Windows 8.1 update 3 in the works - adds Start Menu / Windows 9 Delayed

Start Menu May Arrive in Windows 8.1 Update 3

" During BUILD 2014 in April, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson revealed that the beloved Start Menu would return to the Windows platform in the near future, but didn’t specify an actual release date. Presumably it was going to launch in Windows 8.1 Update 2 slated to arrive sometime during the August/September window. Now sources close to the project are reporting that the Start Menu will not arrive until Windows 8.1 Update 3. Yep, there’s a new update in the works.

Unnamed sources report that Windows 8.1 Update 3 will take place in Spring 2015, the same window that Windows 9 "Threshold" was supposed to be released. Does that mean Windows 9 is already seeing a delay? Sources now point to a Q2/Q3 window for "Threshold," which could mean that Update 3 will be released in April and Windows 9 in June."


Microsoft News | Rumor: Microsoft Working on Windows 8.1 Update 3

" Windows Codename Blue -> Windows 8.1 Updates 1/2/3, Update3 expected 2015 Spring.
Windows Codename Threshold -> Windows 8.1.x or 8.x , or whatever MS would name it, there will be 1 preview, expected 2015 Q2~Q3
Windows Codename 9 -> Windows 9 , or whatever MS would name it, there will be 2 previews, first preview expected 2015 Q2~Q3.


...I still think it is interesting and it is plausible an Update 3 (or called Windows 8.2) could be in the works. Likely to appear within a quarter (earlier or later) of the release of Windows 9.

If indeed Windows 9 is already a quarter off schedule that is extremely concerning, but I’m going to cross my fingers and hope it is not true for the time being."

 

Hmm.. Why would they add in a start menu for update 3 and then release Windows 9 straight after that??? They already have a terrible time introducing a new OS. It would be even harder if they didn't bribe hardware vendors into it.
It'll be fun to see Microsoft fall flat on it's face again. Unless Windows 9 is going to be really good or has another "key selling point" as in DX12 only for Windows 9.

Don't get me wrong I'd love good updates and I'd love new OS, Just a little worried with the direction MS is taking here. Maybe it's finally time for Linux on the desktop in 2015.
~Aeny

 

"
"During BUILD 2014 in April, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson revealed that the beloved Start Menu would return to the Windows platform in the near future, but didn’t specify an actual release date. Presumably it was going to launch in Windows 8.1 Update 2 slated to arrive sometime during the August/September window. Now sources close to the project are reporting that the Start Menu will not arrive until Windows 8.1 Update 3. Yep, there’s a new update in the works."

And what about Aero??? LOL!!
No Start Menu, no Aero, no Windows 8 for me.
Hopefully they will be both included in W9 or I'll stick with W7 x64.

Regards,

 

Actually, from what I have seen on screenshots, that "new" Start Menu isn't a real Start Menu either, and is still crippled in various ways. Most importantly, the screenshots I have seen clearly show that there are no jumplists anymore.

 

If that's the case, I still don't don't see why their reluctance and resistance to incorporate a much desired option of users, and something that's existed for the last 15+ years.

 

At some point I believe there is a team in MS which want to destroy it.

 

Returned to Windows 7 about a month ago and feels so much more relaxing without those nerving jumping slides and metro interface. I do not even understand how could I stand with 8 for over a year... Never again

 

Yeah I'm on the cusp of switching to Windows 7 as well. Too many random bugs with Windows 8, it gets annoying fast.

 

I hate all those fancy tablet features and no native classic start menu in 8.

That being said, once I disabled all that junk I don't like, and added a proper start menu, I prefer 8 over 7 for one feature. Don't laugh, but I love the fact I can pause windows explorer file copies, and resume at will.

I do backups the old fashioned way, copy and pasting TB's worth of games, media and files is soooo much easier when I can start a large one, pause it and knockout a smaller one, then resume the larger one. I know it sounds like such a silly thing but I love it, and it's built in to windows (I hate using apps for anything I can do natively in an OS).

Another small thing is it shows a graph of the transfer speed too so you can monitor how it is doing over time rather than just an instantaneous number like previous windows versions.

 

Yeah there are some small things which 8 does better than 7, but the overall user experience is better for me in 7.

 

Essentially with Office coming to Linux all I need is Light room to do the same and I'm gone. It does not seem to me that they want actual production desktops, or DTRs, anymore. Fine by me I just need to keep my production capability and I'm good to go.

I had Linux on here a bit ago. While as an OS it was fine, there was no real office and I still need to process my pictures. Thing is LR has been a long waiting game to come to Linux and there is no light on the horizon either. I am trying out Corel x6 but I do not think it cuts it for me.

 

Just get startisback for 8.1 and it works perfectly...

 

That's what I have, but it can't fix everything.

 

I hate anything that takes over my screen and locks me out of control unless/until I deal with it. In the case of maintenance, you're just plain locked out with no idea what's going on or how long it will take.

W8 also has vastly superior detection capability which ultimately means its way more intrusive.

 

This was part of Windows 7 selling point Aero and users can figure out how to use and work it to their customization but not listening will backfire. Also laptops are more then enough to run Aero and still make a days work easy. How they forgot that technologies moves on is beyond caveman era thinking in M$ backwater thinking. Some of those laptops were back from 2007 can install and run Aero and Windows 7x64 Ult Sp1 with no problems.

This is the crutch of the problem they said it is back but crippled and not functional or allowing users to customize how they want it to look like. I will keep using Windows 7x64 Ult Sp1 as I also in the package have Windows 7x86 Ult Sp1 as well so I have best of both worlds still. And you will have to pry it out of my dead cold hand to get my Windows 7 O/S.

It's thinking inside of box..and GREED make a new O/S and they will buy it NOT! Make a good O/S they can customize and familiarization themselves and use over and over...that will sell more and get more users on-board. It's called basically STUPIDITY or corporate BLUNDER in it's highest forum. If they had listened to the tester and IT tester W8 would sell like hot cakes but they dismissed even those tester calling them dum and not having any foresight - obviously we now know whom had the foresight to see what would come.

 

My opinion is that the so called start menu will not be the saving grace hoped for. The problem then is if it is introduced early on and fails to save the UI it will quickly dwindle hope that Windows 9 will be any kind of success. This then could actually accelerate loss of market share or at least slow down acceptance.

The other thing is that the present tactic is to chip away at consumer resistance. Give back a little at a time to find out where they need to be to make an acceptable UI. Do not expect to get too much back to soon. The other side of the coin is there may not just be a Windows 9 but also a 9.1 and then 9.1.1, 9.1.2 and maybe even 9.1.3. So far it is a proven marketing scheme so expect to see the same in the future.

The Windows empire was not built in a day and has had huge staying power. Consumers and Business have become accustomed to the OS over quite some time in computer age terms. So do not expect Windows to loose its grip on the market quickly, let alone suffer financial loss from it. The problem for Redmond is it will slowly takes its toll. The biggest issue they face is once the down hill slide starts it becomes hard to stop.

 

If this is what the future of Windows holds, I'll gladly hang on to my Win 7 till end of support in 2020 and then some.

 

M$ sees the writing on the wall. The PC and DTR are a dying breed. Most things done today are no longer via the computer client but through a web browser. Essentially making the old new again by only needing a dumb terminal in the form of a device with a powerful web browser.

This is both true for business as well as personal use. While there still are plenty of uses for our beloved desktops it seems the Windows development cycle is betting this will get greatly reduced by 2020. IMHO this is the reason for M$ wanting a device OS and UI. Funny thing is they have done this all wrong.

If they would have made the OS appealing to the current user base the market saturation would have been much higher. In this manor as users switched to device usage migration to a familiar OS would have been much easier and more of an assured event.

 

They will NOT bring Aero back till Windows 9. And who knows if they will in 9.0 or 9.1. IMO.

 

OSX 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9...

XP SP1, SP2, SP3

...who cares - this is normal for software.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yep, that's my plan, too. I have given up on Windows 9 for now. Who knows, they may yet surprise me, but I doubt it. If they don't, then my hanging on to Windows 7 is the beginning of my exit from the Windows ecosystem. Too bad, it was good while it lasted (more than 30 years for me, by the end of support for Windows 7), but all things come to an end, eventually.

I bet you're right, on both counts.

 

This article claims that the only features of Aero that were removed were the name "Aero", windowskey-tab "Flip3D", and the blurry transparent window borders "Aero Glass".

 

Which is typically what people are referring to when they say that "Aero is gone", and which also happens to be the one feature that many people wish Microsoft had not frivolously removed. There was absolutely no reason, none at all, to remove the corresponding code and interfaces in Windows. They could have delivered Windows 8 with the exact same, lame themes that they shipped it with, while allowing people to go back to the previous Aero Glass themes. But, this just happened to be another one of those style decisions that Sinofsky had decided had to be rammed down people's throats. Hence the overwhelming popularity of Windows 8. Hence the swift subsequent firing of Sinofsky...

 

Aero Glass was the straw that broke the camels back for me, so to say. I personally can live without a start menu or even button. I am retentive but just recently got rid of my system gadget monitors as I am now confident in the system. I just applied Cool Laboratory Liquid Ultra so temps under load are no longer a concern. My CPU has the +400 programed in the UEFI so I now see quite often 4.1 GHz.

There are other issues of control that I could deal with too and while a pain they can be dealt with. I and others are not looking for Windows 7 with metro. That really would not work well at all.

IMHO bring back the pre RTM of Windows 8 with Aero Glass, the start button (maybe some added features as well), at least the ability to turn on gadgets and all the 8.1.1 of the metro side as well.

So understand M$, I want Metro! I think most do even if it is for now rarely ever used. No one here wants to skip the tech, they just do not want it at the cost of loosing the tech they already have/had! As time passes, and the apps and devices merit the use of Metro, apps will start to come into their own light.

 

Look at the history of Windows:

Windows 98 - had a second edition
2000 - up to SP4
XP - up to SP3
Vista - up to SP2
7 - up to SP1
8 - goes straight to 8.1
9 - goes to 10?

Anyways, you can see there are less and less "updates" to each OS. It's a good thing because it means there are less bugs to fix and MS is introducing new features with faster product cycle.

I just upgraded to 8.1 today from 7. For one, since I have to shutdown my laptop(bios gpu problem prevents sleep) I find the faster boot on W8 very very useful. I didn't install classic shell for a this one and it's still very usable. Maybe the average joe may find it more challenging coming from the start menu UI, I find it perfectly fine with Win + S then search (faster than clicking through layers of menus anyways). I'm a big fan of ribbon menu(all options shown) and search, because the old way of burying everything in layers of menu is tedious and doesn't speed up usage except by drilling rigid sequence of clicks to the user's brain. Why should I remember how to click through menu when a simple search will do?

Eagerly waiting for the update. Now, the most annoying thing about the Metro UI is the giant fullscreen loading screen when you click on the app. Why can't the app just open up when it's loaded? That loading screen really annoys me because it serves no purpose and looks terrible. There needs to be more customization on the Metro UI for it to be really productive. Allow user created combo for different actions and I'm all for it.

 

PHAHAHAHAAAA!))) Yeah, less bugs) They made a Service Pack for W8 in a 1.5 years while called 8.1. I believe Windows 9 practically gonna be final SP like Seven to Vista.

 

There is a difference between features people want and bugs that cripple system. Also, just because there are no service packs doesn't mean MS didn't patch stuff. I personally don't care what MS decides to call their updates, as long as they continue to patch stuff. You can't deny that each Windows has been progressively more stable out of the box. Please don't say XP is rock solid(it's not) or Vista is horrible(driver issues)

 

I don't want to argue too long about what is useless. But I will deny. Windows 8 was far from being more stable out of the box than Seven. Huge memory leaks problems is the one I still notice in some forums.

 

Don't want to argue either, but a cursory glance at the forums tells me it's driver problem that causes the mem leak (realtek NICs mostly)

 

Memory leak issues I have seen mentioned for 8.x have been found to be caused by drivers or programs so far.

That said, there is the issue with the memory error message for games running at a res different than non native that is definitely Windows 8 and I have seen other problems mentioned for 8 that are due to the OS itself. All that being said, I don't see it being less stable than 7 when it was launched. It has been extremely stable as far as I am concerned.

 

Service packs are in a whole way different than the present version upgrades of Windows 8. No prior service pack was released to address issues of UI changes to make the OS more acceptable to end users. My statement on versions of Windows 9 again is not to address stability issues, this happens. It is that with Windows 9 IMHO they will still be trying to make the UI acceptable, the shame is it could be done tomorrow but we all know it won't.

I know the fan boys are all saying this is par for the course, no it is not! Never before, even in the command line vs. GUI days, has a Windows version been so largely rejected by the computing community. Even as a tablet OS it is not gaining huge traction but again this could be different if they would appease the KB&M people with a proper UI that we would love to see on our consumption tablets as well.

 

I just read an article on Engadget that says Windows 9 will ship in 3 flavors (desktop, tablet, mobile) and that W9 will automatically detect the environment hardware you have and adjust itself automatically to the best user experience.

 

That's based off an article by Mary Jo Foley yesterday that also claims Windows 9 (Threshold) is due out in the middle of next year with a wide beta "developer preview" or whatever they call it coming this fall. As that timeframe directly contradicts the timeframe mentioned in the article referenced at the beginning of the thread, which states a wide beta isn't coming until fall 2015, with 2016 retail availability, it's interesting to consider what else could be correct or incorrect in these conflicting rumors.

 

Just so long as it is not choosing which of the three best flavors of Metro for the environment. This well could just be three divisions of what we already see in Windows 8 to possibly a slight improvement. It may still not be aero or anything else to make desktop users happy.

Wonderful thing about such vague statements, we all get to imagine how great the experience will be. We get to all think what we really want to have and hold out for hope. All, at least so far, just to be disappointed in the end.

This ploy has worked well for the company to this point. The consumers are holding out thinking things will be better this time around. The other side of the coin is it keeps the business side in line not wanting to bail on Windows as if things are better it could be financial suicide. Sooner or later though this will not be enough to keep the wolves at bay nor keep the flock in their field.

 

As described by Mary Jo Foley, when installed on a desktop or notebook, Windows 9 is expected to default to desktop mode and disable Metro/Modern style, while adding in a way to open apps in their own windows. When installed on a phone or tablet, desktop is disabled and everything is done through Metro. And when installed on a convertible device, the user can go from one environment to the other.

Of course, these are still rumors. So we'll see what makes its way into the final release.

 

BULL CR@P. IT Giant which created Windows 8 and "best user experience"? HA-HA-HA!
And I suddenly came here not just to troll it but because recalled another proof of how bullish is their "automatic adjust".

Since Windows 7 I actively use Virtual Keyboard and Zoom when I'm sitting in the chair in 2 meters from laptop and want to type smth (lazy, I know). The problem (one of numerous) I got is that:
A) 8-ths keyboard looks bad, non-transparent and doesn't have an auto-hide/auto-appear label on the left. I'm talking about that keyboard which appears if you click it's shortcut on Task Panel. But that wasn't THAT important especially when I looked at Metro interface. Important thing was B)
B) that darned keyboard doesn't have all keys AND numbers! I could use those if I set another keyboard mode which is totally useless because it makes slow typing even slower. Furthermore I found that there is a simple switch mode to enable ALL keys at once and have nice virtual keyboard BUT... But this option is available only on tablets and sensor-monitors PC! The worst thing here is that I could see GRAYED button of that mode in keyboard settings like they are making fun of this. To ungray that option you had to go to PC settings, type, and change some options but I had no options there at all... because I have typical PC and Windows 8 AUTO-ADJUSTED the look while I call it AUTO-F__D PC users.
That was one of the reasons why i dropped that modifying Windows 8 look to make it useable and went back to great Windows 7.

Today I finally found the proper registry tweak to enable that option in Virtual Keyboard but this is the good example of what happens when Microsoft decides what is best look and usability for you.\

How to Enable full standard keyboard layout in Windows 8.1 | Microsoft Surface tablet

 

Did you turn it on in settings first? It grayed out for me as well, until I enabled it.
By the way, how did you made the virtual keyboard transparent. I wouldn't mind making it transparent too.

 

I just don't have that settings at all. Check yourself, it's not in english but obvious. And all I did just enabled that mode through registry. Didn't find the way to make it transparent unless going back to Windows 7.

 

What, only two options?!? I have like 10+ options there. This is 8.1, right?

 

yeah. As I understand you can see there more options if you have touch monitor or tablet. At least I read this everywere. I tried Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Otherwise I wouldn't write long angry post here

 

If it automatically adjusts to the hardware, why does it need to ship in three different flavors? Will the "tablet" flavor have everything I need to act like a "desktop version" when I drop the tablet in a dock or plug in peripherals? I've heard that rumor too and it doesn't make sense to me. You EITHER ship in multiple flavors OR you adapt to the hardware you're on...you don't do both.

 

I can see if they have it default to one config, but leave it intact for users to choose how they want.

 

Yes, I want mostly metro when I'm on my tablet, but I want access to the desktop if I want to.

 

Windows 9 Preview May Arrive Later This Year

" Unnamed sources have told ZDNet that Windows 9 will address Windows 7 users by adding a whole set of new features for desktop users."

" The report states that Microsoft is pushing Windows 7 users to install Service Pack 1 and Windows 8 users to install Windows 8.1 Update 1 so that they'll be ready for Windows Threshold when it's released next year. Sources claim that Windows Threshold will be a free upgrade for Windows 8.1 customers and possibly even Windows 7 Service Pack 1 customers."

 

I have a hard time believing M$ would be that generous.

 

Why not? They have to pupularize it the same as they did with Windows 8 at the beginning giving it for free.

 

I can imagine even with this new yearly or whatever release cycle, their income stream still sort of 'assumes' a roughly three year cycle. Since Win8 came out in 2012, I'd figure MS plans another "pay a reasonable upgrade price for this" release in 2015.

Win8.1 and the updates before Windows in 2015 are basically 'service packs that are more than service packs.'

 

Sure, but if Windows 9 does not substantially fix the most crucial flaws in Windows 8.x, then people won't install it even for free. Heck, they couldn't pay me to install the kind of garbage that is Windows 8.x on any of my machines...

 

Is it true that MS will drop the price of W9 to $30? I read that sometime ago that they wanted to better compete with OS X seeing Apple gives it away for free.

 

It'll probably be a limited-time promo just like they did for the first few months after W8 release to entice people to switch. We can see how that panned out for them.