Windows 8.1 set to bring back the Start button
Microsoft is preparing to revive the traditional Start button it killed with Windows 8. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans have revealed to The Verge that Windows 8.1 will include the return of the Start button. We understand that the button will act as a method to simply access the Start Screen, and will not include the traditional Start Menu. The button is said to look near-identical to the existing Windows flag used in the Charm bar.
Feels like a concession.
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A refresh of “Start Menu” dynamics: Microsoft’s upcoming refresh of Windows is a bold reboot of an OS way-better known for its incremental updates. WIth an interface that’s closer to Windows Phone 7 than anything that the desktop OS has done, the GUI appears to be touch-first, mouse-second, but done in such a way that doesn’t necessarily turn off the mouse crowd. Honestly, this is the most-impressive GUI we’ve ever seen from Microsoft, if for no other reason than that most of their operating systems have been terrible, in our humble opinion. The ball’s in your court, Steve Jobs — whaddya got for us at WWDC? source
» Then again, a lot has: The computer industry has evolved away from Microsoft’s model while still remaining tightly attached to it. With the growth of tablets and mobile phones (two markets where Microsoft simply struggles to stay afloat), and the evolution of open-source and Web apps into methods that get around Microsoft’s dominance, in many ways the company is weaker, even if we mostly still use Windows, even though OSX is probably better. Also, we think Google’s Chromebooks could chip into Microsoft’s market share in short order. None of these things are the Justice Department’s doing, though. The tech industry, instead, worked around Microsoft.
Complexity kills. Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration.Departing Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie • In a “post-apocalyptic” memo he released recently to Microsoft employees. What’s interesting about the memo is that it barely even mentions Windows, but instead emphasizes that Microsoft needs to change its overall approach to cheap, easy-to-use devices if it wants to stay in the game. In fact, in a tag cloud someone did of the memo, the top two words were “devices” and “services,” two things that other companies do much better than Microsoft right now. source (via)
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