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Microsoft Claims it Killed the Start Button Because You Didn't Want it
- codgercoder 14y agoHow many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. Abraham Lincoln
- thedillio 14y agoNo, no, no Microsoft, the start button was fine. We just didn't want 7 ways to turn off the computer...
- Toshio 14y agoMany years ago, I rejected the start button and the OS surrounding it, and switched to Linux.
- nnnnni 14y agoI upvoted you, but you probably switched to KDE, GNOME, or some other WM/DE with a "Start Menu button" equivalent.
- ramibotros 14y agoSo brave.
- gouranga 14y agoI used both. RH5.2 had fvwm which had a start button as well back then. It's just a logical thing to do.
- Spooky23 14y agoI think that they're right on this one. Since Windows 7, I may have traversed the start menu a couple of times a month. I use pinned apps on the taskbar or Start menu front page for frequently accessed stuff, or use search. Keep in mind that for most users, they are not running many applications anymore.
- Zirro 14y agoThe issues are most likely to appear with users who go straight from Windows XP to 8. They are not familiar with the ability to search among applications and files, nor with the concept of pinning shortcuts to the taskbar. Considering the marketshare XP still has, and that these users are likely the ones most resistant to change, this may turn out to be one of the largest problems Microsoft will face with Windows 8. I am not saying that legacy-concepts should delay innovation, but it can't be denied that Windows has many users who aren't interested in learning new ways to work with their computer.
- esbwhat 14y agoxp had this concept too, it was just disabled by default. In fact, I remember it being enabled by default in windows 98. My memory may be tricking me.
- stan_rogers 14y agoXP had the Quick Launch bar, which I find a lot handier than pinned applications (they take up less room). I guess it depends on the user, but I operate wearing a lot of different hats (and, unfortunately, a lot of similarly-named applications), and the XP start menu is a lot handier for me than either Win7's version or the Win8 preview I tried. I know: that's "anecdote", not "data", but if anybody had bothered to ask me, they'd have a firm data point telling them that the lowest common denominator (no need to be pedantic, the phrase has acquired a different meaning outside of mathematics) should never be the only way. I can barely tolerate Win7 on a day when I'm feeling of a particularly generous spirit; I'll be giving Win8 a pass.
- mistercow 14y agoI have always enjoyed how Microsoft likes to adopt good features from other OSes and rename them. No no, you're not "adding apps to the dock", you're "pinning apps to the taskbar". This is definitely completely new and not in any way a case of Microsoft showing up at the party 10 years late.
- WayneDB 14y agoExcuse me, but Windows had a Taskbar before Apple had a Dock. Windows also had Quick Launch shortcuts before Apple had a Dock as well. So, Apple is the one who showed up late to that party. Furthermore, the Taskbar works nothing like the Dock and it looks nothing like the Dock.
- kolinko 14y agoI'm sorry, what? Next had a dock IIRC, and it was released before Win95.
- WayneDB 14y agoOh, so you think that Microsoft copied NeXTSTEP? An OS that practically nobody used at that time? Sorry, but you're assessment is clearly incorrect. First of all...the NeXT Dock was a simple launcher that showed you which program was running by altering the icon. The Taskbar works nothing like that. The Start button was Windows' simple launcher and the Taskbar originally showed one button per window. As a matter of fact, it still shows one task button per window if you want it to.
- Orf_ 14y agoI'm inclined to trust Microsoft with this one. They clearly have the data to back this choice up - why would they disable it if it was getting used? I personally use it a lot as a glorified run prompt (type program name in, press enter) but whatever, I can adapt.
- steverb 14y agoAs far as I can tell, that works exactly the same in Windows 8. Hit the win key, type the first few letters of a program name, hit enter.
- k33n 14y agoThey actually claimed nothing of the sort. That statement is a pretty liberal interpretation of what Microsoft said. Microsoft is simply saying that the Start Button in its current form was not compelling enough to provide any long term value to the user that they couldn't get by simply pinning things to the task bar. They evolved the Start Menu. They didn't kill it.
- falling 14y agoit became common, when companies design something the techies don't like instead of just sticking to what they are used to, to call it "they think they know what I want better than I do", forgetting that's the whole point of design.