Despite Windows 10, Third-Party Start Menus Will Live On

I support friends in my district and none of them know or care about start menus. I don't care about them, either.

With my win 8 clients I start them booting into the desktop, with commonly used shortcuts on the taskbar and a few on the desktop. Just like we are used to!

Just can't understand the obsessing over the start menu. Are the obsessors people who have 2,000 progs installed?? If so, they certainly aren't in the majority.

besb said:

But I would love to know how MS do there sampling.

Not sure what you mean by "sampling", but Microsoft does perform telemetry through the CEIP. Here's an excerpt from a blog.

To really bring this all home, let’s take a look at where people are pinning their apps. Figure 4 reveals that 85% of people have three or more items pinned to the taskbar compared to a mere 23% who have the same number pinned to the Start menu. Although the taskbar and Start menu have different pinned defaults, many people do customize both of them when they want to. The message is clear that the majority of people want most of their apps on the taskbar rather than having to dig into Start menu.

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We also know that enthusiasts in particular use their Windows 7 taskbar even more than the Start menu. Keyboard shortcuts like Win + <n> (where n corresponds to the sequence of an application icon on the taskbar) make it even faster for the keyboard experts to instantly launch and switch with the taskbar (and those shortcuts continue to work in Windows 8). When we visit IT pros, it’s not uncommon for us to see a taskbar filled with icons for standard corporate desktops. We even see items like Control Panel pinned to the taskbar to save people a trip to Start. Pinning is also increasing in popularly because you can now also pin websites to your taskbar with IE 9. Fortunately, there’s plenty of room on the taskbar—even at 1024x768 the taskbar can hold 22 small icons. Add the power of Jump lists, and theoretically, you can also have access to 220 files, folders, and sites at that same resolution! This means that for those who wish to just use desktop apps, the taskbar provides the room to quickly access the things you need every day without going to the Start menu.

Source: Evolving the Start menu - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

I realize that's a little old, but it's the reason they headed in a different direction with 8. I think the big mistake they made was not introducing the option to boot to the desktop screen as we see in 8.1. Use of All apps screen instead of Start Screen also.

Not sure about you, but I can't tell you how many desktop screens I've seen with icons plastered all over it. I think that's where they got the idea of the Start Screen. Personally I don't understand how people miss the beauty of the Start Screen. Being a "keyboarder" for years the touch-oriented UI actually makes navigation with the keyboard much quicker. At-a-glance personal information also.

To me the Start Screen/All apps combo Start menu in 10 is actually a big step backwards so far as navigation with a keyboard, but at least there's the personal info.

linw said:

Just can't understand the obsessing over the start menu. Are the obsessors people who have 2,000 progs installed?? If so, they certainly aren't in the majority.

Once people learn about other options, they tend to go that route (taskbar pins, toolbars, even folders on the desktop). There are some firends that I can't get to clean up their desktop - hundreds of icons .. the reason is they know where to click. I've cleaned up many desktops and the complaint is "I can't find anything now" and they put everything back where it was (this is more common than you would think - but there are a lot of left brainers out there 50% )

I wouldn't categorize it as an obsession with the menu (I really, really dislike the Start reference). I think most members want Win10 to be a huge success and they remember the faux issue with Win8.0 - I for one do not want Win10 to fail on similar issue. Even after Win 8.1 - no one wanted it. There are many members who prefer the Win8.1 Menu and All apps screen - I think the All apps screen is far superior to the tiny alpha-numeric sorted, un-groupable (Ok, you can put all 3rd party apps in a alpha-numeric folder with alpha-numeric sub-folders), frequently used, recently, used, just added, apps. I get tired of clicking to remove these buggers.

Anyway - it's more of a desire to make this thing the best it can be, and not, IMO, an obsession. MS simply rubber banded and bubble gummed a crappy list to a very good menu (again - that's my opinion).

As many members have already stated (and I have ad infinitum)- this iteration of the menu went in the wrong direction. It is less functional than the All Apps and less pleasing to the eye.

I use 3rd party on 8.1, will probably use it with 10 as well on my PC. I unpin every app from the desktop except the recycle bin. The apps on the desktop remind me of a 3rd grade coloring book starting with win8. I'll do textual "flyouts" from the taskbar if the 3rd party is unsatisfactory. On the otherhand, will stick with apps on my window phone screen. ..and no I am not going with Linux, will ride W7 to the end and then put it away wet.