Windows 8 will return Start menu

Maybe others have. Why remove when you can make it optional? I think their best option now is to keep this hybrid mode and add the desktop only & metro only modes.

 

Problem is, the classic interface as well as Win32 are "broken" in the sense that they are completely unoptimized for what most users/consumers (especially mainstream ones, but also a significant portion of the tech savvy public) expect from computers nowadays and in the future.

Windows 8 definitely isn't about "conserving the state of things".

The more visible changes indicate that "Windows 8 is about a billion people doing new things, and the next billion people experiencing Windows for the first time."*

*More details.

 

WH, all this is nothing more than a marketing dream of something that hasn't even happened yet.

No doubt mobile needs are totally different than standard desktop or even laptop needs. That's why MS SHOULD HAVE developed and maintained a separate OS for mobile needs, while continuing the existing desktop/laptop OS pretty much as it was, not broken, and not needing a facelift or radical changes.

No, it certainly isn't. And that's why it's such a disaster...

Dreams, dreams and more dreams of a future not yet even in existence....

 

This has nothing to do with marketing or dreams.

Your statements are simply ignoring or denying the reality of decline of the "traditional computing" that started way before Windows 8 and that only shows signs of aggravation.

But again, you need to research the big data to see this.

You need to go way beyond your little bubble.

 

Again, this is nonsense... Just about all of corporate/business is still in "traditional computing" and will remain so for the next decade and beyond.

What you are doing is seeing the expansion of mobile devices (which I'd hardly call "computing" anyway) and pretending that is the future for everything and everyone. This is pure fantasy.

You need to get real. You can't do serious computing on a mobile device, for a variety of reasons. You can do a lot of playing and entertainment on one, but you can't use Photoshop or do a huge Excel spreadsheet or any other number of serious things that business and other users need to do.

I think you believe that the entire world will be using these mobile toys in the future. Maybe they will. But... "traditional computing" needs will always be there, for a long time to come. Pretending otherwise, is dreaming....

 

Hopefully mine and my wife's old pentium 4 machines will keep going.

Ninety percent of our computer time is typing. Touchscreens aren't an option, unless they're positioned exactly like our keyboards. I don't look at the keyboard when I type. I'm focused on the monitor for spelling errors, changes I want to make in text, etc.

I just tried hunching forward to see the keyboard. It isn't comfortable, meaning it won't be productive if I can't focus totally on writing. I'll keep my current machine until it's gone and then find another XP machine or, if I have no choice, move to Win 7. Right now Windows 8 isn't a remote option.

 

And Windows will continue to be an option for them.

Firstly, because Win32 and the traditional desktop interface won't be completely ditched anytime soon.

(they certainly won't be the spotlight of Windows anymore like in 7, but they will remain there for those who absolutely need them, especially for compatibility purposes.)

Secondly, because WinRT is technically superior and allows development of better software as well as an easy transition from Win32.

Thirdly, because Modern UI isn't static and accommodates improvements much easier.

No. What Microsoft is doing here, in a nutshell, is acknowledging and analyzing the already existent expansion and integration of mobile devices and related needs to traditional computers and, in order to address the derivative tendencies, providing satisfactory realization of those needs (already satisfied in the smartphone arena by the Windows Phone) in Windows.

Again, Win32 won't disappear and WinRT allows development of far better software as well as an easy transition from Win32.

Within time, you will see much better Office, Photoshop, etc, available in the Windows Store.

Speaking about only this aspect, at this very early point, one can already see several apps in the Windows Store that are "purpose-built and tailored for the specific set of scenarios they are great at". This is different from "traditional desktop programs, which often contain hundreds of loosely-related, powerful, but hard-to-find features".

But again, there is nothing technically stopping the development of "software with loosely-related, powerful, but hard-to-find features" for WinRT. However, it's the "market ambient" of the Windows Store that doesn't encourage this - such software will naturally have a hard time getting popular there.

As I'm sure you won't be testing to verify anytime soon, I will post (again) a link where a known analyst (who initially despised Windows 8 and the Modern UI) gave a new chance to it and verified that what is described above is simply true:

Apr 12, 2013 - Killing the desktop: Can you survive in Windows 8's modern UI alone?

Not quite accurate and far from what I actually believe.

 

I guess how you look at things depends on what articles you read. Lot of things going on these days....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/19/android_notebooks_coming/

 

'Fondleslabs' - tsk, tsk! I wonder who dreamt up this name!
(I can see the media having great fun with this title in the future!)

 

I like it.

This is one of the best parts of this new "computing era": Windows in many cases has potentially viable competitors and Microsoft... well, Microsoft now has to show that it is capable of making Windows the big winner of this decade too.

I just hope that consumers use the brain when making their choices (not stupid prejudices).

Otherwise, everybody loses in the long run.

 

Ubuntu is making a move for the corporate and enterprise market:
http://www.ubuntu.com/management

as for the decade, it is still quite early, don't you think?

 

Yes, it is.

And I sincerely can't predict which consumer OS will be the one having the most significant and visible impacts in people's life after the end of it.

Ideally, the winner will have mostly valid, scientifically discernible, merits - like Windows of the past decade (winner).

Instead of mostly fake merits - like Windows of the 90s (also winner).*

* Reference:
"...the most powerful piece of vapourware ever created. In 1990 this barely consisted of more than a bootable kernel; it would be three years before anyone could buy it, and six before it gained any traction. But it changed perceptions significantly... ...As it turned out, Chicago didn’t ship until August 1995... ...By then, architectural changes removed much of NT’s USP..."
(Why IBM lost out and how Microsoft won - By Andrew Orlowski)

 

Android and Apple already rule the tablet market, and that isn't going to change. It's too late for MS there. All that's really left for MS is to hold on to is what you call the "traditional" market. And if they don't wise up, they could lose that too. I do think MS is on the way down, and they know it, hence their desperate attempts to grab a piece of anything that's going on....

 

Yeah, but the mobile form factor encompasses far more than tablets.

Convertibles are in the spotlight, right now.

This is a significantly more volatile market - mobile devices get replaced more often.

With the resources of Microsoft? Definitely isn't too late.

Besides, even smaller portions of this market are significantly profitable.

Couldn't be more false.

AFAIK, no other company invests more in R&D than Microsoft.

And they have the resources for taking risks and possibly profiting much more later on.

Also, the "traditional" market is decaying since years ago.

Maybe, but probably not. Anyway, loses here can only occur to some extent - Windows is indispensable for a significant portion of that market.

From a financial perspective, they continue doing very well, with good perspectives.

Nope. In a nutshell, they simply have large resources. Large resources allows diversification, investing, taking risks, etc.

And when you objectively compare the viable solutions, their integration (ecosystem), features, performance, etc, all aspects taken into account, Microsoft's solutions still provide better experiences.

 

True, I know they are huge. But they do need to make smart decisions. I realize too, that they can take risks like 8 for a few years, fail miserably, and still recover and move forward. But... I do think they really need to wise up and make better decisions, and most importantly, listen to their customers and try to make them happy, instead of dictating... If they don't make the right moves, they will become a has been, no matter how big they think they are now. It has happened to other companies just as large in the past.

 

They certainly need to listen to their existing customers. And, when striving for pleasing customers of others (or even existing non-customers - "the next billion") it's needed to hear them as well.

 

So is the rumor true that MS will bring back the Start Menu?

 

Do you see a beta of Windows 8.1? No? Then you won't know until that happens.

 

Windows Blue won't solve all Microsoft's problems, analysts say

 

Apparently, only the Start button will return, but not the Start menu. The button will simply serve to take one to the Start screen.

 

There is no need for a start button then . At present windows 8 takes me to start screen when I click there

 

indeed.
what's the point of putting the 'Start' button on the task-bar instead of the hotspot where it is now?

 

To make the transition between desktop (Win32 launcher) and Start Screen (WinRT launcher) even easier and less confusing for long time users of previous Windows versions.

In the same direction, they are going to enlarge the desktop tile in the Start Screen (larger size by default).

The majority of the other changes of Blue are, of course, strictly related to the Modern UI and WinRT, where development is centered.

 

I would say they're just trying to make it more visible.. But you're right, the change doesn't amount to much.

 

if people haven't found the Start button by now they have bigger things to worry about.

anyway, one thing i thought was not very well done is the tutorial for the hotspots during install.

they only show the top right corner hotspot.
the quick tutorial should show all of them so people get up to speed faster.