools, including Stardock's Start8, Classic Shell and Pokki, have found success with Start Menu add-ons designed for Windows 8.x.
Since Thurrott's initial December 10 report on the return of the
Start Menu, I've heard from my own contacts that this is highly likely
to happen. Microsoft is, indeed, highly likely to bring back Start Menu.
Supposedly it's being called internally "mini-Start," (as it won't be a
full-screen Start Menu like in Windows 8), one of my contacts said.
Microsoft may opt to introduce this new Menu as part of the "Threshold" Windows wave in the spring of 2015 or possibly before that, via some kind of Windows 8.1 update. I've heard there is an "Update 1" coming for Windows 8.1 in the spring of 2014, but no word as to how many subsequent updates may be in the pipeline.
Next-to-nothing, my contacts claim, has been determined by the team
as to what this new Menu will look like. Will it include the same
current category list (Documents, Pictures, Music, etc.) as Microsoft's
current Start Menu on Windows 7? Will it be a menu of Metro-Style tiled
apps? No tiles? Will it interact with the Start button that's on the
Charms Bar in Windows 8 in some way? No word.
I'd assume the Start Menu will be a Desktop thing, like the 8.1 Start
Button is. Maybe it will simply provide users with a mini version of
the list of all the apps installed on their Windows 8.x machines. I'd
expect it to be designed to work decently with touch, even though from
what both Thurrott and I have heard, the primary target audience for the
new Start Menu will be those using Windows 8.x with keyboards and mice.
I know haters are gonna keep hating on this idea. But assume it's
happening: How do you think Microsoft should design the new Start Menu?
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