[to3m]

Right - so it works like the Windows 7 one, so what need was there to change? :)

I've used Windows regularly since Windows '95 (when it was Windows 3.x, I preferred DOS...) and the loss of the start menu is actually quite annoying. After 17 years you get used to these things and having them changed around is about as helpful as somebody swapping your left and right feet.

I've seen plenty of worthwhile changes, that required some adjustment but were ultimately worthwhile. Addition of start screen is fine; you get nice big blocks to click on, I like that. Total removal of start menu is bullshit. Just another revolution of the tech hamsterwheel, taking you nowhere.

[canthonytucci]

>otal removal of start menu is bullshit. Just another revolution of the tech hamsterwheel, taking you nowhere.

If you really miss it, third party solutions have been around to solve this problem since the RC.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/141702-how-to-bring-the...

A co-worker recommends classic shell, though some of the others look pretty nice as well.

[freehunter]

The iPad doesn't have a start menu. Android doesn't have a start menu. That doesn't seem to be terribly disruptive to many workflows.

[meepmorp]

Neither of those OSes is Windows, which has millions of users with 15-20 years of ingrained habits and tricks that work just fine for them and have for years.

It's different for Windows because Windows occupies a totally different part of the computing world.

[freehunter]

You might as well say that Windows 8 doesn't work for Windows because Windows 8 occupies a different part of the computing world. It exists in a market where an ever increasing number of people are telling Microsoft that Windows Classic is an unfeasible product to revolve a business around.

For years techies and the media have been clamoring for the end of Windows, the end of the desktop, and the post-PC world. Now it's here and has somehow caught everyone off-guard in that Microsoft actually listened.

[to3m]

Perhaps if the whole thing had been a ground-up redesign, a genuine end to Windows, they'd have had more success? As it is, it's Windows 7 (or near enough) with some Metro jazz tacked on as an afterthought. It's not different enough to be exciting, simply different enough to be annoying.

Or maybe MS simply shouldn't have listened ;)

[to3m]

iPad? Workflow? :)