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Some fresh screenshots shared online of one of the latest builds of Windows 8 (8220) give one significant point of interest and difference in relation to past builds; that being in the way of our beloved Start Menu that has only had subtle changes over many years of Windows releases. It looks as though (at least by default) that Microsoft is planning to do away with the Start orb altogether, as you can see from the screenshot below :-
We've known for a long time that Windows 8 will bring some bold, highly distinctive changes and additions with it mostly in the way of its touchscreen friendly Metro UI, but saying goodbye to our beloved Orb altogether is something many of us wouldn't have been expecting. Supposedly it is Microsoft's intent to make the taskbar (or what is now being more commonly referred to as the “Dock Bar”) more or less a launchpad for all your commonly accessed apps in Desktop mode, saving you the need to switch to Metro.
And how to switch to Metro with the Orb gone? Well, apparently it's going to be a matter of just placing your mouse in that far left bottom corner where the Orb will then come into view in order to initiate the charm bar. It's hard to say how fluent and streamlined this will all be when Microsoft polishes things off and hands it to consumers that are so used to a different means of interaction, but either way it would be nice if we have the ability to revert to the old functionality that everyone's become so accustomed to over the years if this start button-less task bar arrangement can't be gotten used to.
KitGuru says: A case of too many drastic changes too soon? – Can you live without the Start Menu? Comment below.
Hm. Let’s see.
Windows Metro offers me;
– The chance to spend several hundred Dollars getting myself a Touch Screen.
– The chance to NOT get DirectX 12
– The chance to lose my Start Menu + Windows Lobo Orb Thingy.
– The chance to get more Ribbon UIs (cause we can’t get enough of those, right?)
– The chance to give more money to Aspirin Companies when I get Headaches from having my brand new Triple-Digit Touch Screen on a Slant so I can actually touch it (think of how you handle a Tablet, but MUCH bigger, and a LOT less Mobile)
– The chance to give Microsoft another 250$ for a Mobile Touch OS
Yeah…. Now I have no doubt I’ll be passing on this. Not that I had any before anyway. Microsoft seriously needs to stop doing the Apple thing, on a scale which totally fails. Apple brought parts of their iOS over to the OS X, Microsoft figured they should jump right over the curve and bring the entire thing to the Desktop. Yeah, nice move. I’ll be waiting for Windows 9, or whatever it’ll be called.
The start menu is a poorly designed mess and should have been over-hauled drastically when Vista came out. But the idea since I can’t put all 150 or so programs I have installed in the task bar…
Why do I expect another spectacular own-goal? The Windows 7 make over was an unbelievably badly botched job that looked like it had been half thought-out in 2008 and never refined, this will be another cobbling together with no unified thought.
Shame.
I will wait for Windows 9
I am actually looking forward to this. Not only has the Mac OS X Lion improved leaps in terms of gui over windows but really its just fluid. Compared to that Windows 7 start menu is and always has been an utter mess. I hope this overhaul works out in a good way.