Microsoft Brings Back the Start Button in Windows 8.1

[ExodusNirvana]

When Microsoft introduced Windows 8 to the world, it removed perhaps the most familiar part of the Windows user interface: the Start button. In the wake of feedback from users, the company is reversing course on that move in Windows 8.1 and bringing back the Start button in the desktop environment.

While the change is a major one in terms of design and philosophy, it's functionally minor. In the desktop environment, users will see the Windows icon ever-present in the bottom left corner. Sliding the mouse cursor on it turns the black background of the icon purple, and clicking will bring the user to the modern UI (the old pop-up menu is still dead an buried).

In the current version of Windows 8, users don't see the Start icon until they navigate the mouse cursor to the corner. A few new users have been flummoxed by the change, unsure of how to return to the modern UI without the visual cue of an icon.

Besides bringing back the Start button, Microsoft is changing its design. In Windows 8, the icon that appears in the corner is an analog of the Start screen, but in Windows 8.1 it becomes the same angled Windows logo seen in the charms menu, the keyboard and other places.

The change was influenced by user feedback. Thanks to the built-in cloud connectivity in Windows 8, Microsoft has access to more data about how users use its core product than ever before.

In addition, many third parties such as Samsung and Pokki have introduced their own versions of the Start button since Windows 8 killed it, and they've been successful: Pokki's Start menu has been downloaded 3 million times, and the company says users open it 10 times a day on average.

Although the new Start button is a small change in function, it represents an acknowledgement from Microsoft that it's approach to the radical changes in Windows 8 could have been better handled. The Start screen in Windows 8 technically is the old Start menu, just expanded and enhanced, but losing the icon in desktop mode was clearly unsettling to some users.

Windows 8.1 also brings along a host of other changes, including enhanced search abilities, new sizes for live tiles and a "boot to desktop" option (browse the gallery below for a preview). Microsoft will fully preview it at the company's BUILD developers conference, and Windows 8 users will be able to download it as a free update before the end of the year.

http://mashable.com/2013/05/30/windows-8-1-start-button/#_

 

[Morph]

It's not that hard to figure out how to get to the desktop on Win8. It's annoying though, and I figure it's a hassle for small businesses running on XP or 7. Still, Win8 boots extremely quick, fastest boot I've ever seen.

 

[STAN JONES]

I've gotten used to it now

 

[winb83]

http://mashable.com/2013/05/30/windows-8-1-start-button/#_

i heard its not really the start button its a button that takes you to the metro screen.

really though i don't get why people care about the start button. at the metro screen all you gotta do is start typing and it brings up whatever program you're looking for within 3 or so keystrokes on a list.

without the start button i hit the windows key and hit pa and paint pops up that's it. with the start button i have to click start then hover over programs then move to accessories then find paint. its slower.

I've gotten used to it now

its better without the start button. if i wanna brink up itunes if i hit the windows key and just the key i its there to open. so much faster. the start button is like you know how to get somewhere one way and there's quicker ways to get there but you don't know the area just that path so you take it and go 5 miles outta the way to get to your destination.

 

[Liquid]

i heard its not really the start button its a button that takes you to the metro screen.

really though i don't get why people care about the start button. at the metro screen all you gotta do is start typing and it brings up whatever program you're looking for within 3 or so keystrokes on a list.

without the start button i hit the windows key and hit pa and paint pops up that's it. with the start button i have to click start then hover over programs then move to accessories then find paint. its slower.

its better without the start button. if i wanna brink up itunes if i hit the windows key and just the key i its there to open. so much faster. the start button is like you know how to get somewhere one way and there's quicker ways to get there but you don't know the area just that path so you take it and go 5 miles outta the way to get to your destination.

People hate change

 

[Rayzah]

People hate change

Naw man the change was stupid and unnecessary not to mention confusing. If you gonna take out the start button, then replace it with something BETTER not just different for the sake of saying its new. MS has no idea how to e user friendly and this change proves that

 

[winb83]

People hate change

there's plenty of things Microsoft tries to convince people that its better but its not (Bing vs Google) but getting rid of the start button was a good decision. what the replaced it with is way better.

 

[Ill-Mind]

Dumb change, it's fine just the way it is. Hope there's a way to remove it for those of us who's adjusted to the change

 

[winb83]

Naw man the change was stupid and unnecessary not to mention confusing. If you gonna take out the start button, then replace it with something BETTER not just different for the sake of saying its new. MS has no idea how to e user friendly and this change proves that

they replaced it with something better.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvnpCEI0-uk[/ame]

 

[Rayzah]

they replaced it with something better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvnpCEI0-uk

had you not showed me that i would have never figured it out.. thats what I mean by not user friendly, you have to learn how to use their products, and the average consumer will never think to figure that stuff out

 

[winb83]

had you not showed me that i would have never figured it out.. thats what I mean by not user friendly, you have to learn how to use their products, and the average consumer will never think to figure that stuff out

the start menu isn't really user friendly its an example of someone becoming attached to an inefficient method of doing something because its all they know.

that's not the only way to search its on the charms bar

its that the just start typing method is faster.

 

[mortuus est]

im still on windows 7, fuk 8

id rather use vista and xp

 

[CJ]

Damnit I finally got use to that shyt

 

[Fatboi1]

It ain't even that serious. Win 8 was stupid to me at first and I hated on it but after using it for a while, it clicked and everything was simple. If I, someone who actively shyts on anything Microsoft does says it's alright, then it's alright.

 

[MikelArteta]

eh im still on windows 7
dont care for 8