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?"'"
stopped using it? (Score:5, Informative)
Who the hell is their focus group? I've not met a single person who doesn't use the start button.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod up the parent... I completely concur. Yes I pinned as well, but I did use the start menu to navigate the positions. But hey why do I matter and care. I shifted all of my machines to OSX, and Linux Ubuntu...
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I use the start button about once every 5 minutes. Since my desktop is completely-clean of any icons, the start button is the only method I have to open new programs. Microsoft is probably lying through their teeth about "people don't use it".
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Informative)
I find myself using the Search function in the Start menu more. Just type the first few letters of the program I want to open and BAM motherfuckers! It starts.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Interesting)
By far my favorite feature of Win7. Windows key -> type want I want to run (usually under 4 characters) -> Enter. Very efficient.
I know of no regular users that understand pinning. Myself, I only pin my email and web browsers (by far my most frequently used programs) and nothing else.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Informative)
Could work better... (Score:5, Informative)
In Windows 8, if I search for 'update', it prominently says "no results". Intuitively I think "oh it must not be there" not "oh I should look over at the right column and see there is a category that has more than '0' to find the results.
IIRC, Win7 will display all the results rather than forcing you to switch categories.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Informative)
I pin a bunch of stuff. I love that I can then use win-1, win-2, etc... to launch the pinned apps. The Windows 7 UI is one of the most keyboard friendly UI's I've used.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Informative)
If you have a VS Project you work constantly, you can pin it in the VS Pinned icon. If you have a folder you have to open constantly, you can pin it to the explorer pinned button.
Some other thing people don't know about those little icons, is that if you middle-click them, you create another instance of the application. Need 2 explorers to easily move files from one to other? Double middle-click on the explorer pinned icon, and boom.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Isn't that like the new feature of Ubuntu that everybody hates?
Yes, but some of us prefer to have a choice of where this application bar is. Personally, I like having my application bars horizontal and not vertical. This is a major reason why I don't like Unity.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Same here. I use pinning for about three or four icons at most; the stuff I open and close often.
Do they have a search&enter function in the metro interface?
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes. It is still just as easy as pressing the Windows key, then typing to start your search.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I use that, and pinning - so does a lot of the people I know. That said, everyone that I know of uses the All Programs menu to find things they don't often use or forgot the spelling for.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
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)
That sounds like something that would be used at a bris.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Informative)
Pinning means creating a program "shortcut" but instead of putting the shortcut on your desktop, you drag it to your taskbar on the bottom. I'm not sure why the MS employee said it's "new" to Seven? I thought that function has existed since XP.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Informative)
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right and there's also "Pin to Start Menu"
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Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Interesting)
The taskbar previews are pretty handy. Certainly better than flipping through a ton of screens like AmigaOS. I can minimize VLC Media Player to the taskbar and yet still pause/resume playback through the preview window.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Well, Maximizing every window isn't even a noob thing.. not a part of the whole stereotype.
In fact, I know lots of people including myself that do it to use the screen real estate. Alt-tab (or apple-tab) or switching screens is pretty simple.
Yes, I switch screens on my work Windows desktop. I was tired of being constrained to one screen, so I downloaded an open source app named VirtuaWin to have easily switchable virtual desktops.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Absolutely correct.
I support 120+ users. One thing I've noticed during our Windows 7 migration is that our staff do not use the start menu at all. The server places shortcuts for six or seven common use tools on users' desktops, and are shown how to pin apps to the taskbar.
The result I've noticed is that users have pinned office and internet apps used frequently to the taskbar, and use the icons on the desktop like they always have. I'd say about 5 users have seen the usefulness of the search feature on the Start menu. The other 115 don't use it.
The only time I've seen staff use the Start button here is to log off when they're done with the machine. If there was a button on the taskbar to do that, they'd never use the Start menu at all!
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Interesting)
I worry that, like fashion, it's just change for the sake of change. UI elements should be made visible (or made available as options) or hidden based on functionality. e.g.
No, you want the log off command buried in a secondary menu, not available on the regular desktop. Otherwise you'll get mad users complaining about how they were working on something important, accidentally clicked log off, and the computer dutifully shut down all their apps (before they could save) and kicked them off the system.
Some things you want hidden under multiple clicks, some things you want available as a single click. But if you have too many of the single-click things, the desktop can get cluttered and messy to navigate. It's all a balancing act.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Informative)
The only time I've seen staff use the Start button here is to log off when they're done with the machine. If there was a button on the taskbar to do that, they'd never use the Start menu at all!
In case you actually wanted to provide that, it's pretty easy to do.
Create a shortcut, and make the target:
C:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -L
Then you can change it's icon to a custom one, or just browse to \windows\system32\shell32.dll and pick the normal icon out of there.
The -L flag is log off. You also have -r to reboot and -s to shutdown.
Similarly, you can make a "lock terminal" icon too.
Create a shortcut and make the target:
C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Ironically, the last one there is very useful on application servers if you have any programs that run as servers but are not a real service.
I have one server scripted to auto login as administrator, and then a few shortcuts in the program menus "startup" folder, prefixed with numbers to provide an order.
The very last icon in the startup folder is named "9999-Lock" which is the above shortcut.
On boot up, the server auto logs in, runs the crap software, and locks the terminal. This all happens in a few seconds, so anyone local at the console would not have any chance to do much before it locked on them. You still need the password to unlock just the same as login, so its pretty secure if your servers are locked away in a server room.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a difference between knowing how to use it and not wanting to use it.
My coworkers generally don't like to use computers as it is, they only use it because their job requires it. Most just learn just enough to get the job done and don't care to put in effort to learn any more.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have less than a dozen applications that you use, and you use them all of the time, pinning to the taskbar is better. The icons will already be there since the applications will generally be open. Pinning them just becomes an improvement in consistancy. The start menu's benefit is in finding applications that you don't use daily, and you might not know the name of.
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When on XP I used this the most A better start menu with Quick Launch [johnbokma.com].
Besides Windows key + R.
But yeah, MS must be lying through their teeth because you use the start button about once every 5 minutes... Can't even imagine why people would do such a thing unless they get paid for doing so.
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So far as I can tell, we're having a 'Pharaoh tells the tide not to come in' situation here -> MS believes that because they are the most popular desktop / laptop OS, they can actually decide what the end-user will like; as opposed to the reality, which is that the end-user likes what MS has put out (on average), which is why they are the most popular desktop / laptop OS.
You see this kind of thing everywhere, like when an actor's / actresses's ego goes to their head (good roles help them become famous, t
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Probably not.
They probably took data from a large sample set without differentiating different types of users or types of use.
I'd bet that common behavior is for a user to pin the top five or six most used programs to the taskbar and then use them nearly every day w/o using the start menu that much on a regular basis. Thus automated measures would show what MS is claiming. However they only looked at what people where doing and at the numbers of how many times they were doing things not at why or how they
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
of course you use your pinned apps most of the time, that's why they're pinned.
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Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Insightful comment from the FA. They are surveying the novice users not power users, hence they produced a Win8 interface for novices, not us:
Flawed, like most surveys
"Weâ(TM)d seen the trend in Windows 7," referring to the telemetry gathered by the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program." ----- Well there we have it, all but the most basic users opt out of the intrusive MCEIP - so they are surveying people who don't even know what the Start Button is for - I kid you not. As a computer tech I see it all the time.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think they've thought this cunning plan all the way through.
To "pin" something you need to have access to it in the first place. Guess where most of the things you can "pin" are stored? Yup - the start menu.
The only way pinning can work well is if they reinvent the start menu, but disguise it as something else.
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.
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FTFY
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
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Sounds to me like Windows 8 will be the next Vista. Let's wait for Windows 9.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
The same idiots who like the ribbon.
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I actually love the ribbon. It makes complex features more accessible and provides a superior visual organization of features.
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Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Funny)
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:4, Insightful)
I actually love the ribbon. It makes complex features more accessible and provides a superior visual organization of features.
Assuming you already know where things are. If you are trying to do something new, you have the added step of trying to figure out what icon represents the task. Also somethings can be only done from the dialog boxes (accessed by clicking the lower right corner of individual panels inside the ribbon). Finally there is the Quick Access Toolbar, which mostly has things that didn't go onto the ribbon. It's placement on the title bar is annoying because by default I'm not going to be looking there.
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You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
Oh. The thing everyone and their brother is told to NEVER check!
No wonder they got such asinine and utterly useless feedback. Because the only people giving them feedback were morons.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
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:5, Insightful)
You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
Oh. The thing everyone and their brother is told to NEVER check!
No wonder they got such asinine and utterly useless feedback. Because the only people giving them feedback were morons.
What's all this hate about? The angriest people seem to be the ones who consciously refused to provide any meaningful feedback. They then spit venom when decisions are made without the input they refused to give. And on a product they're not even being forced to use.
Holy shit, people...
Telemetry show turn signal stalk is used less (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear Valued Customer,
On-Star telemetry shows you rarely use your turn signals when changing lanes and we're striving to "do something about it." We've also noticed you use your audio system menu controls frequently. Because of the audio controls' popularity in our usage statistics from participating customers, future models will eliminate the turn signal stalk in favor of a user-configurable option, allowing you to scroll a tiny screen and search through audio options while making lane changes. Note that you can now change the audio feedback from the traditional clicking relay sound of a turn signal to one of several pre-loaded "ringtones" just like your cell phone. Furthermore, for an additional fee, Microsoft now offers a "plus" package with many more audio themes for your turn-signal.
Thank you for participating in our telemetry feedback programs as we strive to constantly improve our products!
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. Win 95 start menu used all the vertical space available, and become larger and larger as you needed deeper menus.
Win 7 start menu puts everything into a small rectangle, where you can't see everything, must click on menus to see what is inside (compounded with the classical bad arrangement of menus in Windows, that's very bad), and nested menus have even less horizontal space because of identation and share the same vertical space with everything else.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides, the start button is still there, it's simply hidden under a hot corner. Move your mouse to the same place you would normally, and click as normally, and you still still perform the same action as in older versions of windows. Of course, the menu is replaced with the start screen, but that's another matter.
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I guess you haven't used the developer preview. It has a start button that activated the new start screen.
So (Start Button vs. Just a hot corner) and (Start Menu vs. new Start Screen) are completely different arguments and decisions. We are talking about the first here in this story. They could've easily replaced the Start button with the hot corner and kept the Win 7 start menu instead of the Metro Start screen.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree. I keep the top 5-7 pinned (Browser, Explorer, Winamp, Thunderbird, RDP, Visual Studio, SSMS) and then the rest of the stuff I don't need cluttering up my quicklaunch bar. The next top 10 are in the frequent list of my start menu. The rest I use so rarely that I'm ok hunting for.
I'd be ok with not having a start menu if there was a heirarchical way to organize the things that you don't use often... kind of like OH WAIT THAT'S THE START BUTTON! :)
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I could take the time to organize I suppose, but why bother when just typing the program name works fine.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
The Start menu was at least somewhat intuitive to find buried settings in Control Panel or seldom used programs.
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The Start menu was at least somewhat intuitive to find buried settings in Control Panel or seldom used programs.
And how is the new solution not? There is a new applications list for seldomly used programs. Maybe you're confused because the new start menu isn't supposed to just be a place for things you never use. That's kind of what this entire article is about; they're trying to turn it into something that you actually use instead of being a closet for all your old junk that you only look through when you need to find your tennis racket you haven't used in 3 years.
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Windows 8 has completely changed that, and I'm thankful. There is a separate, more useful screen for searching and accessing little used apps. Now the start screen
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Who the hell is their focus group? I've not met a single person who doesn't use the start button.
Marketing executives that are trying to compete with Apple by appearing hip and trendy, but instead fouling things up so bad they're going to need a backhoe instead of a shovel.
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Re:stopped using it? (Score:4, Insightful)
It is a misinterpretation of the data.
People pin the programs they use the most and in that way there is less start menu items being used total, but for infrequently used programs one usually accesses them via the start menu.
So basically Microsoft is saying that since you use certain programs 90+% of the time you don't need an easy way to access the ones you don't use on a regular basis. That is actually one of my main complaints in regards to using Linux so I think it is funny Microsoft is fucking this up in this way.
Microsoft could have came to the same conclusion if they were tracking how one uses Windows 95, but instead of it regarding pinning programs in Windows 95 you mainly used desktop items.
Re:stopped using it? (Score:5, Interesting)
True story: I support a couple hundred staff (small tech school), and by far the most common trouble call after deploying a new computer is "this computer doesn't have Outlook". The correct translation for this, in our case, is "Outlook isn't on my desktop, so it must not be installed".
How somebody can use a computer every day and not know how to use the start menu is a bit baffling to me. My best guess is that these people simply use a small subset of a computer's functionality, all of which somehow magically made its way to the desktop, quick launch or taskbar, as the case may be. This is the same demographic, by the way, that knows Internet Explorer simply as "The Internet".
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In Vista and Windows 7, they made the Start menu WORSE -- it doesn't seem to occur to them that this might be another big reason people are using it less. Recall, the old Start menu expanded out broadly with as many of your programs as possible; then they confined it to a tiny more finicky area where firstly it takes longer to appear, and secondly you have to work harder to scroll through the thing looking for your application.
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I thought the start menu got a lot better when they added the little text box there. Type in a few characters to filter everything out. Makes it more like the Awesomebar in Firefox.
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I guess I'm their focus group.
My Windows 7 taskbar is stuffed with 100+ icons and takes up half the available screen space.
The remaining taskbar space only allows me to open a couple of Windows. Luckily, scanning for the right meaningless miniature icon takes up half an hour, so I don't open a lot of Windows.
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They partially have a point. The programs that I use most often, I pin (and before that, made shortcuts in quicklaunch).
However, this does NOT mean I want less accessiblity to the programs that I do not use every time I log in to my computer. This is the same crap that the Gnome guys are pulling: Take something that is convenient and try to turn it into the ONLY way a thing can be done. WTF people? Where is the perspective? Why this single track mind thing? It is not MY fault that half of the planet is bare
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Oh, then you missed one of the best things about windows 7. You can press the windows key, type a bit of the name of the program or document you want, press enter, and it's ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD at finding the right thing. I pin my favorite things, firefox, windows explorer, visual studio, command shell, and can very easily get the rest when I want it.
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Frequency of use is not so relevant (Score:5, Insightful)
I hardly ever use my car's emergency brake; but it had damned well better be there, and I expect it to be in the usual spot, like on the floor next to the shifter or high up on the (older American cars). It doesn't belong on the ceiling.
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So Microsoft turned it into an easter egg? I honestly didn't know that clicking empty/unmarked space in the lower-left corner of the screen will bring up a start menu.
PS: If that's the case, UI design just went down the toilet. Yay? :/
Taskbar is Great for Grandma. (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't mind windows 8 too much. I don't run any metro apps and so the only real difference I notice with 8 is the start menu is full screen and I have to hit the windows key to get there. They do need some better management tools for it. I somehow ended up with 30 extra tiles and the only way I could figure out how to get rid of them was to do them 1 at a time.
There is a real problem though if you do accidentally open a metro app. There's no obvious way to close it. I had to google it to find out how. That is completely unintuitive.
Why do users pin? (Score:5, Insightful)
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This. The start menu in Win7 is borken compared to everything since Windows 3.
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The folders could make sense -- it even appears they attempted that at the start, with "Accessories", "Games", and "Startup". But then presumably due to a default setting of an install tool, or perhaps just adopted convention, companies started using their names for the folders. Instead of "Internet" or "Web Browsers", you get "Mozilla". Instead of "Office and Productivity" you get "Microsoft Office".
The experience on most Linux desktops shows how much better this approach is. You don't need to remember the
pinning [applications] on the taskbar (Score:3, Insightful)
Kinda like the Mac's dock I suppose. Only problem is I have 200+ programs. I can't pin them all to the taskbar; the start menu is still needed. (Also do PEOPLE pin their apps, or was it the annoying install programs doing it automatically? It seems every one of them does it, not me.)
QUOTE: "Sareen also claims that people are taking advantage of keyboard shortcuts to open applications, instead of resorting to the Start menu." ----- That would be fine if my keyboard was not laying on the floor, because I wasn't using it. We still need a mouse-based method to open our programs.
We've screwed ourselves (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone with a hint of savvy probably turned off the reporting to the 'Consumer Experience' team at Microsoft. The ones who didn't are the morons who have 3000 icons on their desktops. We've done this to ourselves.
Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
"People were happy with the Apple menu through Mac OS 9 but now that they're using Mac OS X, they prefer to use the dock, and the Apple menu no longer works as an application launcher. So now we're going to have our users use the dock too. Oops, I mean the start menu and the taskbar! Forget what I said about that fruit company's name and the nautical term."
Re:Translation (Score:5, Informative)
The worst part: Apple users don't like to admit that it's a real pain in the ass to launch an app on Mac OSX that is not docked, but the dock has limited space so you can't put everything there. Spotlight works if you can remember the name, but otherwise you're scouring the applications directory (which is usually a terrible mess) looking for that icon.
You just put the applications folder into the dock. Click on it, and all the apps are there. Well, that's the old fashioned method. The new one is to click on Launchpad. The folder method has the advantage that you can make a folder, put aliases to all the second-most-useful apps in there, and put that folder into the Dock.
But what you really do is to use Spotlight.
Common use (Score:3)
Well, duh. I pin the (relatively) small selection of programs I use regularly. I pin the most common couple to the taskbar, because space there is really limited. The majority of the ones I pin get pinned to the more spacious start menu, or get put as icons on the desktop. The start menu itself, the full one, is for the programs that're installed but that I don't use constantly. I want them accessible because I do use them, just not every day. Take away the start menu and now I have to find somewhere to hold the icons for the hundred-plus programs I need access to that I'm not using every day (or even every month for that matter). So, Microsoft, if you're going to remove the start menu, what are you replacing it with that serves the same purpose? And if you aren't, why should I bother upgrading to something that makes life harder for me until I have software I have to use that absolutely won't run on what I've got working now?
i use the start button constantly (Score:3)
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.
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I feel I should add to this with something more substantive - Windows 7 and Vista "removed" the QukcStart bar; it still exists, but you have to use some magic incantations to get it back. I use that for 80% of my "most used apps" - 20% of my most used apps are pinned. The remainder are easily accessible through my Start Menu, organized into program groups. Of COURSE I rarely use my Start Menu, but the fact remains that I DO USE IT.
Likewise, I don't keep all of my summer and winter clothes scattered across m
I use the Start Button all the time (Score:3)
Among other things, I use it when I shutdown at the end of the day.
Why pinning sucks (Score:4, Interesting)
With quicklaunch items the icons stay in the same position until you make a change. This allows you to quickly find the icon since you know exactly where it will be.
When something is pinned to the taskbar, if it isn't the first icon and you have a variable number of intervening programs running, each of which has a variable number of windows open, then the icon could be anywhere and you have to look for it.
Then again, this analysis is premised on having the taskbar configured to show a button for each window that's open... because I'm not an asshole that has 50 windows open at a time AND I like being able to access a particular window without having a magical mystery list pop up...
Ugh... I'm just glad I know enough about computers to use an operating system where I have real meaningful choices when it comes to my desktop environment.
Grandma using Windows 8 for the first time [youtube.com]
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.
Hey, Microsoft! Listen up! (Score:4, Insightful)
You know what would be great? If you designed your UI so that we had a CHOICE about whether to adopt your latest "great idea", or just keep using the system we've grown used to. You know...the way we're most productive?
Welcome to OS X ca. 2001 (Score:4, Insightful)
"When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar.
Windows 7 is the first MS OS I like for this exact reason. Too bad it took 10 years to copy OS X.
Try using Windows 8 in a Virtual Machine. (Score:5, Interesting)
Try using Windows 8 in a Virtual Machine. Moving the mouse into the lower left corner is impossible when doing so moves the mouse out of the vm window. Added bonus: My keyboard lacks a Windows Button.
Lets just say it's more than a minor annoyance.
Bastards (Score:3)
How about completely overhauling the desktop? (Score:3)
Instead of making it a canvas for your cute puppy pics, it should be a giant frequency display. If 95% of my time is spend on Visual Studio or the browser, shouldn't there be proportionally-sized startup icons for those apps. Shouldn't utility information like time, date, calendar, and performance metrics be front-and-center?
Instead, when I start up my machine I'm staring at a bunch of tiny icons and a background I see for split seconds at a time since I'm going to be hopping straight into an app anyway.
Re:Dont use it much (Score:5, Funny)
...OCD when it comes to having no icons on my desktop.
Optimally Clean Desktop syndrome?