Why Microsoft Killed the Windows Start Button 857
Barence writes "Microsoft claims it took the controversial decision to remove the Start button from the traditional Windows desktop because people had stopped using it. The lack of a Start button on the Windows 8 desktop has been one of the most divisive elements of the new user interface, and was widely assumed to have made way for the Metro Start screen. However, Chaitanya Sareen, principal program manager at Microsoft, said the telemetry gathered from Windows 7 convinced Microsoft to radically overhaul the Start menu because people were using the taskbar instead. 'When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar,' said Sareen. 'We are seeing people pin like crazy. And so we saw the Start menu usage dramatically dropping, and that gave us an option. We're saying "look, Start menu usage is dropping, what can we do about it? What can we do with the Start menu to revive it, to give it some new identity, give it some new power?"'"
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dont use it much (Score:5, Funny)
...OCD when it comes to having no icons on my desktop.
Optimally Clean Desktop syndrome?
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
The same idiots who like the ribbon.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:2, Funny)
Who the hell is their focus group? I've not met a single person who doesn't use the start button.
Now, you do: I've clicked the Start button in Windows 7 only twice in my life: the first time was to see what else is installed and the second one was only to remove entries from the frequently used programs list.
I attribute this to pinning, shortcuts, and putting every application and/or file on the desktop.
Turns signals 'never' used.... (Score:4, Funny)
...by my focus group, those drivers I observe leaving parking lots or changing lanes.
Let's get rid of them for ALL drivers!
Microsoft R&D has gone full retard. Seldom-used feature does not equate to NEVER used feature, nor does it equate to NOT NEEDED feature.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
Standard practice at is to collect this data methodically, efficiently and comprehensively then ignore it completely in favor of a powerpoint slide.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:1, Funny)
Scroll through hundreds of programs? What a waste of time.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
User pin apps launched by start button! (Score:5, Funny)
I think it is a great idea and we should use it in other situations too. Like the dinner table. The pasta spoon was used 4 times to serve pasta from the bowl to your plate. But the dinner fork was dipped into the plate 104 times. Pasta lost it 26 to 1. Let us eliminate pasta spoon from the table to improve efficiency.
The function int main(int argc, char **argv) was called just once. But the function int getc() was called 2.5 billion times. So to improve efficiency let us remove the main() program.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:1, Funny)
HUNDREDS? Christ man...
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
I spend more time using the ribbon than the old menus! That's good... right?
Yes; you have to remember that, the thing which makes Facebook superior to Google is that people go to Google, find an answer, achieve something and then go away satisfied. With Facebook they spend much longer on each page searching for something of value. In future the Ribbon will allow adverts to be mixed in between the indestinguishable wierd icons ensuring that the users click on them by accident whilst desperately searching for a function which they can't work out the proper location or representation of.
This; is the true future of Office365 (which will soon become the one true office as companies attempt to monetize their under-deployed personnel).
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
So true. The other day I was looking for the screenshot application. (Windows 7)
(As a side note, it isn't that useful, I usually press "Print Screen" and paste the image in a proper image editor.)
Anyway, I started typing:
screen, the relevant application didn't show up.
screenshot, nothing
cap, capture, nope
They called it Snipping Tool...
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
That sounds like something that would be used at a bris.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
Insightful comment from the FA. They are surveying the novice users not power users, hence they produced a Win8 interface for novices, not us:
Windows: Made for people who don't know what the hell they're doing, by people who don't know what the hell they're doing.