what do you need the start button for?

[techguy77]

Or you could pin your commonly used desktop apps for quick access. Why click on the desktop tile only to click on something pinned on the superbar or placed on the desktop? Just group and pin the programs to the start screen. A group for office, a group for task specific programs, a group for commonly accessed directories, etc. It's almost like you're trying to make it as difficult as possible to use.

Trying to avoid Start Screen because as i open one application i don't want to go back to Start Screen to open another as i work with things. Bottom line i could care less about Metro if MS gives me option to set Desktop as default screen after i login, ability to disable lock screen and ability to use Windows search without going to Metro screen.

Why MS couldn't keep Start Menu along with Metro? If you are on Desktop you get your Start Menu (just like in Windows 7), and if you want to switch to phone look and feel (for whatever reason) you switch to Metro and do your **** there. Windows 8 -> no compromise, and here is example of it.

It is professional deformation but i hate duplications and Metro is Desktop duplication in poor way. It comes from my programming mindset. When i write function i do not create two variable types and assign same value to both of them and only return one.

[Hum]

I prefer a neat, but hidden list of the programs.

I do not like a cluttered desktop view.

[migo]

They pretty much already have. Desktop development on Windows was destroyed years ago. Very few programs take advantage of Windows 7 technologies.

Yep. There aren't any apps I can think of for Windows that aren't just updates of stuff that was developed years or decades ago. All the innovation, the new development is happening in mobile.

And that's a big reason Microsoft needs to make the shift. If you asked anyone why they used Windows over OSX, the ultimate reason was always app selection. Windows has a big incumbent selection, but nothing new is getting developed, so for that you already need to have a smartphone or an iPad. If Microsoft wants to keep people using Windows, they need to make sure that those apps are coming to Windows as well, and making it work with a touch centric interface similar to what devs are already used to with the iPad (and Android to a lesser degree) is the best way they can keep development for Windows moving forwards.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Some people are under the false impression that Metro doesn't work with keyboard and mouse input, and think Microsoft is forcing them into buying new hardware.

For what it's worth, I've never had this assumption. What I do think though is that Microsoft have geared Windows 8 towards touch devices and forgotten about the PC and laptop user, so using a keyboard and mouse feels awkward when trying to do things.

Back to the topic, I use my start menu all the time.

• Start>Shutdown
• Start>Log off
• Start>All Programs>Administrative Tools
• Start>All Programs>ProgramX
• Start>Settings>Control Panel
• Start>Settings>Network Connections
• Start>Documents

And several other things. I know that Windows 8 offers me other ways of doing this, but they're not as easy for me as using the Start menu.

[Pam14160]

I don't want icons or titles on desktop like I have nothing on Windows 7.

Taskbar at bottom is for multitasking so I can switch apps. Start button is for my menu to access to the programs.

I have live weather information on my desktop instead of pulling an app or browser to check the weather.

Metro isn't working well for advanced users such as design or video work.

Looks like I might switch to iMac in near future. Metro is great on tablets or touch-based devices such as monitors, All-In-One PC, etc.

If you move to a Mac you will be moving to basically the same ideal. Mac's do not have a "Start Button." They use the "Dock" or "Launchpad." Not sure why people think the Mac is the same as XP or Win 7 when it comes to a Start Button. The "Apple Icon" cannot even be activated with a key stroke as the Win Start Button can. The only way to launch a program within the "Apple Icon" is move to the the icon click then drop down to "Recent" to start up an application.

[c3ntury]

the metro dashbaord can be very very very clutter if you have more then 50 or more programs installed. there is no way to organized them

What? Yes there is, I have about 60-odd and it's nice and tidy.

[derkim]

I don't need the start button by itself. My problem with metro is that it is fullscreen.

I don't see what happens on desktop on metro, I complete interrupt my concentration because the desktop is complete changing I always have to rearrange after change.

If there is a start button or not... I don't care. But I want a solution where I can start my Software without to change the desktop.

[Axel]

I honestly don't care what method is used so long as it doesn't reduce the functionality. I've noticed that the metro start screen is less useful than the start menu when it comes to search.

For example:

Win7 - WinKey, type photo... PHOTOSHOP APPEARS... HIT ENTER

Win8 - WinKey type photo... Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery appear... NO PHOTOSHOP UNTIL I TYPE THE WHOLE DAMN THING!!!

This is just bloody irritating.

[kawasabi]

omg not this again.

Another whats the big problem? thread.

The problems have been discussed a million times.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

omg not this again.

Another whats the big problem? thread.

The problems have been discussed a million times.

While it might be related to Windows 8 and its lack of a start menu, the question itself is genuine enough and could be asked without referencing Windows 8. What do you use the start menu for?

[cork1958]

I need it to start things! Why else?

How am I supposed to cope without a freaking start button? [/sarcasm}

[bogas04]

To troll about its absence in Windows 8

[MikeChipshop Member]

I mainly used the start menu for starting programmes and searching for other programmes. Something that I'm finding the Win8 start screen better at.

As for the comment in this thread about not being able to organise it, there's plenty of ways to organise it :s

Metro isn't working well for advanced users such as design or video work.

Maybe not for you, but i'm a professional Web Designer/Developer and run a studio and we're trying out Win8 on our workstations and it's working out far more efficient for us.

[Shaun N.]

I don't need a start button, I also don't need Metro. I don't dislike Metro, I just don't like it. - I hardly used the start menu, Now if I want to keep up with the newest I am being forced to use a full screen metro ui that if anything slows me down.

Here's my scenario;

• Windows 7: In full screen game - Press Start - Start button appears - I ignore start menu and click the Chrome shortcut on my taskbar - Fin. (Whole time my game is visible to me and I can see what's going on)
  

• Windows 8: In full screen game - Press Start - Metro menu shows and takes full screen - I click Chrome shortcut - Fin. (Game completely covered by Metro)
  

With Windows 7 the whole process hardly disrupted my gameplay to get into a browser, With Windows 8 the process completely disrupted my gameplay just to open a browser.

[efjay]

I don't need a start button, I also don't need Metro. I don't dislike Metro, I just don't like it. - I hardly used the start menu, Now if I want to keep up with the newest I am being forced to use a full screen metro ui that if anything slows me down.

Here's my scenario;

• Windows 7: In full screen game - Press Start - Start button appears - I ignore start menu and click the Chrome shortcut on my taskbar - Fin. (Whole time my game is visible to me and I can see what's going on)
  

• Windows 8: In full screen game - Press Start - Metro menu shows and takes full screen - I click Chrome shortcut - Fin. (Game completely covered by Metro)
  

With Windows 7 the whole process hardly disrupted my gameplay to get into a browser, With Windows 8 the process completely disrupted my gameplay just to open a browser.

So you're gaming and browsing at the same time?

[Shaun N.]

Yes

[Amarok]

Yep. There aren't any apps I can think of for Windows that aren't just updates of stuff that was developed years or decades ago. All the innovation, the new development is happening in mobile.

And that's a big reason Microsoft needs to make the shift. If you asked anyone why they used Windows over OSX, the ultimate reason was always app selection. Windows has a big incumbent selection, but nothing new is getting developed, so for that you already need to have a smartphone or an iPad. If Microsoft wants to keep people using Windows, they need to make sure that those apps are coming to Windows as well, and making it work with a touch centric interface similar to what devs are already used to with the iPad (and Android to a lesser degree) is the best way they can keep development for Windows moving forwards.

I can't really tell if you're serious or not. If you are, you're mistaken. There has been a big focus on social applications for the Tablet/Smartphone generation, and there has been a lot of innovation there, but that in no way has anything to do with development for the PC, which carries on strong as ever. The only reason so much is going on in the mobile front is that it's new and relatively unexplored terrain. Give it 5~ years and innovation there will slow down as well. I've owned a smartphone for around a year now, played with all of the really popular apps, wrote and sold one myself as well, but since getting and using my smartphone it hasn't decreased my desire to use my PC, or decreased my professional reliance on it, or decreased my reliance on it for entertainment. There is quite a bit of overlap between the PC and smartphones/tablets in terms of innovation - Leaps and bounds were made in the last year or so in the area of HD streaming (As in streaming content to others, not just watching it.)

So you're gaming and browsing at the same time?

Yes. I'm often gaming, browsing, and messaging at the same time.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Yes

I can't really tell if you're serious or not. If you are, you're mistaken. There has been a big focus on social applications for the Tablet/Smartphone generation, and there has been a lot of innovation there, but that in no way has anything to do with development for the PC, which carries on strong as ever. The only reason so much is going on in the mobile front is that it's new and relatively unexplored terrain. Give it 5~ years and innovation there will slow down as well. I've owned a smartphone for around a year now, played with all of the really popular apps, wrote and sold one myself as well, but since getting and using my smartphone it hasn't decreased my desire to use my PC, or decreased my professional reliance on it, or decreased my reliance on it for entertainment. There is quite a bit of overlap between the PC and smartphones/tablets in terms of innovation - Leaps and bounds were made in the last year or so in the area of HD streaming (As in streaming content to others, not just watching it.)

Yes. I'm often gaming, browsing, and messaging at the same time.

wouldn't alt+tab suffice for you two?

[Elliot B.]

Sometimes, I was to search for an application to launch whilst I am looking at a different program on my screen (e.g. a media player).

A "full screen Start menu" ruins this and it's a stupid decision by Microsoft in my opinion.

[xWhiplash]

wouldn't alt+tab suffice for you two?

There are games that do not run on full screen (or you can run in windowed mode). I run WoW in windowed mode. While I am crafting, I read websites where my browser is visible all the time. I can keep track of my progress by just looking at the WoW screen and look back to the browser. I do not want to alt-tab like crazy.

If I press the start button, my game is still 100% visible. If I am looking in the start menu, and I see some big flashes on the screen, I look at the game and see I am being attacked. Not that I do crafting out in the open and sit there, but I am using that as an example.

How about you are watching a TV show and want to open another program. You are in the middle of going to the program and something cool happens. You can just look at the media player without closing the start menu.

Network admins need things visible all the time, and they open stuff up all day long.

[-Alex-]

I don't dislike Metro, I just don't like it

Isn't that the same thing? :p

So you're gaming and browsing at the same time?

I also do this a lot (mainly for looking up videos on how to do trophies/a certain section of a game); albeit that's using my PS3 for the gaming, and my laptop for the browsing... not 1 machine for both. But yes, I also game and browse at the same time.

[jdlarson83]

If you move to a Mac you will be moving to basically the same ideal. Mac's do not have a "Start Button." They use the "Dock" or "Launchpad." Not sure why people think the Mac is the same as XP or Win 7 when it comes to a Start Button. The "Apple Icon" cannot even be activated with a key stroke as the Win Start Button can. The only way to launch a program within the "Apple Icon" is move to the the icon click then drop down to "Recent" to start up an application.

searching in OS X is just as easy with a keyboard as Windows 7, Command + Space opens spotlight search which does search applications, with that said, it's actually easier to search for an app in windows 8 than it is in windows 7 or mac os X, you just have to start typing at the start screen, no need to push the windows key unless your not on the start screen

[xWhiplash]

searching in OS X is just as easy with a keyboard as Windows 7, Command + Space opens spotlight search which does search applications, with that said, it's actually easier to search for an app in windows 8 than it is in windows 7 or mac os X, you just have to start typing at the start screen, no need to push the windows key unless your not on the start screen

There is also the Applications group in the OS X dock that you can use to launch your programs. That is similar to the start menu.

[HawkMan]

There is also the Applications group in the OS X dock that you can use to launch your programs. That is similar to the start menu.

You mean "all apps" ?

[Brandon H Supervisor]

There is also the Applications group in the OS X dock that you can use to launch your programs. That is similar to the start menu.

that was removed by default in Lion as they want you to use the launch pad (though I added it back to the dock because the launchpad was badly implemented in Lion)