There is a justifiable reason: The Windows 8 interface is utterly fracking moronic. The fact that people could be paid actual money to be so utterly and irredeemably stupid as to hide everything that windows users use is beyond comprehension.
Optional out of the box? Because the impression I get is that it's defaulted to the horrible Metro interface at boot up right out of the box (eather from a fresh instal of the OS or starting a pre-built PC for the first time).The metro interface is completely optional though. Nothing on the desktop is hidden, you can easily simply not use metro programs.
Cept that 7 has the start button while 8 doesn't.I use both Win7 and Win8 on a daily basis without ever seeing Metro apps - the usage between the two is nearly identical.
I hope the start menu doesn't come back, purely to annoy people who want it back for no justifiable reason.
One thing I've noticed is the "It rocks/It sucks" dynamic. Me sucks, XP rocks, Vista sucks, 7 rocks, 8 sucks...
I do hope that 9 comes out better. Then again, my Windows 7 machine is still in good condition.
Optional out of the box? Because the impression I get is that it's defaulted to the horrible Metro interface at boot up right out of the box (eather from a fresh instal of the OS or starting a pre-built PC for the first time).
Cept that 7 has the start button while 8 doesn't.
The metro interface is completely optional though. Nothing on the desktop is hidden, you can easily simply not use metro programs. I use both Win7 and Win8 on a daily basis without ever seeing Metro apps - the usage between the two is nearly identical.
So where is the button to turn that crap off?
I only use the start menu to search. Hit windows key, type "calc", press enter, use calculator. Do people really like that maze of inscrutable folder names and tiny icons? The start menu is just a terrible way of opening programs...
8 is a great system, I am not saying it isn't, but MS basically gave the middle finger to everyone that didn't want to be dragged into the age of tablets on their desktop.
Yeah, I've used Windows for 20 years too, which is why I'm really, really glad that they introduced a much better way of opening programs in Windows 7.
Windows 8 is not designed well for mouse users. I have used it and it sucks. The Metro app screen, which as far as I can tell has completely replaced the Start menu, is a tablet oriented design and so much slower than my Windows 7 menu. I won't be upgrading until they make it completely optional with a Windows 7 style Start menu a few clicks away. Everything else about the OS is improving. They just need to ditch that stupid touch screen design.
I only use the start menu to search. Hit windows key, type "calc", press enter, use calculator. Do people really like that maze of inscrutable folder names and tiny icons? The start menu is just a terrible way of opening programs...
And honestly, at the point where 8.1 is now, even if you use your non-touchscreen device without a keyboard, the start screen is probably still better than the start menu. You get much more space on the screen to list apps, while the amount of cruft is greatly reduced - an uninstall is never necessary anymore (so that's about -1 shortcut for every program you have installed), while the density on the all apps screen isn't much lower than the start menu - as companies continue to update their programs they'll reduce the number of useless extra icons they dump into all apps (links to their website, links to documentation etc.) further cleaning up the screen.
@Aimee: If I forget whether I put my network monitor into Internet, Utilities, Security, Maintenance, Administrative Tools or Miscellany, then I have the same problem. Additionally, with the start menu, I don't just need to remember the name of the program, and which category I put it in, I also need to remember who made the program as well. Who would have guessed that I need to look under "Jam Software" to find the software that ranks my directories by total size (incl all subdirectories)? I shouldn't have to guess that. I'd say it was much easier to remember the name of the program than the company who made it.Except if you forget the name of the program, then typing doesnt help much.
It can be very easy to forget software name, particularly if youre the type of person who likes to use small, single-purpose applications. Anyways my start menu looks more like this:
Spoiler :![]()
Not much inscrutable there, really.