View Full Version : Future Windows 8.1 Update Will Finally Bring Back the Start Menu in Combo Form



Bunty
04-03-2014, 01:57 AM
But won't be included in Tuesday's 8.1 tweaking update.

Future Windows 8.1 update will finally bring back the Start menu | Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/future-windows-8-1-update-will-finally-bring-back-the-start-menu/)

bchris02
04-03-2014, 08:46 AM
I had to check the date to make sure this article wasn't published on April 1st. This is awesome though. Windows 8 isn't a bad operating system other than it forces full-screen metro and tiles. I will likely make the jump from 7 once this update is released.

David
04-03-2014, 12:02 PM
Well now, that resolves any worries I had about 8 eventually being forced on me at work.

bluedogok
04-03-2014, 12:27 PM
The biggest problem that I have had with Win 8/8.1 is the way it has obsoleted some hardware, software and peripherals. My scanner no longer works on the one computer with W8, the media player I used for DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD discs had to be updated and no longer has HD-DVD support even though the hardware does. Those are the main things and some other annoying "features". I will probably not upgrade any of our other computers until I absolutely have to.

You can even buy HP computers now preloaded with Win 7 again.

SoonerDave
04-03-2014, 01:55 PM
The biggest problem that I have had with Win 8/8.1 is the way it has obsoleted some hardware, software and peripherals. My scanner no longer works on the one computer with W8, the media player I used for DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD discs had to be updated and no longer has HD-DVD support even though the hardware does. Those are the main things and some other annoying "features". I will probably not upgrade any of our other computers until I absolutely have to.

You can even buy HP computers now preloaded with Win 7 again.

Strongly suspect this was the driver behind this decision. You can tolerate gripes from users and tech nerds like me, but when your resellers and big corporate customers start saying, "Uhm....no thanks..." it starts to affect their bottom line, too, and there have been a few commentaries suggesting that if PC sales are down in general, Win8 put a lead anchor on them. Fed up enough not to care anymore, I think HP basically thumbed its nose at MS and said "We're doing this, and you'll have to (very publicly) stop us to keep us from doing it." They knew MS wouldn't stop 'em. Dell will still offer the option of installing Win 7 on most (but not all) of its offerings right now, too.

MS would really like to paint Win8 as a bit of an inevitability, but even I was stunned to read the other day that even now, Win 8 market penetration is estimated at maybe 5%. Win7 is just under 50%, and old, rickety, XP was somewhere still in the high 30's/low 40's.

mkjeeves
04-03-2014, 02:00 PM
Dell is shipping some windows 7 machines too.

bchris02
04-03-2014, 02:20 PM
In 2014, Microsoft can no longer afford to keep releasing garbage every other version. It's like they learned nothing from Vista. They should either go to an OSX model and release small, incremental updates annually or bi-anually without fail. If they don't want to do that, they should wait LONGER between versions so they can make sure they get it right out the door. 7 was what Vista should have been three years too late. It sounds like 8.1 Update 2 will be what 8 should have been, of course 2-3 years too late.

SoonerDave
04-03-2014, 02:28 PM
In 2014, Microsoft can no longer afford to keep releasing garbage every other version. It's like they learned nothing from Vista. They should either go to an OSX model and release small, incremental updates annually or bi-anually without fail. If they don't want to do that, they should wait LONGER between versions so they can make sure they get it right out the door. 7 was what Vista should have been three years too late. It sounds like 8.1 Update 2 will be what 8 should have been, of course 2-3 years too late.

Have read in a couple of trade rags (well, these days, mostly web sites and blogs LOL) that, internally, MS has "written off" Win8 as a failure, that their own internal marketing and reseller research indicates the "brand name" of Windows 8 is now so thoroughly damaged in the marketplace that it can't be rehabilitated, so they're now just trying to move on to their Next Big Thing - which is at the moment named Windows Blue.

bchris02
04-03-2014, 02:33 PM
Have read in a couple of trade rags (well, these days, mostly web sites and blogs LOL) that, internally, MS has "written off" Win8 as a failure, that their own internal marketing and reseller research indicates the "brand name" of Windows 8 is now so thoroughly damaged in the marketplace that it can't be rehabilitated, so they're now just trying to move on to their Next Big Thing - which is at the moment named Windows Blue.

Windows Blue was 8.1. Windows 9 is codenamed "Threshold" and is their next big thing.

SoonerDave
04-03-2014, 04:50 PM
Windows Blue was 8.1. Windows 9 is codenamed "Threshold" and is their next big thing.

Yikes. I slipped a cog on the update cycles :) Was really thinking Blue had been reserved for the next major OS release. *sigh*.

Snowman
04-04-2014, 01:45 AM
Yikes. I slipped a cog on the update cycles :) Was really thinking Blue had been reserved for the next major OS release. *sigh*.

They run through enough codenames it can be a pain, it does not help that for a while the codename was know but for some reason they did not want to say if it was for 9 or 8.1

mkjeeves
04-04-2014, 07:19 AM
I need to order a couple of machines to replace old XP pro systems at work. I'm torn between ordering Dell 7's or 8's. (The XPs were Dell rollbacks from Vista when we bought them.) We have an 8 machine at home that's tolerable for what little I've used it thus far, so I'm leaning towards going that way and hoping for the best in 8.1 and beyond. I think that might be better than me learning the ropes with both 7, 8 and whatever updates happen in the near future to the machine I already have.

bchris02
04-04-2014, 08:07 AM
Vista-era XP downgrades are a huge reason why there is so much XP still out there right now. Its doubtful very many businesses are still reliant on first-generation XP machines from 2001. We will be going through this same thing again in six years when Windows 7 reaches end of support especially being that so many people are opting for 7 over 8 (and I don't blame them). This is yet another reason why Microsoft MUST get away from the trend of every other release being good and start making every release a good update. This is terrible for both Microsoft and the business economy in general.

MadMonk
04-04-2014, 09:26 AM
I can definitely say that the start button addition to the R2 version of Server 2012 is a nice improvement. I'm positive that the desktop OS will benefit from this returning as well. This article points out that Windows Store apps will run in a window now; and they are also making the OS available for free for makers of tablets less than 9".
Microsoft Bringing Back Start Menu, Making Windows Free (http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-bringing-back-start-menu-181904123.html)

bluedogok
04-04-2014, 12:05 PM
Strongly suspect this was the driver behind this decision. You can tolerate gripes from users and tech nerds like me, but when your resellers and big corporate customers start saying, "Uhm....no thanks..." it starts to affect their bottom line, too, and there have been a few commentaries suggesting that if PC sales are down in general, Win8 put a lead anchor on them. Fed up enough not to care anymore, I think HP basically thumbed its nose at MS and said "We're doing this, and you'll have to (very publicly) stop us to keep us from doing it." They knew MS wouldn't stop 'em. Dell will still offer the option of installing Win 7 on most (but not all) of its offerings right now, too.

MS would really like to paint Win8 as a bit of an inevitability, but even I was stunned to read the other day that even now, Win 8 market penetration is estimated at maybe 5%. Win7 is just under 50%, and old, rickety, XP was somewhere still in the high 30's/low 40's.
I did some work in Austin with BOXX Technologies (http://www.boxxtech.com/) (they specialize in higher end computers for rendering, film editing and special F/X), we did some Revit videos for them. In fact our video is still on their YouTube channel. The last time that I checked they still didn't offer to Win8, pretty much on Win7 exclusively.

bchris02
04-04-2014, 12:53 PM
I can definitely say that the start button addition to the R2 version of Server 2012 is a nice improvement. I'm positive that the desktop OS will benefit from this returning as well. This article points out that Windows Store apps will run in a window now; and they are also making the OS available for free for makers of tablets less than 9".
Microsoft Bringing Back Start Menu, Making Windows Free (http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-bringing-back-start-menu-181904123.html)

Hopefully this update comes to Server 2012 also. As bad as metro is on the desktop, its even worse on the server when you are accessing it through a remote session 90% of the time.

venture
04-04-2014, 02:07 PM
Hopefully this update comes to Server 2012 also. As bad as metro is on the desktop, its even worse on the server when you are accessing it through a remote session 90% of the time.

Now now... It are a while new experience to remoting in. One that usually ends with some words and a drink.

CuatrodeMayo
04-04-2014, 02:35 PM
Sounds like you've had one...

bluedogok
04-04-2014, 06:26 PM
now now... It are a while new experience to remoting in. One that usually ends with some golf words and a drink.

ftfy.....