8 responses to “The death of the Start menu”

1. 

   RexOfRome October 18th, 2011 at 21:26

   I’ve always said that the Start Menu was one of the smartest things Microsoft has done. In the DOS days people couldn’t remember the names and locations of their programs. If you installed a menu program then they could easily navigate their system. Early Windows had the same problem. When Windows 95 came out the Start Menu meant we no longer needed third party programs to make our systems user friendly. I use Linux so I don’t care about any of this.

2. 

   rc primak October 19th, 2011 at 22:28

   I have a different take on the Start Menu. I do not like the Office Ribbon, by the way, so I am not just an Early Adopter.

   Frankly, I am not a fan of the Windows Start Menu. I do not like the way by default, every Sally, Dick and Jane program or Office component puts yet another item onto an already-crowded linear listing, with no apparent order except Last-In, Last-Listed. I would welcome the Metro Interface from the point of view that I already group and prioritize icons and shortcuts and reposition them on the Windows Desktop, just to be able to find everything that’s there. I go further, creating Folders on the Desktop to act as sort-of Workspaces or Libraries, a bit like creating Linux workspaces. I know I’m in the minority, but that is what I already am doing, since Windows 98.

   Can a peripheral device, like a drawing tablet or a gesture-enabled touchpad give useful Touch and Gesture features to laptops without touchscreen displays? I’d like to see someone try this and see if it works with Metro. The picture-gesture passwords might be more secure and easier to learn and remember than random and changing alpha-symbol-numeric passwords. You need Touch to do these.

   Given the way I already organize my desktop, and my lack of interest in the traditional Start Menu listings (I cull them about once a month), I am ready to try something like the Metro Interface. Just don’t take away my local file access, my local backups, my local applications, my x86 and x64 applications, or Free and Open Source Software. Or my choice of browsers and browser plug-ins. Those I will fight hard to keep.

3. 

   Randall October 26th, 2011 at 05:17

   Totally agree Woody.

   I still use Office 2003 – ONLY because I don’t want to waste time with that stupid ribbon. Microsoft would have gotten 2 more purchases from me (office 2007 and 2010) by now if they had left in the ability to use the old menu system.

   MS needs to keep the old Startup menu around – at least for Windows 8. That lets customers ease into all the other changes.

4. 

   moth25 October 30th, 2011 at 20:29

   Wow Woody. I read your stuff all the time and appreciate the “insider’s information from an objective outsider” that you provide. However, this is a bit of Chicken Little and the sky is falling don’t you think. It’s a change, absolutely, from the way things have been for a long time. Will it be good? I don’t know, but I’ll at least wait until the final product is out and some real apps have been developed before passing judgment. Windows 8 may not be the final answer, but how can you not like MS’s attempt to bring consistency to PC, tablet, phone, and whatever other form factor is coming. And for all those “can’t use touch on a PC” worriers, think of the fuss that the mouse caused…we got over that one! Instead, imagine a Metro-style interface with Kinect type controls, voice recognition, etc. Imagine that sort of UI on your TV as well. Just try IMAGINING, and quit hating on Microsoft for doing the same!

5. 

   woody October 30th, 2011 at 22:37

   @moth25 -

   At the end of the day, I just want MS to give us both – the old Start menu and the new Start screen. Millions of reasons why.

6. 

   rc primak October 31st, 2011 at 23:25

   @moth25 –

   Everyone is supposed to buy that expensive Kinect input device just to run Windows 8 on our laptops? How portable is a Kinect, anyway?

   As I posted earlier in this thread, I wonder is a simple touch-gesture enabled input device, like the Wacom Bamboo Drawing Tablet (portable enough, and not too expensive for the smaller versions) could be used with the right drivers, to allow laptops without multitouch displays to install and run Windows 8 Metro comfortably? That to me would be a reasonable solution.

   And even smaller multitouch touchpads (from Synaptics, for example) alrady have gestures enabled if you install the correct drivers on the correct laptop hardware.

   Still, Microsoft will have to preserve the mouse and desktop for business, and for more intensive applications uses for some home users. That’s the only scenario which makes any realistic sense.

7. 

   moth25 November 2nd, 2011 at 07:31

   @Woody –
   First, I must apologize…I did not read the 2nd page of your article, but have now done so. I have spent a very limited amount of time in the Developers Preview, but the old familiar Windows desktop is there, isn’t it? Switching between it and Metro is a bit jarring at the moment, but I expect that to be cleaned up.

   MS has ‘earned’ our mistrust and much of the bludgeoning they receive. However, I actually think they are trying and Windows 8 is the way to go. Will they get everything right with this first version? History says no. But to yell at them for innovating is wrong, IMHO. As I said, it will get some getting used to, and no doubt some additional tweaks, but I believe (and hope) it will be worth it eventually.

   @rc primac –
   When I said Kinect, I was thinking more of the technology of gesture and/or voice based input – not necessarily the actual Kinect device as it currently exists. A peripheral touch device could be a good solution as well. My point was to not limit ourselves to the mouse and keyboard. These devices may be needed for certain applications, or they may not. I believe that MS has an opportunity to converge XBox, PC, Tablet, smart phone, TV/media technology and am genuinely excited to see if they can pull it off.

8. 

   rc primak November 6th, 2011 at 16:11

   @moth25 —

   I agree totally about device convergence. It’s actually a good thing, if you ask me. But I do not want to be tied to just one input device type. Like any peripheral, I prefer to match the tool to the job at hand. For typing, I want a regular keyboard. For numeric inputs, I want my numeric keypad. For desktop and document navigation, I generally prefer my Mouse. But I can see some possibilities in using gestures for things like zooming, switching active windows, etc. And those pictographic passwords look pretty interesting.

   Ideally, my laptop should have all four (keypad, numeric, Mouse and gestures) built in. But I do not have a gesture-enabled touchpad, so I guess my Windows 8 upgrade would have to include a gesture-enabled touchpad or drawing tablet. Not a deal-killer, but an added expense.

   Fortunately, it looks like a RAM upgrade or a graphics memory upgrade will NOT be needed for Windows 8. Unless I want a 3D display, but that would be eye-candy, not a necessary upgrade.