Why the Windows 10 Start screen is slowly growing on me

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
    Why the Windows 10 Start screen is slowly growing on me

    Why the Windows 10 Start screen is slowly growing on me


    Posted: 29 Apr 2016

    I swore off the tiled Windows Start screen back in the days of Windows 8 but the Start screen in Windows 10 has its appeal. If you give it a chance, you might discover the same thing.

    Windows 8 felt a lot like a shotgun wedding. Whether we wanted it or not, we were all forced into the brand-new and definitely-not-our-Start-menu Start screen. In fact, it wasn't clear how to find the desktop, or even get to the Start screen from the desktop. It was like you were supposed to hold your hands to your forehead and somehow channel instructions from spirit of Steve Ballmer to get anything to work.

    For many of us, the Windows 8 Start screen was the symbol of everything Microsoft had done wrong. It upended years of customer experience. It provided no native choice or option. It hid all visual cues. It attempted to force a flawed vision of computing down the throats of its customers.

    I am convinced that the mobile revolution and the high uptake of tablets wasn't solely because tablets were the new hotness. I'm convinced that Microsoft's seemingly suicidal effort to collectively piss off all its customers hurried the process along -- and that resulted in a vastly diminished traditional PC business.

    Many of us who were committed to the Windows platform routed around the Start screen by installing little add-ons that returned Windows 8 back to something seeming like sanity.

    The Start screen was a failed experiment, set to join Microsoft Bob and Clippy in the bowels of business school case studies along with New Coke and Jell-o for Salads (yep, that was a product).

    But unlike New Coke, the Start screen wasn't taken out and shot. It eventually wound up buried in Windows 10, accessible as an option.

    After Windows 8, Microsoft reluctantly started listening to customers (those it had left). When Windows 8.1 rolled out, there was a barely functional Start menu that made it as clear as possible through its poor design and barely functional functionality that the product's designers were only grudgingly putting the Start menu back in.

    Sometime between Windows 8 and Windows 10, something changed. I'm not saying it was the replacement of Ballmer with Satya Nadella, but Windows 10 was clearly the spiritual successor to the ultra-popular Windows 7, and the Start menu proved it...


    Read more: Why the Windows 10 Start screen is slowly growing on me | ZDNet
    Brink's Avatar Posted By: Brink
    29 Apr 2016


  1. Posts : 321
    Windows
       #1

    It isn't.
    Tablet Mode needs lots of touch improvements.
    Text and file name spacing needs to be enlarged and spaced accordingly.

    A metro style touch oriented file explorer that included all modern features would be nice
    When using the optional tablet mode and start screen.

    As soon as tablet mode is engaged,
    All file names and controls should be expanded and auto spaced
    For large FINGERTIPS.

    Now, enlarging anything not with the magnifier crams and jams fonts to a mishmash.
    Touch features need to be larger than a finger tip.

    Everyone is not on board with this multi device synchronization entanglement.

    Using build 10240, it is ok and interesting but blocks animation
    running on the desktop unless using deskscapes.

    Also, in tablet mode, it limits WinTV to only partial full screen.

    I do not use deskscapes anymore so I prefer to not to use tablet mode
    with options to always return to the start screen.

    My system runs an animated clock as wallpaper.

    Found an interesting file manager that can be transparent which is not possible
    using file explorer without an addon.
    Point is, the 10 start screen is not a transparency, it blocks view of the desktop.

    Forced maximized windows did not happen in 8 and 8.1.1 while using file explorer.
    Store - Metro apps are full screen for touch - fingertip sized pointer controls.

    Maximizing an explorer window with microscopic sized text
    in touch mode Is ridiculous.

    Windows is not coded to auto space enormous enlargements
    without jamming fonts into each other.

    Using the start screen in 10 also does not allow for touch oriented side movements.
    Anything selected will automatically block whatever else from view.
    IMHO, the 10 start screen is worse than the windows 8 start screen.

    Still a fan of 8 and use it from time to time.
    Posted with 10240 on a surface 3 using free wifi.
    Last edited by nt62; 02 May 2016 at 11:46.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 305
    Windows 10
       #2

    Man, that Start Screen was the reason that I got Windows 8. I loved it from the start (Get it?) Once I had installed the free Classic Shell Start Button, 8 was faster and better than 7 in almost every way.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 505
    Windows 10 Pro (Mix of Builds) / Linux Mint
       #3

    I don't use tablet mode on my laptop, so no comment there.

    But the newest start menu is nice, love it. Moving notification icon to far right as well means with peripheral vision I can instantly see if I have any, I think we're int eh right direction, much better than the last builds, and 7.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 630
       #4

    I am not a fan of 10, and like others I like my Windows 8, I still prefer the old Windows 7 menu over 10 by a gazillion times. So, no brainer for me. 10 offers nothing that would make me switch.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,128
    Windows 10 Pro Insider
       #5

    I prefer the Start Menu. Especially the new Start Menu in the Insider Build.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 2,297
    Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
       #6

    I skipped over Windows 8 and 8.1, purely because of the start menu. I want my computer to be a computer, not some kind of hybrid tablet. I much prefer Windows 7 but I am reasonably happy with 10. Aesthetically the start menu looks nice on it. The live tiles embedded within a start menu that has similarities to that of 7 is a good thing. Live tiles look good and are helpful but not at the expense of the traditional start menu. I suppose the only thing I don't like is within the all apps list you cannot have sub folder categories. For example I have a few EA sports games. Under 7 there would be a EA Sports folder and then sub folders for each game title. Now they all show under EA Sports with all the extra things like web links, uninstall etc and it just looks a bit messy
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 23,195
    Windows 10
       #7

    Not a huge fan of the Start Menu, but like 8.1 it can be easily ignored, mostly

    Just wish we had the traditional desktop as in 8.1, 10 in too tablet looking for me

    If the scaling of apps in 10 gets changed, then my views might, they are too large on my machine
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 221
    Win10
       #8

    Scottyboy99 said:
    I skipped over Windows 8 and 8.1, purely because of the start menu. I want my computer to be a computer, not some kind of hybrid tablet. I much prefer Windows 7 but I am reasonably happy with 10. Aesthetically the start menu looks nice on it. The live tiles embedded within a start menu that has similarities to that of 7 is a good thing. Live tiles look good and are helpful but not at the expense of the traditional start menu. I suppose the only thing I don't like is within the all apps list you cannot have sub folder categories. For example I have a few EA sports games. Under 7 there would be a EA Sports folder and then sub folders for each game title. Now they all show under EA Sports with all the extra things like web links, uninstall etc and it just looks a bit messy
    Exactly describes my thoughts on it, as well.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 512
    Windows 10 Version 1909 (Build 18363.815
       #9

    I really think it's great to have choices - I use the Windows 10 Start Menu AND the Classic Shell Start Menu alternately, depending on my mood. Both have some merits and some drawbacks, but it's fun to have a change of scene.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 00:50.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums