Microsoft takes tweaking tongs to Windows 10's Start Menu once again Microsoft has unveiled a long-teased update to the Windows 10 Start Menu for its loyal fans... or at least some of them. Marking yet another step away from the vision of Windows 8, Dev Channel Windows Insiders were treated to a "more streamlined design", which Microsoft described as "refined", free of the Windows 8-style solid …
I often browse with quite a lot of tabs open. Including them within Alt-Tab just adds extra incentive not to use Edge.
As it is, I've seen screenshots of the new start menu, it really is just a case of applying a little bit of lipstick to a pig. It still looks crap and in need of a complete overhaul. Or ideally, just revert it back to something more like the start menu from Windows 7.
would be admitting defeat.
Even before I read this comment I was thinking something along those lines.
It's as if those execs who foisted Win 8 on us, insisted it was wonderful and what everyone wanted, then launched their shill army to pretend everyone loved it, are still refusing to give up.
Now they're hiding in the woods and launching annoying darts of Modern at us when they think we're not watching.
Why ?
<i?the decidedly old-school world of the Control Panel System page now fall into the About page of Settings. </i>
The Control Panel did what it did. I don't say it was perfect, but it did what was needed.
So what's the point of shifting everything around into a place that's still a Control Panelly sort of space?
It's a bit like when a library moves the Crime and the Thriller sections of books into one called Crime and Thriller- on the same bookcase. (Or the opposite for that matter).
Exactly my thinking, when I first got W10, finding so many basic functions that were still in use but moved to obscure locations and a naming convention that is anything but bleedin' obvious, took me some time to overcome and produced some choice language.
Gradually and grudgingly, Microsith goes back to to some of the better functions of prior incarnations but not often enough.
I'm a long term Windows System Admin and User. Personally, I don't understand why Microsoft needed to change Control Panel to "Settings". "Settings" may be a better name than "Control Panel". This is debatable, as it contains controls, and every machine has some sort of Control Panel, even if it's just an on/off switch, and some of the "Settings" listed in the settings page aren't, strictly speaking settings. The Add Hardware "settings" are, I would argue, Controls.
Sure change the layout of the control panel, but keep it as a control panel. No need to create something else to do the same job. Certainly no need to create the current mess in Windows 10 with some controls/settings being available in either the Control Panel, or Settings page (looking at you System Center Configuration manager control panel), and some being available in both.
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Agree. The reason they changed it to Settings was because instead of evolving the Control Panel into what they wanted it to be in Windows 8, they decided to go scorched earth and start again with something new..They needed a new name and conveniently forgot that Control Panel was a universally known name that had value.
This is one area where Apple scores much better. When they name something, the name is a good one and designed to last. The file browser has had the same name since 1986, whereas Microsoft has had three. And Apple even hark back to past names when it makes sense e.g. Sidecar. They try to manage down the number of concepts their users need to hold in their heads.
Even worse is apart from Settings being a mess and badly designed with endless wasted space so it now takes up a full screen, I could in Control Panel have multiple Control Panel Applets open at the same time, I cannot do that in Settings. It has improved NOTHING but made many things Worse.
Maybe that should be Microsofts new slogan? Improve nothing and make things worse.
"So what's the point of shifting everything around into a place that's still a Control Panelly sort of space?"
It's about the CONTROL, and not the "Panel" we're used to (for windows 7 holdouts, anyway). Micros~1 will FORCE YOU to like "Settings" by MAKING you use it!
(it's kinda like holding your dog's nose in whatever it was he did that you do not like. He probably won't get the message, other than "you are bigger than me and can do this")
My supermarket has not changed it's ilse for at least 5 years. May be getting on 10 now. They did have one switch other at one point. And sometimes move the crisp isle, but generally only when they increase/decrease the size of the stock types.
They have however completely redone the fresh food deli and replaced most of it with an expensive massively overstocked "olive bar" with fresh olives that all rot, as we have the demand for about 2 tubs of the stuff a week (I like them, but cannot eat 2 shelves worth!).
Now? Now they closed the butchers entirely. Ok, enough of that rant, but for all their faults, moving shelves is not one!
This does not sound like one of the major chain supermarkets, where product positioning is determined by head office algorithmically according to some arcane combination of profit margins - including supplier payments or discounts for premium locations, demand prediction (including advertising campaigns), and customer tracking. As well as good old fashioned seasonal variations.
"It's a bit like when a library moves the Crime and the Thriller sections of books into one called Crime and Thriller- on the same bookcase. (Or the opposite for that matter)."
Or when they put several Crime and Thriller sections in different parts of the library and randomly put the crime and thriller books into any one of those sections. Or maybe have the Hound of the Baskervilles in two different sections, but each one being a different version of the same story.
This, for me, isn't an improvement. Quite the opposite. During the normal run of things, while surfing, I can end up with a lot of tabs open. Not hundreds, but certainly a lot, and I do regularly remove unused tabs. I use Alt+Tab to switch between different applications, as it can be quicker than clicking on the taskbar button (if busy, I tend to use the keyboard in preference to the mouse/trackball). If I want to switch between browser tabs, there is already a shortcut for that, CTRL+TAB..
I actually prefer some app icons having different colored backgrounds; makes them easier to find. If all the tiles are going to end up looking the same -- white widget on semi-trans -- then might as well just give me an ordered list (curated, not the full list) instead of tiles.
Oh, wait, I rarely use that menu anyway since I tend to also pin the same things to the taskbar. Same problem, though: if all the icons will eventually lose their color, then quickly telling things apart (especially the parts of MS Office) will be impossible.
To be fair, it is rather inappropriate to criticize Microsoft for the mix of modern Metro and old skool app icons. As you know, app icons are provided by the app publisher as either an icon file or embedded in a DLL / EXE, and therefore Microsoft would have to create and supply new icons for software that it didn't even write nor is responsible for the upkeep thereto.
I am surprised that the bean counters at Microsoft haven't floated the idea of a Plus Pack for W10 that includes a tool for changing the desktop theme to something other than the stock Windows 10 theme. Some of the code for legacy Windows themes is still in there as you can tease out the old 9x and XP style themes when you tweak the compatibility mode of a 32-bit exe.
I've been moaning a lot about Windows 10 lately but am pleased with this new start menu. Might be too little too late but at least it shows design is getting some focus again inside of MS, after them completely ignoring it for years.
The tabs in the task switcher idea is ridiculous though. This has been tried before with Windows Phone and I believe Chrome OS, and nobody likes it. Ctrl-Tab is for switching tabs, not Alt-Tab. They should improve how Ctrl-Tab works
The "Programmable Taskbar" will only apply to new accounts or first logins, and Microsoft plans to tailor the layouts "based on user and device signal" to cut down on "perceptions of bloatware".
Leaving aside the absurd suggestion that Microsoft will do anything to reduce bloatware, I really do not want them auto-magically sticking things on my taskbar. It's the one place in Windows where I'm in control, and they can stay out of it.
The updates to the Start Menu look to be meh at best. What I would like the Rejects of Redmond do is fix USB connectivity of wireless keyboards. It is rather irritating to be typing something and suddenly nothing appears as I hit keys. And the real irritation is when this happens when logging in.
Are you all deaf or something? Several people above have suggested that you install Classic/Open Shell and choose your Menu layout. You can have Win 2000, Win XP, Win 7, and you can even customise it to make your own unique layout. I have it on EVERY Windows PC I use including several VMs. When I have to connect to a customers PC I greet the tile interface with a groan of resignation and then spend the next 45 mins trying to find what I need to resolve their issue. If MS were going to listen to their users they would have listened by now, but they just listen to their Marketing and Design people and don't seem to give a flying **** about their customers, so just install Classic/Open Shell and end 99% of your menu woes. I have even persuaded several customers to use it over the years. I have nothing to do with the team who developed it but I would like thank them from the bottom of my heart for a great product that has probably saved me hundreds of hours of wasted time over the years.
<start rant>
This is a moan about possibly all desktop updates although Windows 10 is a particularly egregious case . One of the things that really bugs me about desktop updates is this constant need by the developers to tweak the appearance of the desktop. A little bit of background shading here, let's move that menu over there. It is much like the continual rearrangements of groceries in supermarkets. Biscuits have been moved nearly 50 metres from aisle 4 to aisle 32 in my superstore. They are the same bloody biscuits, just made more difficult to find. Same with desktops. If there was new functionality there may be an excuse but layout changes for the sake of it? It is putting different coloured lipstick on a pig.
I can appreciate the value of modernising things when the developers release an entirely new operating system like they did moving from Windows 7 to Windows 8 (ok, change is not always good and you can trust Microsoft to screw things up) but at least the user has the option to refuse. I chose (still choose) to remain on Windows 7 for that reason. But when I update my existing system I don't expect it to look, feel and operate differently afterwards.
When i send my car to the garage for a service it doesn't come back with a changed paint job, no fifth gear and the instruments reading in metric. I want the same for my PC.
<end rant>
Actually, I just came here to see all the nasty comments from the Macintosh / Safari weenies. heh-heh..
Com'n, you el-Rag punks! Let's see how many downvotes you can give me!
Don't forget to keep spelling it as M$ ... And keep saying Win-XP will NEVER DIE! Right?
If the latest 'update' is anything to go by it'll screw things up. My reasonably fast lap-top and my work tower have both slowed down significantly when started/rebooted, now instead of ~15 seconds it's over a minute before it's possible to login, then often several more before you can do anything with it. ITS SHIT Microshite!
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