Start button officially back in Windows 8.1

After a lot of complaints – Microsoft have decided to bring back the Start Button in the Windows ‘Blue' update. Microsoft finally announced that the much discussed menu system will make a reappearance in Windows 8, in Version 8.1.

Antoine Leblond, the corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, delivered the news in a May 30th Blogging Windows post. “We've improved the way you navigate to Start with the mouse by changing the Start ‘tip' to be the familiar Windows logo.”

“The new tip appears anytime you move the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, and is always visible on the taskbar when on the desktop. There are also options to change what the corners do, and options to boot into alternate screens.”

The removal of the Start Menu split opinion amongst the end users. It was a feature Microsoft used since Windows 95 – and they suddenly decided that the end user didn't really need it. more than a decade later.

Microsoft are trying to defend the decision. Marina Dukhon, a senior program manager lead on Windows Core Experience team has previously said “We know major changes like this can be controversial and we are looking forward to continuing this dialog with you. I wanted to address some of the specific topics that have been brought up so far as they pertain to the design. In Windows 8 we assume that there are even more apps (and sites) than the XP/Vista/7 eras and so we needed even more scale. We also wanted to provide an at-a-glance view and a navigation model that requires much less dexterity.”

The company have been dealing with a lot of negative feedback over the months since Windows 8 was released and have finally bowed into the pressure. LeBlond said Microsoft do recognise that “there are many non-touch devices in use today—especially in the commercial setting. As such we've focused on a number of improvements to ensure easier navigation for people using a mouse and keyboard.”

Kitguru says: A move that will be set to appeal to many users, but will it be enough to get those still using Windows 7 to move?

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