| 1) Add shortcuts to the Desktop [1] (since 95) 2) Win+R Run dialog [2] (since 95) 3) Pin to the Taskbar [3] (since Vista) 4) Windows key and type [4] (since Vista) 5) PowerToys Run (new; optional addon from GitHub Microsoft/PowerToys; mentioned in article), and similar tools from third party vendors [1] So many Installers since '95 still do this by default. I've seen so many Windows users that that's how they launch everything, from a super cluttered Desktop that constantly rearrange. It's partly why I turn off the Desktop entirely, as I personally don't have an interest in managing that cluttered mess. [2] Not something I'd recommend today, but a lot of people have ingrained muscle memory going all the way back to '95. It has an interesting search heuristic and you don't always need to type a full path. Plus it has autocomplete when you do need to type a full path. [3] I keep a lot of important things pinned. Pins are also great because they give you automatic global shortcuts for free. Win+{N} where N is between 1 and 9 (inc.) and is the number of the pin in taskbar order. [4] Searches all installed apps, enter to launch. Arrow keys to navigate if multiple suggestions. Quick, fast, convenient. Microsoft said when building Windows 8 most of their telemetry showed "no one" actually used the Start Menu to launch apps and people either fell into bucket [1] or bucket [3 + 4] (me), with a few stodgy outliers in the bucket [1 + 2] camp. The full screen Start Menu acts the way most Desktop-heavy users work (hiding all Windows until they could see the Desktop to launch their next app, whether by one of the Minimize All Windows shortcuts or the actual Win+D Desktop shortcut), and helped bring down the amount of auto-installed clutter for those of us in the [3 + 4] camp that didn't want to manage the Desktop as it has been since '95. As a fun lesson in telemetry, because Vista and 7's telemetry for app launching "mechanism" was opt-in, apparently the people that actually used the Start Menu as a Menu mostly failed to ever opt-in. The vocal anger of that very crowd at Windows 8 is a large part of why Windows 10 moved to a more opt-out telemetry model to avoid the sorts of assumptions that happened in Windows 8. (The irony shouldn't be lost that many of the same people that hated Windows 8 for ignoring their use cases are the same that hate telemetry in general. It shouldn't be that shocking that Microsoft doesn't cater to your use cases if they can't gather telemetry to know that you exist. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) |
User research isn't limited to, and existed before, telemetry. Telemetry, if used, should be an additional channel of user research, not an excuse to be lazy.