Even if you don’t use Windows often, you probably know to head for the Start button to get things rolling. Not any more, though, because Microsoft might be planning to dump the button in the next Windows release.
The Start button’s been in existence since Windows 95, making it about 17 years old. But the “Consumer Preview” of Windows 8 doesn’t have one, reports The Verge. That’s according to new leaked images like the one below, of course. In other versions that have been seen, the Start button has been flattened to blend in with the new Metro styling, so it’s not definite that the — quite literally — iconic button will disappear.
What if the Start button does go? The Verge says that a contact close to the Microsoft development team suggests it wouldn’t really be the end of the Start button: instead, the operating system would feature a hot corner to do a similar job. Sound familiar, Mac users? [The Verge; Images: freestockimages, PCBeta]
GigZ333
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 11:31 PMno. thats a fake.
Cabbage
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:19 AMI hope you are right GigZ. Its bad enough they turned the start menu into all images- but to remove the start menu/button would be horrid.
GigZ333
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 8:33 AMyou can tell by that image above isnt full print screen. which obviously shows its a fake already.
Timmahh
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:55 AMThe Metro front end can be switched off for non touch screens, so it won’t be an issue.
Peter Damiani
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:19 AMWell it is a little confusing to touch ” start ” so that you can then stop the computer !
Matt
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 8:55 AM‘Stop the computer?’
Are you like 5? :/
Prometheus
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:26 AMMore likely that everyone on the internet is becoming increasingly less articulate. Looking @you twitter & facebook.
Lillee
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:32 AMYou actually shut your computer down? Mine shuts itself down, you might want to try it sometime
MotorMouth
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:34 AMI imagine that’s why it hasn’t had the “Start” label since WinXP, although you do “start” the shutdown process, so it makes sense anyway. I also imagine that the Win key on a keyboard will still serve the same function, as it does now.
Wok
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 1:02 PM+1
RooBoy
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:33 AMAhh Microsoft… trailing in design and evolution yet again.. way to be #1.. oh wait
Timmahh
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:57 AMWin 8 will be a game changer and ubiquitous to all platforms. It’s also lightning quick, so your derision is a little short sighted me thinks!
MotorMouth
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:41 AMRooBoy, you must have missed the article a couple of weeks ago that reminded everyone that there are more Win7 licenses out there than all iOS and Android licenses combined. So yes, Windows is still number one by a huge margin. X-Box is also no. 1 in its segment, as is Office, so I think it is more than reasonable to think of Microsoft as the undisputed no. 1 overall, don’t you?
Jaezass
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:01 AMI doubt that the start button will be completely removed. It’s too much of an icon for MS. More likely they will give you a choice!
MotorMouth
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:36 AMJamie, I’m a Mac user and I don’t know what you’re referring to with the “sound familiar to Mac users” crack. If there is such a function in OS X, I am unaware of it, which shows what a stupid idea it is to have unlabelled hot zones on any UI.
Blake
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:09 AMI agree, especially for something with instant impact.
My biggest hate in Win7 is the show desktop thing in the corner of the start bar, I’ve always just waved my cursor down to the bottom corner whenever it was in the way of whatever I was doing, but now doing so defaults to making what I was working on invisible so I can… See my background with some window outlines on it?
I can’t imagine them removing the button. It’s there to make it easier for new users, and Microsoft are all about the catering to everybody.
If it seriously is removed from the current build, it’s probably just so they can test out what people thought. They’re big on actual usability studies it would seem.
Hesh
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:50 AMim inclined to agree with the first commenter. this looks very fake.
TSH
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:46 PMUpon reflection MS could go either way, and it would work. On balance it would be best to keep the Start button (icon) on screen but the Windows key has been a feature of the PC for as long as the Start button, and has served the exact same function (bringing up the Start menu) for that long too.
iOS wasn’t hurt by not having a “home” icon – instead is has a single hardware button that takes you back to the launcher. Similarly, Win8 *could* eliminate the Start icon and return the Start menu to the all-purpose launcher it is supposed to be, at the press of a hardware “Windows” or “start” button.
I don’t think MS will though. The Start menu works this way already (I hit “Windows” and start typing to start pretty much any program, control panel, or even find documents on my machine) and there’s no harm in leaving the icon there for the keyboard-impaired to click on :–P