Summary: Leaked Windows 8.1 update shows no Start menu – Rumors of its return might have been exaggerated
Software Crippler Microsoft apparently plans to release an update to Windows 8.1, of which a leaked early build of the update has been seen in the wild and appears to change very little, having much in common with the Service Packs of older versions of Windows. It has been hoped that Microsoft will reinstate the Start menu, which it removed from Windows 8 to almost universal customer disapproval. However, there is no evidence of this in the leak. The company reintroduced the Start button in Windows 8.1, which has gone some way towards placating frustrated users. However that doesn’t trigger a menu, but simply acts as a toggle between Microsoft’s new Modern user interface and the traditional Windows Desktop.
The leak gives no information on new features or functions that will be included in the update, however the leaker suggested that this is more than a roll-up of updates.
Although this is not classed as a major update, Microsoft must be feeling the pressure to impress with every opportunity. Windows 8 was not well received by consumers or business users, and although Windows 8.1 has done something to redress the balance, the recent increase in Chromebook sales must be worrying the top brass in Redmond.
The time-frame of the update is vague, but it is widely believed that early April is the roll-out target to coincide with the Microsoft BUILD conference in San Francisco. Before then, details of the release to manufacturing (RTM) version should begin to filter out, which should give Microsoft customers a clearer idea of what the first set of updates to the Windows 8.1 service pack will entail.
Somebody staked their job on the UI and will not relent until they are no longer employed at Microsoft. Here are five reasons why Windows 8 is a failure.
1. Metro, aka Modern: An ugly, useless interface.
Metro, or whatever you want to call it, may make an OK tablet interface, but it’s ugly and useless on the desktop. It requires users to forget everything they ever learned about Windows and learn an entirely new way of doing things for no real reason. To quote a popularly held opinion, Metro is “awful.”
True, you can use a more traditional Windows interface, but you know what would have been a lot better? If Microsoft had just kept the Windows 7 Aero interface for the desktop version of Windows 8 and give up this idea that the Metro touch-friendly interface is for every device.
2. Windows 8 brought nothing innovative to the desktop.
Can you tell me one new thing that Windows 8 brought to the desktop that was truly innovative? Exciting? Engaging? I can’t. Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7, but that’s about it — and that dual interface mess makes it slower for practical purposes.
3. Developers hate it.
I said all along programmers wouldn’t like throwing out their hard-won .NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) expertise to work natively on Windows 8. I was right. Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of video game company Valve, said it best: ”Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.” He then started moving his Steam game empire to Linux.
4. Legacy Windows 7 users aren’t moving.
We saw this happen before with Vista and XP. Then, as now, the new operating system — Vista — was not better than the old operating system — XP — so very few people moved to it. We’re seeing it again now.
In addition, in an economy that’s still not moving forward quickly, who really wants to move from tried-and-true Windows 7 to new, expensive Windows 8 PCs? As Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu observed, the $500 to $1200 price tags slapped on Windows 8 hardware makes it “uncompetitive” in a world where people want iPads and Android tablets.
5. Tablet, smartphone, and desktop competition.
If you are going to buy a new computing device in 2013, chances are it’s going to be an Apple iPad, an inexpensive Android tablet, or a Chromebook. The PC desktop isn’t dead, but it’s not very profitable either — and Windows 8 isn’t helping PC sales.
Links:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/where-is-start-menu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Start_Menu_replacements_for_Windows_8