Would bringing back the Start Menu fix almost all Windows 8 complaints?

I would say yes. After having used Windows 7 and 8 on a dual boot system, I have come to realize just how great the start menu is in Windows 7 and below. Within that small space is access to almost everything you need to do in the OS. In Windows 8, it is scattered across the screen and in hidden menus.

• Great UI allows users to do many things without giant sweeping motions. Metro does not.
• Great UI minimizes clicks which cause strain on the wrist. Metro does not.
• Great UI doesn't make users guess where something is located. Metro does not.

If the start menu comes back, people can mostly stay on the desktop and Metro/Modern becomes a nice option. Do it MS.

 

Windows key+x brings you pretty much everything you need.

 

I don't think it would. The Metro side of things still feels unfinished.

 

I think so. I installed it on two boxes. One HTPC and one laptop and installed classic shell on both. I don't even use metro for anything. For the HTPC it might have some uses down the line to navigate easier while using the TV as a screen, but my laptop it is worthless.

I like windows 8 in everything minus the mandatory use of metro UI. They need to make that secondary because its crap on anything but a phone or tablet.

 

Window+X and Dock = Awesome for me.

Though I agree, there was a way to disable Metro completely, that would be dandy. Something MS should consider. I really don't see the benefit of using Metro on desktop computer either. Switching back and forth between Metro apps and Desktop programs is asinine. Especially since I don't think Metro apps add any improvements or benefits over desktop programs for desktop users.

Appears to me MS made this decision not because they thought it would benefit desktop users, but because it would encourage/force them to become accustomed and familiar with Metro, like it and influence decision to buy a Windows Phone or Tablet.

Luckily for them, they don't have to sell it to me, I have a Windows Phone and there isn't a doubt in my mind it's superior to Android and iOS easily. As someone who truly believes Windows Phone is superior to it's competitors, I still would prefer Windows 8 desktop without it. But whatever, it's not a deal breaker for me, I'll adjust if MS chooses to not accommodate desktop users preference.

 

I definitely agree with your post, at least everything up to the last paragraph. While it's usable with the Metro screen, I think it would have been better if they left it out.

 

I had posted this elsewhere, but this patch may come pretty close to what you want: It essentially runs Explorer 7 in Windows 8, pretty much eliminating Metro entirely in the process. Some caveats as explained on the web page I linked.

 

Is this different then classic shell?

 

Completely. This is the real thing.
Classic Shell is a third-party program made to (kind of) look like the Windows Start Menu.

 

I say, no, it will not fix all the problems. I want aero glass back. Windows 8 looks so flat and boring, and there is a lack of customization options for the start page.

 

Yea. I like Aero, at least it makes me feel I have something newer and more advanced than Windows 95 on my hands...

For one, I'd like an ability to permanently disable metro interface. This is for traditional desktops/laptops if wanted.
Second, enable aero for desktop (just for looks).
Third, enable aero on metro interface (and round those tile edges!). Glass tiles with a hint of desktop underneath would be nice (maybe they introduce glass as new feature for Windows 9? )

 

I think the flat look is better.

 

I want both. As optional. Different styles for different taste and users
Forgot to mention that.

 

I like aero and been looking at ways to get it back. I hate metro. Other then that I don't mind windows 8.

 

I vote YES only because Windows 8 but that'd also make Windows 8 as a unneeded and unnecessary 'upgrade' and the use only coming on new computers. While I enjoy W8 on my gaming laptop, I woe the day I see it on my enterprise networks with users and businesses that push productivity and financial gain above all else. Needless to say I feel safe a few years and by then there'll be even more ways around this. So at this point, I only feel sorry for the home users including execs with home machines -_-

 

It's an upgrade in pretty much every way EXCEPT Metro. Not sure why you put quotations marks around upgrade when its indisputably faster and better under the hood.

 

The way I see it, the new tiles part of windows is just the new start menu, it provides the same functionality if not more.
Press the winkey and your apps/programs you have customised to be there are right in front of you,
or winkey and start typing, and what you are looking for, is categorized files, apps etc.
I am a long time windows user and think that it is a functional improvement over the start menu...not so sure about visually though.

Also I find it great that you can switch between tile view and desktop by just pressing the winkey.

And right-click in the bottom left hot spot and all useful comp management links are there

 

After using win 8 for about a week,
I think it's main problem is that forces people to jump back and forth between two completely different UI's.

I wish they would have found a way to be able to do everything in "metro" style. Using the desktop just makes me want to go back to Win7

But it is a change for Windows, back in Win 3.1 era you had to use DOS a lot, then progressively after 95/98 its usage was reduced until completely gone.

I imagine that within 2 or 3 releases, the desktop interface as we know will be a thing on the past. For both Win and OSX.

 

I just want the Aero glass back...
There is a workaround through Registry Editor, but it's a bit unstable.

 

They should offer the best of both worlds and let the user choose. Aero should have been optionally included...

 

Yes. Trying to kill the start menu is a very arrogant move. MS must have anticipated the negative reaction from many users, but seemingly clings to hoping it'll quiet down.

Anyway, Classic Shell works fine here, and W8 (minus metro) seems like a good OS (as long as the ugly tiles and the rest of metro is kept out of the way, just available as an optional extra which may be of use for specific purposes). On a touch\tablet\phone it may all make sense, but MS is very late in the game.

 

The START Menu is just the "start" of the problems in Windows 8. One of my family member's PC lappy broke down and she's not quite ready to buy another one. When she does it will undoubtedly be a W8 notebook and I will make sure to ignore her phone calls because I KNOW I will get them. And please no replies trying to defend Windows 8 by saying she's "computer illiterate" because most of the world really is. You just won't find the average person knowing to press the Windows+X key and sliding the mouse cursor over to the bottom corner of the screen to pull up that nonsense menu. Is every design engineer at Microsoft dyslexic? I mean really, all previous versions of Windows used a "START" button to shut down the PC which was completely illogical...now you have to go into SETTINGS and then press the POWER button to shut down/sleep/restart the machine. Who would think to do that?

And regardless of the fact that the user CAN get back to the desktop to get back the "Windows 7 Experience" at the end of the day the whole system is still designed to be used with the Metro UI/Tiles and future versions of Windows will be going in that direction. IMO the desktop will disappear completely at some point. I'm sure Apple and Microsoft are on the same page with this idea. Not a bad idea but I suspect it will happen soon enough.

Now for the actual operation of W8. While I'm sure these can all be fixed upon software updates, it's odd that Microsoft never "fixed" it after making W8 a public beta for so long. The scrolling and swiping is not fluid smooth like you'd find on a tablet (haven't tried the Surface so I can't comment on that) such as the iPad, Android or a Mac. Seems very choppy and half-baked. This experience is the same in I.E, the App Store library, the News..etc.
Once I.E is launched in Metro and the user begins surfing the address bar disappears and unless the user is told or spends time figuring it out they won't know to tap the trackpad to get the tabs or the address to appear.
Then the user has to wonder why Office isn't infused into the new W8 UI? The icons are not infused into the tiles the way the default apps are, when opening up Word it launches into the desktop and not in it's own space as I.E. or the default apps do. Inconsistent.

One positive though, I think the absence of Aero is a step forward, although now the UI does look boring. The transparency of windows behind other windows was giving me a headache and I turned off that nonsense from jump street. That's just a few opinions from my own experience with Windows 8 that had nothing to do with the START button on the desktop so bringing it back wouldn't even solve most of my concerns. I'm all for change which is why I enjoy using a Mac and I run Windows as well for testing purposes and tinker with Linux but Microsoft made a major change here and should've taken baby steps to move their users into a whole new experience. The Surface should've been the only product that had the full Windows 8 experience.
They will undoubtedly lose quite a few Windows users to Apple this time around. Too many people have iPhones and iPads and if they have to make this much change they may just jump the fence and buy a Mac.

 

Bingo. This is a case where MS seems to be doing things for their own benefit rather than the consumer's. MS has traditionally been about choice, which is why Windows was so popular in the first place. They will learn the hard way that many people will not be giving up their mouse/trackpads for touchscreens. They will learn that Metro should have been a choice, not a virtual mandate. Something has changed in MS making them so stubborn these days. Maybe they are envious of the success of iOS. iOS is very much a rigid their way or the highway OS and consumers seem to not care. The difference is Windows is a work and play OS. iOS is mostly a play OS.

 

Yes I think it would.

I've been using win8 for a few days now and I do like most elements of it.

I have it installed on my Asus N55SL I bought recently, I paid a bit extra for the Win 8 upgrade. But as I had added a new SSD drive to replace the original HDD I had to call MS customer support to get it activated properly. No big deal, was my fault and they sorted it after 15 mins or so.

I'm very impressed with the boot speed and how much better some of my games and apps run even compared to my Win7 rig with a SSD raid. All my bits of hardware and software have installed and work flawlessly

I have installed Start8 to get the old start menu back as I'm so much in the habit of having one for the last 15 years. I did keep the setting for having it to boot into metro first. I have removed 90% of the apps there but it is handy to check the news and weather quickly before I get to work on the desktop. Metro UI does look cool I guess but I cant see myself using it the way MS want me to.

This is all well and good as I'm quite tech savvy but I can see Win8 being a problem for the mainstream consumers. After a while every new PC/laptop sold will have Win8 pre-installed. So you can imagine most normal people who own a pc/laptop who are not tech savvy getting this new OS home and really struggling to get to grips with all the changes. Nearly all the time new computers don't come with any instructions on how to use it other than a folded diagram of where to plug everything in.

I personally have had to spend an hour or two with a few of my customers one to one explaining how to use it. In the end all but one have requested that I set it up as close to windows 7 or what os they were using previously. These are not stupid people just normal individuals who have a computer because life these day dictates that they should need one. Its a universal issue that even some of the bigger retail chains have had to adapt to. Just today I saw a TV ad from one of the UK's biggest using a 30 minute tutorial with every new laptop as a selling point. As far as I know it's not a strategy they've had to adopt before.

If this UI is here to stay and the start menu is gone for good then in the long term people will get used to it, but for now it's going to cause a headache for a lot of people.

 

Couldn't agree more. Most of what has been taken away in Windows 8 was not out of necessity, but rather choice. Start Menu belongs on the desktop, and there's no reason to take it away except to shove the Windows 8 "experience" down the throats of upgraders and new PC buyers.

Aero interface removed why? Battery life? My desktop PC's don't have batteries, and the current generation of integrated (Intel HD 4000) and discrete (AMD and nVidia) are more than up to the task of handling Aero. This ain't 10 years ago. Heck, even the new iPad has a new, very powerful GPU built in to handle advanced graphical tasks. GPU's will only get more powerful using less power, each generation. Microsoft seems to be going in the opposite direction, giving our high-powered GPU's less to work with. Personally, I hate the flat, boring look of Office 2013, and Windows 8 windows. I feell like I'm have a 90's flashback.

Time will tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if we soon find a few of the "familiar" things put back into Windows 8 by Microsoft. Either that, or a few crafty developers helping to bring back some familiarity are going to get rich, quick.

 

I don't think it would kill ALL complaints, but a large majority. As many have mentioned, it's more about choice. Giving functionality that users are familiar with and is part of their daily workflow. Instead they force their nonsense on everyone. Metro is good for touchscreen devices. We all get and understand that. But it's pretty much a disconnect for traditional laptop/desktop PC users.

I won't be using Windows 8 any time soon.

 

No, it will fix some complaints but no where near all or even most. It would be a huge first step though in getting the desktop user passified. Bring back Aero and an option to opt out of metro, along with the start menu, then maybe most complaints would go away but I am sure not all.

 

I've seen plenty of people struggle just as much to use an iPad as they do any other computer. They discover the very basic functionality they need, and then stick to that. They do need to learn how to use it in the first place though. So if they buy a MSFT surface and a Windows 8 PC, they only need to learn one way to operate their devices. That's the entire point of this. They don't think the desktop is an optimal interface for the Surface, and they don't think Metro is the very best way to use the desktop. That isn't the point. They give you the best way to operate that device, AND an interface you're familiar with on other devices. They're building a fluid ecosystem.

 

I don't think that bringing back the old Start Menu would fix most of the Windows 8 complaints. As a matter of fact, I don't think bringing back the Start Button would fix said complaints either. I've been using Windows 8 on my desktop for just over a week and like it so far. I've gotten used to the Start Screen and like how you can search for something just by beginning to type. However, if anyone here used Windows 95, some of you may remember that there was an option to have Program Manager as your default interface over the new Explorer interface. I believe this option was also present in Windows 98. This should have been done in Windows 8, only replace Program Manager with the "Classic" interface and Explorer with "Metro". Give users the option to boot directly into the desktop environment instead of the Start Screen.

In my book, Microsoft seems to be trying to shove tablets in everyone's faces. Some may argue that Apple is doing the same thing, but in Apple's case, they still have iOS and OS X separate from each other. They are just bringing iOS features over to OS X.

 

Well they could still give the users choice. They can force Metro as-is for the layman, but give an advanced option in control panel or advanced system features to disable metro and use "classic" style desktop with start menu. That way power users get what they want, and for everyone else they achieve their goal of training the sheeple to use their new OS.

 

Yeah, but the thing is, nobody buys a Surface, at least just about nobody who knows what they're doing. It's all about the apps. People don't even buy Android tablets, because there's so few apps for them. Windows RT apps? You got to be kidding...

As an aside, as soon as I see somebody babbling that inane "fast and fluid" blather, I know I can tune out.

 

Got my first BSOD since the days of XP. Playing WoW and tabbed out to run Speedtest.net and crashed to a blue screen with a sad face. Cute but infuriating.

 

So few Android apps? Compared to what? Apple, maybe, but in general there's thousands of useful apps for Android. But I agree about Windows RT apps. That is why I don't care to be an early adopter. Surface Pro makes so much more sense. Already a billion apps available.

 

Numbers aren't everything. I'm sure half of those apps on Apple/Google Market are as useless as crap. Plus, when it's a tablet, you already got the app of them all - Internet browser.

 

Yeah, apps are way, way overrated in the the minds of bloggers/posters. Many are just glorified bookmarks. Some websites, for the life of them, can't get people to bookmark them, but oh, make and "app", and they get free advertising and a bookmark from the unsuspecting public. When we start seeing things like Photoshop, Eclipse, Final Cut Pro and Full Office as apps, then we can talk.

 

Every platform starts with no apps...

 

Not really. They need to get the backing of lots of developers up front so when they launch the product there's dozens if not hundreds of apps available. It'd be like Sony releasing their PS4 or Microsoft's Xbox 3/720/whatever without any games available when you bought it. They don't do that. They get the support of developers up front and then when the product releases you have a good selection to choose from.

 

After 5 years using a dock I don't miss the startmenu... also in Win8 you just type and hit enter. Its faster than navigating in the list of apps you have.

 

Unless you're like me and can't remember the name of the app but have a highly organized list of programs...

 

Unless your software is named like volcanoes in Iceland, it shouldn't be the problem.
But people should keep in mind, that no everyone likes to type the name, some just prefer to browse for it.

 

That's what custom-arranged live tiles are for

Or the "all apps" list...

 

I recommend Start8 program. Its awesome and fixed the issues I had with windows 8. Most of them at least.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

StartIsBack is better. Start8 doesn't work as smooth. I think it uses Win7 files and emulates it. StartIsBack managed to bring back the start menu in Win8, so it's smooth and nearly flawless.

 

How many apps were in the Apple App store when the iPhone launched? I'll give you a hint, there was no app store.

 

That's fine if you're the first. If you try to penetrate a well-established market where other players can feature hundreds of thousands of apps, it's fatal. Like I said, Microsoft is a day late and a dollar short in this market. There's precious few reasons for anybody to buy a Windows RT tablet. Heck, even the MS Office that comes with those things is badly crippled.

 

And that's too bad because that's one of the biggest benefits of moving to that platform...being able to run Office on a tablet. I've got clients running SharePoint and at remote sites being able to use Office with SharePoint on a tablet would be the Ultimate! Maybe next year when the RT on Intel tablets come out.

 

No it's not. It's almost identical to Office for x86:

Office 2013 RT Preview updated to final version on Windows RT tablets | The Verge

It doesn't have macros (which few people use and which are a security hole) but most people won't be able to tell the difference at all.

 

Well, legally, it's useless because the Office RT that ships with the tablet is for personal use only, and not for commercial/business use. You have to buy an additional Office 365 or 2013 PRO license to use it.
That's certainly a blow to any businesses wanting to transition to RT on tablets (and, moving forward, Windows 8). What a dumb marketing move.

 

Windows Clover Trail tablets are business-oriented (at least the Thinkpad Tablet 2, ElitePad, and Latitude 10 are). The Surface RT is a consumer-oriented device not meant for enterprise in the first place.