Goodbye Start Button in Windows 8?

When they get to use Microsoft’s upcoming flagship operating system Windows 8, users of the OS for the last 17 years may have to say goodbye to a familiar item: the Start button.

 

Chaitanya Sareen, program manager lead on Microsoft’s Core Experience Evolved team, said this is part of an “evolution” of the Start menu.

 

In a blog post, Sareen said Microsoft will turn to the taskbar - the area at the bottom part of the screen when Windows is first installed - as the main launcher for programs instead of the Start button.

 

“With the Windows taskbar becoming the key launcher and switcher for the desktop, and the Start menu being revealed as a poor everyday launcher, an opportunity appeared to reimagine Start and make it into something more valuable,” Sareen said.

 

He noted most Windows users just use the taskbar - where shortcuts to their most commonly used programs are pinned - to access the things they commonly use.

 

This freed Microsoft up to make Start even better at its unique strengths and to unlock new scenarios, he said.

 

Among these new scenarios are improved search, more room for all programs, tiles that are alive with activity, and richer customization.

 

Start button’s origins

 

Sareen noted the Start menu started out in Windows 95, at a time PC towers and 15” CRTs dominated cubicles.

 

The Start menu eventually evolved into an orb that included instant search, like the one found in Vista and Windows 7.

 

Taskbar to replace button

 

In Windows 8, Sareen said they will use their finding that enthusiasts use their Windows 7 taskbar even more than the Start menu.

 

“Keyboard shortcuts ... make it even faster for the keyboard experts to instantly launch and switch with the taskbar (and those shortcuts continue to work in Windows 8),” he said.

 

In effect, he said the taskbar has evolved to replace many aspects of the Start menu. — TJD, GMA News