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Windows8 start button refresh / fail????

sswilson

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Microsoft hits restart button on Windows 8 - Technology & Science - CBC News


Users will also be able to ensure their favourite applications, including Word and Excel, appear in a horizontal task bar next to the Windows logo. But instead of a Start menu, the new Windows 8.1 will lean heavily on Microsoft's Bing search engine to help users find whatever it is they're looking for on their computers.

Seriously?????????

Have they listened to a single thing that their user base has said WRT wanting the start button back???? Having to search for obscure program names was one of the major issues pointed out WRT not having a start button for folks who use more than just a few programs....

All this appears to be is yet another attempt to shove bing search down our throats since they noticed we keep hiding it in the win7 optional updates window......

Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1

edit: I said it before, and apparently I need to say it again.... it's not the start button itself I want/need, it's the start button functionality.

I know analogies never get it right, but I'm going to try anywise......

Win8 without the start button is like an automobile manufacturer replacing the steering wheel with a voice recognition system...

Saying you're responding to folks who want the functionality back by putting a windows logo that leads to a search function into the location where the start button used to reside would be akin to that auto manu painting a picture of the steering wheel on the dash and moving the microphone into the center of it..... ;)
 
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frontier204

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To be fair it isn't just Microsoft changing the GUI every time they get a chance. Things like this make me want to take whichever user interfaces class these guys are basing their decisions off of - for amusement only of course!
Who's big idea was it that every single time you click something it gets fed to a search engine? On Windows 7 devices, the first thing I do in Windows Update is hide the Bing Desktop "update". I stopped using Unity desktop on Ubuntu when they decided to make one of the "lenses" on their menu auto-search on Amazon. I only use Google Chrome as a fall-back browser and interface to Google Apps because I don't want what I put into the address bar unnecessarily sent as a search. (Not for tinfoil hat, but just because it gives me useless garbage when I know exactly which web page I want to visit, e.g. a bookmark.)

Personally, I gave up looking for consistency in GUI a while ago. I guess I can thank video games for that - every game has a different UI, so I guess they're doing the same thing with apps and even OS interfaces. As long as I can figure out the series of button pushes / swipes / mouse clicks / taps / dance-in-front-of-camera to get to what I want I'm OK with it as long as it doesn't take more effort than the old way.

@sswilson - I'd be fine with the steering wheel being replaced with voice rec as long as the car drives itself and the manufacturer is responsible if I get delayed / injured / run over someone because I couldn't talk to the car the way the manufacturer wanted me to :p
 
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chubaka

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well, i use the search function even on w7.
Is not having the start menu that big of a deal breaker?
 

sswilson

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I'm at a loss as to why they even bothered unless they think their investors aren't smart enough to read online commentary.

Rather than react to user complaints they're poking at the open sore instead. Anybody who was anti win8 prior to this upcoming release will now be assured that Microsoft will not change direction on this until folks like Dell tell them that they're not even going to bother offering win8 unless users specifically ask for it.
well, i use the search function even on w7.
Is not having the start menu that big of a deal breaker?

For those of us who don't use the search function for anything other than bringing up cmd.exe, yes it's a complete deal breaker.
 

JD

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I would wait until we see it.

Really, I haven't missed the classic start menu at all (been using Windows 8 since launch). I pin my daily apps to my taskbar and the rest I pin to the "home" screen (aka start menu). I rarely ever go into the "all apps" section or search.

I do welcome that search now defaults to global system wide (like Windows 7) rather than having to chose between apps, files, settings. That I found the most annoying. Now I can go back to hitting WINKEY+couple letters of what I'm looking for, then hit enter.

I also welcome that it will boot to desktop by default without any 3rd party apps.

Really, the changes they are putting in resolve my minor annoyances I've had.
 

fortkentdad

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still getting used to Win8.
Really don't miss the Start Button - I too pinned my most used programs to the taskbar and frankly, 90% of the time I'm in desktop mode and have the programs I need as icons on the desktop.
I've overcome the annoying multi-step shut down with a gadget. One click shutdown.
My complaint is the incompatibility with older (even a couple of years older) games. Don't think that's going to change.
I also learned how to use the legacy boot menu rather than the graphic one in Win8, The Win8 one forces a complete reboot if you choose Win7 start up, the legacy one launches either program much faster - and comes up faster. Speed preferred to pretty screen any day.

Besides that, it's OK.
 

stlouis1

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i recently reinstalled windows 8 on my desktop again, lasted a little longer this time before I had to install a classic shell. I just can't do it. on a table, or media center, sure, but on my main system where I tile stuff across for monitors, that start screen hiding things all the time just bothers me. I had things neat and organized, and they had to f with me. Other than preferring the classic shell, the other enhancements I have no issues with.

I have 0 use for "apps" on a desktop though. Apps are for toys and children, I want programs, the rest can bugger off if you ask me

edit// the shutdown and reboot business too, had to make desktop icons for those because ctrl+alt+del and shutdown still takes to long even when compared to additional steps to shutdown from metro
 

lowfat

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Hopefully we will be able to still use a start menu override like Classic Shell still. Otherwise I won't install the update.
 

sswilson

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Hopefully we will be able to still use a start menu override like Classic Shell still. Otherwise I won't install the update.

We won't know for sure until it's released, but the initial reports suggest that it can be turned off so hopefully it won't break current start menu replacements. That said, those kinds of concerns are a very large part of the reason I'm not interested in moving to win8 + classic shell. Microsoft obviously doesn't want that kind of interface to take away from their app store, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them release "updates" that break them.

As far as just not installing the update goes... That would probably work for current win8 owners, but going forward it's incorporated into the new OS they're calling 8.1. .
 
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ShinraCorp

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Ok I'm not getting the hate on the missing start button. The only use I need for the start button is shutting down and open cmd in admin mode.

Now I don't have Windows 8 and have no plans to change soon. I can understand about the fact you start off at the Start Menu instead of Desktop, that I can get. But a start button? Not really.
 

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