Why are people infatuated with the windows start menu?

Metro was only ever useful if
A) you don't use a web browser to get info
B) you had a touchscreen

I don't honestly mind the metro screen, but I need my start menu. Also that charms **** to turn off your computer is annoying. If I didn't have macros on my keyboard, I would probably have switched back to W7.

 

I think windows jumped the gun on touch screen tech. While that is they way of the future, most people (myself included) still do the majority of browsing with a mouse. I've gotten use to the current setup, but I can't say it's improved my experience. They tried to change something that most people didn't really want changed yet.

 

As 15+ years in IT have taught me...

Because people are stupid. Microsoft gave Windows users SEVERAL ways to launch applications faster with Windows 8 and 8.1, but people hate change - they'd literally rather click 4 times and track the mouse halfway across the screen than to hit the start button and just type what you are looking for.

 

They had to do bring back the start menu. Microsoft needs buy-in to upgrade to Windows 10. They're finally doing the smart thing and pushing as many people as possible to upgrade. It is insane that they support so many different revisions of Windows and that must cost a fortune to maintain.

Once everyone gets off legacy versions of Windows, then you can start tinkering with the app launcher. But you have to get people to get off the old platforms. That should be your #1 priority.

 

don't even need that if using a mouse. customise your right click menu to include apps and other links.

 

Learn from Apple.

User friendly touches are actually good for their own sake.

 

Not really sure either especially with everything being on the cloud nowadays.

 

That's not quite fair. When Apple shifted to OSX, its not like they got rid of the task bar and replaced it with a brand new app launcher that was optimized for touchscreen. If they had radically redesigned how you launch applications, I guarantee you tons of users opt out of buying Macs.

OSX simplified and made user-friendly an operating system that was in desperate need of a cleanup and redesign. OSX still uses a fairly old system of launching applications that still largely traces back to the original interface of Mac OS.

Windows 8 was an overreach and was a flawed attempt at jumping ahead of market trends (something strange for Microsoft since they always seem to be 2 steps behind everyone else). They tried to create a unified app launcher for touchscreens and regular PCs. That was a bad idea when it came to attracting upgrades since launching applications is kind of a big deal and most PC users weren't ready for such a change. Now that they're focusing on a unified OS, they can do things like customize the app launcher depending on what platform is running the OS. That's a far better idea than trying to create some weird hybrid app launcher.

I think Microsoft is finally starting to embrace some smart concepts. But we'll have to see how it finally turns out. But at least in theory, its looking better.

 

Its what people know how to use. If you want them to change you need to do it incrementally. Microsoft screwed up by changing things too much, and doing a bad job of it.

They have two types of programs and user interfaces that did not coexist - apps and applications. Apps run in the start screen's metro UI while applications run in the desktop UI. So anytime you go from and app to an application a jarring context switch takes place. It was a poorly done half implementation of both ideas.

They should have kept the desktop with a start button. Then allow metro live tiles to run on the desktop. Allow the live tiles to be positioned across the bottom like the task bar. Now you have a combined approach that old users can understand while slowly introducing the new concepts.

If it was done right, I don't think there would have been many complaints and the use of the start button could have gradually died out.

 

I don't think it's so much that people are Start-Menu obsessed, as it is that the introduction of Metro created a false dichotomy. Given that choice, anyone using a mouse is going to choose the Start Menu every time.

 

I don't understand why I can auto hide the task bar but I can't swipe up to make it appear. Just plain stupid. Just plain Microsoft.

 

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Has Apple changed their iphone interface in the last 8 years?

 

Change is innovation. Otherwise we would all still be using flip phones. Like Steve Jobs said "people don't know what they want until you show it to them."

 

Windows 10 is giving the option between both with the default being a revamped start menu.

Everyone wins

 

Don't forget that a large number of Windows users are corporate/business machines utilizing enterprise applications. The metro stuff is more geared to consumer apps.

 

Actually, the point of the metro stuff is to sandbox apps in a protective state - where they can only access the system and local resources via explicit APIs provided by Microsoft. These sandboxed apps will greatly cut down on viruses, spyware and exploits across the globe.

Businesses will be moving to the Universal App Model eventually. Executables (.exe's) residing in the Program Files directories are some of the biggest threats to both individuals, and businesses.