Hmm... Overall I think Win8(.1 update 1) is better than Win10.

Nemix · 11 Jun 2015

The inclusion of a Start Menu, Search Bar, Metro Apps on the Desktop and not to switch to a separate screen for the Start Screen and Metro Apps already makes Windows 10 better than Windows 8.1 for me even though I haven't tried it just yet.

Now add features like Virtual Desktop, Notification Center (which replaces Charms bar essentially), manual Tablet Mode and a more unified look/theme of the OS...I think Windows 10 if anything is an improvement to Windows 8.1 especially for laptop/desktop users.

As for the things Windows 10 does not do as good or seen as annoyances vs Windows 8.1, I think Microsoft is looking into fix these things before the release to RTM, if not; a major update in the form of Windows 10.1 next year to fix such annoyances is a very real possibility.

Furthermore the annoyances in Windows 8.1 that have been removed/fix in Windows 10 such as the charms bar, apps switcher, top edge desktop split (basically all edge related stuff use for laptop/desktop users) outweighs any minor annoyances with Windows 10 which can still be fixed with future minor/major OS updates, whereas Windows 8.1 as I see it is EOL for any major updates in future (only security and minor bug fixes).

paulsalter · 11 Jun 2015

BunnyJ said:

MS did state that this is a new start so that would explain why it's not consistent with previous versions of Windows. It seems that MS took the effort this time to make the OS more usable for desktop users than tablet users and I for one like this approach.

I agree that MS took effort to make it more usable for desktop users, but for me they have taken it too far, they have done what they always do, instead of improving on what was there, they do a complete U-turn on how things work

I understand the approach of desktop users as this is the majority of people using windows, but if win 10 is supposed to be a universal os that runs on all form factors then it needs to work well on all these devices

time will tell how this works out, but as I say, I don't have any major issues with 10 on desktop, I will just use it the same as I do 8.1 when on the desktop

nt62 · 11 Jun 2015

Hmm... Overall I think Win8(.1 update 1) is better than Win10

Prefer the immersive Internet Explorer.

Lee · 11 Jun 2015

alphanumeric said:

I see why you like it, I get that. I'm on the other side of the fence is all. I want a Start Screen, not a Start Menu. To me, its a step backwards from Windows 8.1. I was happy to see the start menu go, and now its resurrected.

Lee · 11 Jun 2015

davehc said:

But isn't it still there, but in a slightly changed environment?

I loved the Windows 8/8.1 start screen. I experimented by installing all my software in Windows 10 and pinning to the start screen. Still got the text screen on the side, but, basically, the icon screen is now intact.

Lee · 11 Jun 2015

What is interesting is that we all have likes and dislikes when it comes to the menu. Microsoft cannot please each of us they simply have to go the way of the masses. Now I know someone is going to say this is not what the masses want they want this or that. The problem with that is no one really knows what the masses want other than Microsoft who gets the feedback from the insider program. . . :)

Looey · 11 Jun 2015

Windows 10 has moved some items from the Control Panel to settings. I don't see a reason for that other than for smart phones and tablets maybe. I think it will confuse a lot of people. Why they changed "personalize" on the desktop doesn't make any sense. Microsoft will hear complaints galore when people try to customize Windows 10 for the first time. For example, you have to know to click on themes and then desktop icon settings to make changes. I think Microsoft has added extra steps that didn't need to be there. They took something simple and complicated it.

alphanumeric · 11 Jun 2015

Last I heard eventually everything will move to settings and there will be no control panel.

strollin · 11 Jun 2015

Lee said:

What is interesting is that we all have likes and dislikes when it comes to the menu. Microsoft cannot please each of us they simply have to go the way of the masses. Now I know someone is going to say this is not what the masses want they want this or that. The problem with that is no one really knows what the masses want other than Microsoft who gets the feedback from the insider program. . . :)

Unfortunately, going with what the masses want is not always what's best, after all the masses are a$$es!

Personally, I find Win 10 is different, but not necessarily better than previous versions of Windows. One thing that people complained about with Win 8 is that it was too big of a departure from Win 7. I think Win 10 is an even greater departure from Win 7, despite the addition of the new, clunky Start menu.

I've never understood why people say Win 8 is too touch centric and not desktop friendly, I have no problem using Win 8.x with mouse/keyboard on machines (desktop/laptop) without touch yet can still use it with touch on my tablet.

I'm one that didn't miss the Start menu when it was removed in Win 8 because I pretty much haven't used the Start menu since Win 2000! I don't use the Start screen in Win 8.x and have no use for 3rd party menu apps. I have shortcuts on my Desktop to the majority of my installed software (organized in folders) and if I need to use a rarely used program that I don't have a shortcut for, it's much faster to use the Search function in Win 8.x to find it than to find it in a long, scrolling menu.

ksdixon · 11 Jun 2015

Overall I don't really care about Start Screen vs Start Menu.

Ever since Vista I've only accessed the Start Menu for it's search box, if I needed to go find something that wasn't pinned in my Quick Launch area of the Taskbar. With Windows 7 this changed to only accessing the Start Menu when I wanted the searchbox for something that wasn't pinned to the taskbar, or pinned to that item's jumplist.

I learned to like the Win8.x Start Screen, especially once Win8.1 rolled around and search results were no longer separated into settings/apps/files, and were all displayed together. It acted just the same as Win7's searchbox for me then, except that I moved many of my lesser-used pinned taskbar items off to the Start Screen, and had a less-cluttered taskbar.

I liked Win10's earlier Start Menu attempts, as it largely was the same as the Start Screen in terms of having pinned apps and active live tiles on it. I did being to find the most used files and recently installed files lists which were on the start menu useful though.

But then they started making the Win10 Start Menu look stupid (huge space in-between the two columns of titles as of build 10130), and more awkward to use - such as the useless hamburger menu, adding an extra click to see most used/recently installed lists. the tiles didn't even re-use the hamburger menu space when it was closed-out, it was just dead space.

But overall I could still use the Win10 Start Menu just fine, even if I did think it was butt ugly and somewhat ham-fisted in it's latest incarnation. I was just making the point that I perferred the original vanilla 8.0 behaviour of automatically pinning tiles for newly installed items, and actually uninstalling modern apps when you told it to the first time, from the start screen.

I'm surprised that of all the Win 8.x improvements over Win10 I listed in the opening post, the Start Screen vs Start Menu debate is what has taken the most discussion in this thread so far.