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5/02/2014

Start Menu Will Make a Comeback in Windows 8.1 Updates or Later

Some of you might have already read about this news but if you have not heard about it yet, here is a great news for you.

After getting so many complaints about removal of Start Menu from Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and numerous requests to bring Start Menu back to Windows, Microsoft has finally decided to put Start Menu back in Windows operating system.
Yes, you heard it right. Its an official news not any rumor. Its definitely going to happen. But its not very clear which Windows version will have this new Start Menu. Its not coming in the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 but it might come in another future update for Windows 8.1 or in Windows 8.2 or in Windows 9 and so on. But one thing is sure, Microsoft is going to add Start Menu back in Windows and we'll see it soon.

When Microsoft replaced Start Menu with Start Screen in Windows 8, many Windows users didn't like this change and people started having troubles while using the new Start Screen. People had to depend upon 3rd party software such as Classic Shell, ViStart, Start8, etc to add Windows 7 style Start Menu to Windows 8 and 8.1.

Although Microsoft made some enhancements to Start Screen in Windows 8.1 to provide Start Menu like functionality such as adding a new option to make "All Apps" page as default page in Start Screen, etc as mentioned in this tutorial, but it was not a proper Start Menu and couldn't satisfy Windows users who were demanding a fully functional Start Menu in Windows 8/8.1.

Now Microsoft has made an official announcement that its going to put a new Metro style Start Menu in future version of Windows which will look like following:

Future_Windows_UI_Preview.png


You can see in the screenshot that the new Start Menu looks similar to Windows 7 style Start Menu but it also contains live tiles which are usually shown on Start Screen in present Windows versions. It seems the new Start Menu will be a combination of traditional Start Menu and the new Start Screen. It'll contain the best features of both of the things and will definitely please all Windows users.
A closer look at new Start Menu:


New_Start_Menu_with_Live_Tiles.png

If you love the new Start Screen, don't worry! Microsoft is not going to remove Start Screen from future Windows versions. Microsoft will provide an option to enable/disable this new Start Menu.
If you look carefully in the first screenshot, you'll also notice that a metro app "Mail" is also running in windowed mode which means in future version of Windows, users will be able to run metro apps on Desktop as well.
Metro app running at Desktop:

Metro_App_Windowed_Mode.png

It seems Microsoft is really listening our requests which we made long time back in following wishlist topic:

[Wishlist] Features You Want to See in Next Windows Version

You can see many of our wishes such as options for direct boot to Desktop, turn on/off Charms bar, quick access to power options from Start Screen, customize Start Screen background image have already been fulfilled by Microsoft and some others such as adding option to enable/disable Start Menu is going to be fulfilled in future versions of Windows.
What do you think about this move of Microsoft? Did you like this new hybrid Start Menu? Feel free to share your comments...Source: http://www.askvg.com/start-menu-will-make-a-comeback-in-windows-8-1-updates-or-later/