*Rumour Mill Alert!* Boot to Desktop an option in 8.1 - Maybe...

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Plenty of sources - here is one:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/16/4229900/windows-8-1-boot-to-desktop-option

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[dilettante]

Yes, with a normal Start Menu back as well. I've seen this rumor elsewhere too, but I worry that everyone is quoting the same unreliable sources.

Microsoft's Windows 8 Plan B(lue): Bring back the Start button, boot to desktop

Fingers crossed though, because this would represent a big win for both Microsoft and Windows users.

 

[Westi]

I tested Win8 when it came out and have used it ever since, no confusion whatsoever on my side and it is not that hard to use it even without the old start menu.

My dad is 74 and he got a new Win8 PC and it took him about a day to get used to it so I think people are just so stuck in their old ways that they do not want to adjust. Live is a constant adjustment however and Win8 is another one.
If you are looking for a program then type it into the search function instead of going through the
Start - All Programs - whatever program you need

90% of the time you use about 5 - 10 programs and then just pin them to the taskbar and you are good to go.

But having that said

an option to bring the old start menu back is a good idea and if it is just for those people that are set in their ways and have no mental flexibility left to make this adjustment. I for one will stay without the old start menu however. Not to offend anyone here of course.

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME), ACIS (SME)

http://convergednetworks.ca

Give a tech a solution and he will be back tomorrow to ask you the next question, teach a tech how to read the manual and he will be able to solve the problems for a life time.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Joe,

I have yet to find a person or people who have had a pleasant experience with Windows 8 non-intuitive UI. A college who works with me got a Win 8 Laptop for his mother in law. Its being changed to Windows 7 shortly. After a few months of trying to get along with Win 8, she just couldn't do it....

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[Mike Lewis]

... those people that are set in their ways and have no mental flexibility left to make this adjustment. .... Not to offend anyone here of course.

But you are risking offending some people, Joe (although not intentionally, I'm sure).

Just because I'm reluctant to move from a familiar system to one that I find non-intuitive and inconvenient, that doesn't mean I'm set in my ways and lack mental flexibility. If it means anything, it means I prefer to do things in the way that I find most convenient, with a minumum of extra effort, and without being forced to learn new techniques for which I can see no benefit in return.

OK, I'm not really offended by what you said. But I do feel you're being harsh on the vast number of people who simply prefer the previous system and can see no advantage in changing.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[ANFPS26]

Microsoft reminds me of the car industry. They make what THEY want you to have and not what YOU want. I think we should at least have the option to keep what works and what is familiar. I see no need to force change on the public when it isn't needed. IMO

Jim

 

[58sniper]

I don't see what the fuss is about. Login, hit the Windows key - boom - desktop. Inflexible people who don't want change and progress just want it "the way it was".

Do you have your Tek-Tips.com Swag? I've got mine!

Stop by the new Tek-Tips group at LinkedIn.

 

[58sniper]

Oh - and no Start MENU - just a Start BUTTON that takes you to the desktop screen. Same as clicking on the desktop button, or hitting the Windows key.

Do you have your Tek-Tips.com Swag? I've got mine!

Stop by the new Tek-Tips group at LinkedIn.

 

[linney]

I am happy with Windows 8 Pro with Media Center. I triple boot with Windows 7 and good old XP, I now hardly ever get into Windows 7 or XP. I also have Windows Vista in the Windows 8 Hyper V Virtual Machine, plus XP too. I have not adjusted Windows 8 (other than adding Media Center, when it was free), and I don't miss the missing Start Menu either.

The easiest thing to do is to place commonly used programs shortcuts on the Desktop via creating Shortcuts to those programs.

Virtually Every Windows 8 Shortcut Available (well so far...).pdf

http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.a...able-_2800_well-so-far_2E00__2E00_._2900_.pdf

Keyboard shortcuts

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/keyboard-shortcuts

I realise I am not a typical Windows user, so perhaps it is expected that I should take to Windows 8 in an easy fashion.

 

[Mike Lewis]

The easiest thing to do is to place commonly used programs shortcuts on the Desktop via creating Shortcuts to those programs.

Agreed. The problem lies with the not-so-commonly used shortcuts.

Right now, I have around 80 shortcuts in my Start menu. Some of them are for programs that I only use once a month; some even less often; and some only in exceptional circumstances (like un-installing an app). If all of those were on the desktop, the screen would be hopelessly cluttered, and it would be virtually impossible to find what I want.

Also - and this is surely the key point - the Start menu is hierarchical. It lets me group, say, all my development tools in one group, my business apps in another, and so on. It also lets me relegate the rarely-used shortcuts low down the hierarchy, while keeping the more important ones near the top. You simply can't do that with desktop shortcuts, which can only be organised in a rectangular array.

And that's just program shortcuts. The Start menu also gives access to recent documents, control panel settings, a command prompt, the shut-down options, and more. No wonder it's so popular.

Mike





__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[dilettante]

Microsoft confirms public preview of Windows Blue in late June

"The Start Button might be helpful," Larson-Green acknowledged during her remarks at the conference, and provide users with more of a "comfort level." She did note that the team has had "meaningful discussions" about bringing back the Start Button, but users shouldn't interpret that as meaning the old Start Menu would be coming back.

They have clearly learned nothing. Reminds me of the 3 Monkeys: "Hear no feedback, see no feedback, speak no feedback."

I fail to see how a "Start Button to nowhere" helps anyone at all.

 

[linney]

Agreed. The problem lies with the not-so-commonly used shortcuts."

Every App, or Program, should be accessible from the "All Apps" icon.
This is more or less a similar Start Menu option, well sort of anyway.


Create Direct Shortcut to “All Apps” Page of Windows 8 Start Screen and Pin it to Taskbar

http://www.askvg.com/create-direct-...windows-8-start-screen-and-pin-it-to-taskbar/

 

[dilettante]

Microsoft: The Windows 8 learning curve is 'real and needs to be addressed' makes additional points, though none that real users of Windows were not shouting to deaf ears during the preview period.

Some gems there, such as the can-you-believe-this comment:

"We started talking about the desktop as an app," said [Tami] Reller. "But in reality, for PC buyers, the desktop is important."

 

[Mike Lewis]

Every App, or Program, should be accessible from the "All Apps" icon.
This is more or less a similar Start Menu option, well sort of anyway.

But isn't the All Apps icon on the "new" start screen (the one that's an alternative to the desktop)? If that's right, it defeats the argument that you just have to go to the desktop and everything works as before.

And, besides, the All Apps screen is not at all similar to the Start menu. That's mainly because it's not hierarchical, and also because the user cannot arrange the shortcuts according to their tastes.

(Correct me if I'm wrong about this. I'm writing from memory, as a I don't have a Windows 8 system handy - and have no wish to have one.)

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[linney]

While on the "All Apps" screen, or the Metro Start Screen, just type the name of the Program or App, via the Keyboard, that you are looking for and it will magically appear, that's if the name is correct, and if it is installed.

If the App, or Program, is not on the Desktop, then you have to create a Desktop Shortcut if you want one.

Apps on the "All Apps" screen can not be moved on that screen, but if they are Pinned to the Start Screen then they (the Tiles) can be moved by dragging them into a location on that Start Screen.

Rearranging tiles on Start

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows-8/rearrange-tiles-start

[Windows 8 Start Screen] How to Pin, Resize, Move, Close or Uninstall App Tiles?

http://www.askvg.com/windows-8-start-screen-how-to-pin-unpin-resize-move-and-search-tiles

 

[dilettante]

Right now, I have around 80 shortcuts in my Start menu. Some of them are for programs that I only use once a month; some even less often; and some only in exceptional circumstances (like un-installing an app). If all of those were on the desktop, the screen would be hopelessly cluttered, and it would be virtually impossible to find what I want.

This gets at the heart of the Start Menu issue, and I don't know why it has to be repeated so many times to be seen.

We also had a "type to run" Start Search in the Start Menu, the ability to pin items to a quick list, an autogenerated quick list of frequently used items, not to mention the column 2 items like profile folder access, Computer, Network, Control Panel, and so on along with a Recent Items list of documents. The Start Menu had become quite a powerful launchpad by the time Vista arrived, and Win7 carried it along with few changes.

All of that is down the toilet as of Windows 8.

Could it simply be that the Start Menu had become too powerful for Joe Casual to use? The Metro fans must be crawling out from some woodwork. I find it incredibly hard to believe Microsoft employees actually put up with it themselves.

 

[Mike Lewis]

While on the "All Apps" screen, or the Metro Start Screen, just type the name of the Program or App, via the Keyboard, that you are looking for and it will magically appear, that's if the name is correct

Sorry, but that's not a good solution. You are replacing a simple point-and-click with the need to type text. It's not that I mind typing. I can generally type faster than I can reach for the mouse.

The problem is in your phrase "that's if the name is correct". With the Start menu, you don't even have to know the name of what you are looking for.

Case in point: Only yesterday, I decided to uninstall the little applet that lets me log into a Citrix Go-to-meeting session. I didn't know for sure what the name of the applet was - and especially not the name of the uninstall program. Or even if there was such a program. But all I had to do was to go to Start / Utilities / Citrix, and there it was. If I had to type the name, I'd still be struggling.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[vacunita]

I think the start menu in desktop mode is sorely missed. I can function with the Start Screen, but as you addf more Apps, its going to be very hard to find things.

You can customize it to a certan degree by dragging the tiles around to where you want them, but with lots of Applications, and applications that have many peripheral items in there Start Menu folders like Help files and unistallers, the Start Screen quickly becomes a nightmare to manage since it sticks everything there without any folders.


There's really no way to get over that, however as I mentioned in the following thread, you can still create a Start Menu in desktop mode without any 3rd party apps.

thread1787-1686161

Well technically speaking the Start Menu never really went anywhere. With Windows 8 as With Windows 7 before it you can pin the still existing Start Menu folder to the Taksbar, and it becomes a start Menu.

I simply added a toolbar to the Taskbar form the right click menu and pointed it to the Start Menu folder.

Then collapsed it all the way so only the title was visible and I got an old fashioned Win98 start menu that works perfectly.

The Path is:
C:\Users\<User Profile folder name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

With that said, I find the new Search feature much more powerful than Before. Its close to what the Ubuntu Unity Search screen is like. It brings back results for Apps, Files and Settings items divided by category. Its pretty quick too. Finding anything there is quite easy.








----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Web & Tech

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Hurrah

windows "blue" called 8.1

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57584370-75/windows-blue-gets-official-name-windows-8.1/

Still a few details:

"It will be easy to get from the Windows start screen," Reller said at the conference in Boston. (CNET followed her speech via Webcast.)

To date, the Windows division has updated the various versions of the Windows 8 operating system 739 times, Reller said. Windows 8.1, however, will offer significantly more changes than those frequent fixes.

"This is more substantial than what we can deliver in those weekly updates," Reller said.

Reller offered few details of what would be in Windows 8.1. There was no discussion, for example, about whether the update will bring back the Start Button that Windows users have come to know over the years, only to find it missing in Windows 8. Those questions will likely be answered when the preview of Windows 8.1 arrives on June 26 in time for Build, Microsoft's developers conference, in San Francisco.

ACSS - SME
General Geek