Microsoft might bring back Start Menu, Modern UI apps on desktop

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freitasm

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#136826 10-Dec-2013 09:46

Some might have seen the light at Microsoft, as rumours are going around that it may bring back the Start Menu. also Modern UI apps might start running on desktop.

I, for one, welcome this change. The Metro UI/Modern UI is appalling on anything but tablets and apps don't offer the rich functionality desktops apps provide.

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#948499 10-Dec-2013 09:50

This is a good thing as it brings more choice to the user experience, having said that I have no real issues with the Modern UI.

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#948503 10-Dec-2013 09:54

You can't believe how much this has made my day

freitasm

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#948504 10-Dec-2013 09:55

I use desktop 100% on my laptop and trying to use Modern UI 100% on my tablet. The lack of app functionality is annoying... Dev tools (VS, SQL Management)? Forget, it has to be on desktop. Admin tools? Forget, it has to be on desktop. And so on...

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#948507 10-Dec-2013 09:58

I would like Modern UI apps running on the desktop in it's own window. Not worried about the start menu. I only used the start menu for Shutdown/Restart/Log off and control panel access. Since the launch of Windows 7, I had all my main apps Incl control panel pinned to the taskbar.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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#948508 10-Dec-2013 09:59

I should qualify my statement above. My main OS is OSX 10.9 on my iMac which I use for 50 to 60% of my tasks . I do use Windows 8.1 on my Laptop which uses a port replicator etc for most of the time and 8.1 RT on my Surface.

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#948509 10-Dec-2013 09:59

Uninstalling metro and using Desktop as the default would really make my day

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#948514 10-Dec-2013 10:03

This might be enough to make us consider "8.2" at work. We're currently sticking with 7 and I'm sure that many others are doing the same.

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#948521 10-Dec-2013 10:12

Quite an amusing about-turn from MS with the introduction of 8.1, but obviously they realised what a commercial disaster Windows 8 would be unless they did something pronto....

Yeah I've been running 8.1 for a while now on my tab and its certainly refined in the sense that the UI is somewhat closer to the good old start button world. But at the end of the day with a few hours practice you suddenly forget what Windows 7 was like and 8.1 becomes very quick and fluid to use, especially with the gestures and swipe actions on a touchscreen or laptop pad. On a desktop i'm not so sure of its merits but on a mobile device its certainly a nice OS.

Its normal to dislike and often fear a change in UI, I've seen it so many times with Hospital and Medical application that staff come to know over
years of use and then suddenly get freaked out when things are changed.

Also remember all the anger when Windows 95 appeared and people were saying stuff like "GAAAH WHERE ARE MY ICONS GONE......ILL NEVER STOP USING PROGRAM MANAGER....NEEEVERRRRR!!!" then a few weeks later they're like "Ah yeah Windows 3.1 was crap, 95 is the greatest"

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#948522 10-Dec-2013 10:12

Klipspringer: Uninstalling metro and using Desktop as the default would really make my day

you can do this today in Windows 8.1 by booting straight to desktop, setting the taskbar option "When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start" and uninstalling Modern apps

nathan

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#948523 10-Dec-2013 10:15

freitasm: Some might have seen the light at Microsoft, as rumours are going around that it may bring back the Start Menu. also Modern UI apps might start running on desktop.

I, for one, welcome this change. The Metro UI/Modern UI is appalling on anything but tablets and apps don't offer the rich functionality desktops apps provide.

you can do this today with tweaking the default Windows 8.1 setup

or by installing 3rd party apps like Start8 and ModernMix

Hence is the beauty of the Windows ecosystem of being able to install and customise things as you choose

Klipspringer

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#948525 10-Dec-2013 10:18

nathan:
Klipspringer: Uninstalling metro and using Desktop as the default would really make my day

you can do this today in Windows 8.1 by booting straight to desktop, setting the taskbar option "When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start" and uninstalling Modern apps

The start screen is still metro. I dont want a start screen, I want a start menu.

If I uninstall all the metro apps the start button still defaults to Metro which is pretty useless if you ask me.

What makes it worse is that some of the metro apps remain the default programs for a lot of the desktop tasks. I know this can be changed, but its quiet a process to do it, especially if you want to do it on multiple computers and multiple user accounts.

If I could just uninstall Metro and have the desktop with a Windows 7 start menu it would really be good. Instead I need to rely on some third party program to bring back the start menu.

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#948529 10-Dec-2013 10:24

Klipspringer: Uninstalling metro and using Desktop as the default would really make my day

Its called windows 7

Metro if fine on the surface. Metro is really like an ipad ios. With Microsoft making this change it would be like they are back tracking. There is a reason why apple aren't using osx on the ipad

Klipspringer

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#948530 10-Dec-2013 10:27

nathan:

Hence is the beauty of the Windows ecosystem of being able to install and customise things as you choose

LOL. thanks for making me chuckle nathan

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#948537 10-Dec-2013 10:34

I'm more than happy with 'metro' as a start/search function. Seems more useful than Windows 7 because the search is better at finding files/programs. It's also a breath of fresh air when I have 20 browser windows/explorer windows + all my desktop programs open.

Although I use the desktop environment for all my work and don't use the metro apps, I do on my surface pro 2/envy x2 as they offer a better touch experience and are smoother.

To me it's more disappointing that Microsoft is going back so quickly on all the features that it was confident that would push the company forward.

I have never once used the start button in Windows 8.1, as I learnt in Win 8 to use the start key on my keyboard.

nathan

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#948538 10-Dec-2013 10:40

Klipspringer:
nathan:
Klipspringer: Uninstalling metro and using Desktop as the default would really make my day

you can do this today in Windows 8.1 by booting straight to desktop, setting the taskbar option "When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start" and uninstalling Modern apps

The start screen is still metro. I dont want a start screen, I want a start menu.

If I uninstall all the metro apps the start button still defaults to Metro which is pretty useless if you ask me.

What makes it worse is that some of the metro apps remain the default programs for a lot of the desktop tasks. I know this can be changed, but its quiet a process to do it, especially if you want to do it on multiple computers and multiple user accounts.

If I could just uninstall Metro and have the desktop with a Windows 7 start menu it would really be good. Instead I need to rely on some third party program to bring back the start menu.

Right-click on the Taskbar and click Toolbars and then New toolbar.
Browse to C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows and select Start Menu and choose Select Folder

you'll have a new Start Menu folder with all your programs in the Programs folder.

Install a third-party add-on
ViStart 8
Classic Shell
Start 8

the file associations and default user profile settings can all be scripted and automated

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