Start Menu will reportedly return to Windows 8.1 this fall

At BUILD 2014, Microsoft surprised many by showing off a Start menu that will be making its way back into Windows. After Windows 8 debuted without the iconic feature, there was a great deal of negative feedback, and along with numerous other contentious issues surrounding the OS, it eventually lead to the departure of Steven Sinofsky.

But with Windows 8.1 and its first major update, Microsoft has been slowly re-introducing classic features and has made a commitment to making the OS more mouse- and keyboard-friendly.

Ever since the Start menu was shown off, everyone has been wondering when we will see it return to the OS and, according to Wzor, the answer will be this fall.

Read more at: The Start Menu will reportedly return to Windows this fall - Neowin

[tweet]458321397626847232[/tweet]

 

[Rickkins]

~sigh~

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

If you run Windows 8.1 as a GUEST Machine (as a Virtual Machine) in Unity mode you actually have a decent menu system already

The Metro apps are listed in the drop down as shown in the screenshot at the lower end of the list. (I'm running W8.1 update 1 as a VM on OPENSUSE Linux 13.1 with in this case a KDE desktop - but you can use GNOME, LXDE or whatever your desktop GUI choice is).

The Metro apps run as they are supposed to - and you cam still send these to the background as the UNITY menu is still accessible (for running "Normal" or "Metro" apps). Unity menu can be hidden / re-accessed via pinning / unpinning it or move cursor to top left of screen if you want total full screen app.

screenshots enc

This actually makes the whole Metro system much better than in "Native Windows" i.e Windows NOT running as a VM

If you don't want to pay for VMWARE WORKSTATION it works just as well with VMware player --FREE but download the latest version

In theory should work with VBOX too but haven't tried. Used VMWARE for too many years to change now and VMware has always worked for me.

There's only one niggle -- the Store app starts all by itself -- simply close the wretched thing down.(just close item on task bar at bottom of screen)


(Added Sport screenshot in next post instead of the News shot)

Cheers
jimbo

 

[jimbo45]

Hi @Brink

Wasn't intended to convey any politics -- was just showing Metro function

I'll choose another image (sport app - that should be OK)

You can run several of these concurrently which actually makes them useful --especially if you have a multi-monitor setup.

see next post

Cheers
jimbo

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
3rd screenshot -- two metro apps running together with Desktop mode

sport and finance apps running

Had to do it in 3 posts because of screen image size upload limits.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Banzi]

Being honest I not really a fan of Metro apps & the start screen, I personally would like the start menu back only if if doesn't have the live tiles as shown in the MS mock up image or at least have the option to remove them & just have the standard start menu.

MS should have given users the choice of either start menu or start screen right from the start, if they had done that then there would have been a lot less hate for Win 8x.

 

[Rickkins]

I can't help the feeling I get when I see the start menu with those darned metro apps included... I get the sense that yet again they are trying some sleight of hand to con us all.

It's like despite the disastrous fiasco that was win 8, they haven't learned a damn thing.

 

[Banzi]

Yeah I get that feeling as well, it almost like MS are saying here is the damn start button button back but just to wind you up it will take you to the start screen & here is the damn start menu back but with added tiles

I know some like metro & the start screen but many more don't like it like myself but at least they added options to bypass it & boot right to the desktop.

Maybe if we get enough folk with burning torches & pitchforks they will bring back aero

 

[Allison]

Yeah I get that feeling as well, it almost like MS are saying here is the damn start button button back but just to wind you up it will take you to the start screen & here is the damn start menu back but with added tiles

I know some like metro & the start screen but many more don't like it like myself but at least they added options to bypass it & boot right to the desktop.

Maybe if we get enough folk with burning torches & pitchforks they will bring back aero

Unlike the Start Screen versus Menu fiasco I doubt you'd find too many people complaining. Besides, I think there's still some kind of Aero presence in Windows 8/8.1- it just doesn't resource drain as heavily on weaker systems.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

The Start Menu is archaic as is the desktop. The new system is much quicker and safer.

http://www.eightforums.com/customization/43655-post-your-desktop-2.html#post373089

Big change ahead

 

[jimbo45]

The Start Menu is archaic as is the desktop. The new system is much quicker and safer.

http://www.eightforums.com/customization/43655-post-your-desktop-2.html#post373089

Big change ahead

Hi there

Not Always !!! Sometimes a properly constructed customizeable (and above all CASCADING) Menu is still the quickest way to access apps -- the Tile system fails quite obviously when you have say Program X with a lot of sub programs and sub sub programs and sub sub sub programs etc which are not necessarily in any sort of alphabetical order) nor could they be.

The tile system works best for SIMPLE application geared to a SINGLE task and also when you don't have too many applications == it's also passable for touch devices.

The desktop itself is certainly NOT archaic - certainly not if you are into any sort of Engineering design / research etc - and millions more obvious applications like that too. Even architecture where you want to explode several parts of a drawing, rotate some etc etc. desktop works best where you need to do a significant amount of multi-tasking.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Lee]

The one argument you will not get from me is the need for the desktop. As for the modern apps there are none out there that can compete with the likes of AutoDesk CAD, Quicken, Adobe Photoshop CS 6, Adobe Audition CS 5.5. . . .I could go on when it comes to certain applications that just work better as a desktop program. Until developers come up with better programing for modern apps the desktop will never go away. As a part time (to old for full time) book editor the modern apps along with Linux and OS X there will never be anything out there that can beat Word 2013 and its editing abilities. . .period (oh, and the publishing companies give me Office 2013 for free.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Forget Windows 8 > A disaster. Windows 8.1 Pro:

I beg to differ and one can find something with less clicks and time in most cases. Start Screen did not replace the Start Menu or cascading menu > All Apps did. Although different in size, it follows the same principles as the Start Menu did, but in a linear motion. E.g. Scrolling left to right just as we read any script. (I realize some languages are inverse)

It surely is in alphabetical order in the “By name” and the “Category” categories as seen below to clear up that false info. The categories to search by are:



It’s been a while since I used the Start Menu, so bear with me. If I remember correctly one could configure the Start Menu to show recent, which is the “Most used” category of All Apps. Newly installed programs folder would show as new for a time, which is “By date installed” category. “By category”-wise the Start Menu was left and right with programs in the left column and admin/system tools in the right column.

Let’s say I want to find a program of the Office Pro 2013 suite. I’ll show “By categories” with semantic zoom first:



Press/Enter that category of Office and it automatically scrolls to this, or simply scroll to it without semantic zoom. Notice everything is in alphabetical order.



I won’t get into the archaic desktop system, but they do have OneNote written in Modern/Metro finished and in the Store. Try it. Once they are finished with the rest of the Office apps they will be available there as well. When enterprise learns about side loading custom-tailored apps to fit their business we be seeing less of desktop applications and then eventually no desktop app/portal at all. They’ll eventually work out the multi-windowing. 10 to 15 years from now we won’t see too many mice and less keyboards, for it will be touch/pen and voice-to-text systems.

Any architectural and engineering firms have at least 2, if not 3 monitors at every work station. A definite must have to get any decent amount of work completed. A lot are switching to a flat or slightly tilted large touch/pen monitors for designing. I can envision MS writing a CAD program in Modern/Metro to compete with the likes of AutoCad and others.

 

[musiclover7]

All apps is terrible hippie.. Are they in alphabetical order? Yes, but the start over again mid menu, so it literally goes A to Z 2x, which is just stupid. There is no rhyme or reason that I could discover regarding why an app would end up in the first group or the second. Finding anything therefore takes TIME. It was so much easier before, and still is with classic shell, with the concise, all programs view of the start menu. All apps still remains, utterly un-intuitive.

 

[alphanumeric]

All apps is terrible hippie.. Are they in alphabetical order? Yes, but the start over again mid menu, so it literally goes A to Z 2x, which is just stupid. There is no rhyme or reason that I could discover regarding why an app would end up in the first group or the second. Finding anything therefore takes TIME. It was so much easier before, and still is with classic shell, with the concise, all programs view of the start menu. All apps still remains, utterly un-intuitive.

The first A to Z is Metro Apps, the second A to Z is desktop programs. At least on my system it is. I prefer to sort by Category. The quick way to find something is to just start typing its name while on the Start Screen or All Apps Screen.

 

[Rickkins]

I beg to differ ~snip~

You do get that it's not that we can't figure it out... but rather we just don't like it, right mate../???

 

[mdmd]

... There is no rhyme or reason that I could discover regarding why an app would end up in the first group or the second...

@ musiclover7 Hello. The metro menu uses the same folder structure from explorer.exe as the classic shell.
The only difference is no nesting.

All listings in the metro menu are just shortcuts as in the classic shell.

The first group consists of shortcuts listed in the start menu folder and would include shortcuts to metro apps ...



App shortcuts are added to the apps view here and listed in the first group ...





The second group consists of the programs folder or all programs as in the classic shell.

 

[musiclover7]

Wrong.. Many non metro apps appear in the first list.. So that is not true at all..

 

[mdmd]

Many non metro apps appear in the first list ...

True. Who are you referring to? (not me?) ok. thanks. The reference to "apps" is a metaphor to a shortcut listing. An app can be anything from a text document or pdf, a URL, a folder, to a desktop music or paint program. It depends on what exists in the start menu folder. If the sort is by name, it works as described according to folder organization.

The confusion is clear when an app is not understood to be just a shortcut.
It also becomes more confusing when the term program is compared to app.
In Windows 8, an App is not specific to the metro interface only i.e. > the desktop ###

The new proposed start menu would not work for me as I have about 200 shortcuts pasted.

 

[alphanumeric]

I stand corrected, the first group looks to be what is pinned to the main Start menu and the rest are in the second group. That is if you have it set to sort "by Name" If I set it to sort by category though, all I see in what looks like the first group are Metro Apps. I use by category so that's why I thought it was just metro Apps. That's all I saw. Taking another look though I see "Desktop" is a category so I just wasn't looking close enough. My apologies.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

I beg to differ ~snip~

You do get that it's not that we can't figure it out... but rather we just don't like it, right mate../???

The brains to learn it is one thing, but to use it on a daily basis over a good period of time to really get to know the system and what one can do with it is another.

The tile system works best for SIMPLE application geared to a SINGLE task and also when you don't have too many applications == it's also passable for touch devices.

My hat off to users like Jim who at least gives credit to 8.1 for the option to boot to desktop and/or use All Apps instead of Start Screen, but I think some have not investigated all the other changes made in 8.1. That’s why I stated to forget 8. It was a Sinofski disaster. Changes to All Apps is only one of the changes. There are many. I know Jim likes his cascading menus and has designated a thread and some posts on it, but when someone makes a statement like this it is guaranteed that it will get a counter opinion as you can see. That’s all these are on both sides > Opinions. Until someone shows me results from an in-depth study on one system vs the other then I’ll change my mind, otherwise I will state my opinion.

So far as I see today this continues to be called Windows Eight Forums and to support Windows 8, 8.1, WP8, and soon to be WP8.1. Not Windows Seven, Linux, OSX, or what have you, but if it weren’t for the name I think someone looking in on some of these threads would begin to wonder what this forum is really all about.