The Change, Windows 8 says goodbye to the Start button
the feature has changed. and Microsoft's newest OS contains the biggest changes seen since Windows 95, including a completely new interface and no more 'Start' button.The disappearance of the Start button in Microsoft’s new Windows has proved unsettling for users. “I want Start. Start I say,” said an early tester in a post entitled "Worst 60 minutes in my entire life".
One year on, and the Start screen is still a contentious issue. “The advantage of the overlaid menu is that it preserves context. Cognitively, there’s more of a burden when you have to switch context twice (desktop->start screen; start screen -> desktop),” said Raluca Budiu of the Nielsen Norman Group in an interview.
The big question: is the Start screen really a faulty design, or is the negative reaction more to do with unfamiliarity? My own experience after living with Windows 8 almost exclusively for several weeks is that the issue disappears as you learn new ways of working. Here are three reasons why it is not, in fact, a cognitive burden, even for a desktop user.
First, desktop users rarely need to see the Start screen. Since Windows 7 the taskbar has been an application launcher as well as a switcher. Pin the applications you use most often to the taskbar, and you rarely need the Start menu. This is the reason Microsoft gives for removing the Start button, though it seems plausible that another goal to make the user interface formerly known as Metro more prominent.
