Could a mod/admin please lock comments on this so it doesn't become a flame war, I just purely want to see statistics on what the majority prefer Thanks Voting is still active!
Start Menu. Now, tomorrow, forever... If a flame war ensues, my prediction is it will not be started by someone who voted 'Start Menu'.
I think a 3rd option would have been useful - both. I love the start screen on my living room TV setup, i think the whole tiles interface with full screen apps is perfect for sitting on the sofa. I love the start menu when running it on a desktop monitor whilst sat close to the screen, when sat close i really think the standard menu and desktop is better. So i voted Start screen (as i am primarily using the TV for my PC now), but i find them both equally good for different reasons - this is why i am looking forward to Windows 10, its the best of both worlds combined.
what is this obsession with the start button? is that the make or break feature of windows? Even if it was, there's apps there that put it back in place. I'm confused.
I voted Start Menu, although to be honest I don't really care either way. There should really be a "Don't care" option.
8.1 /w Classic Shell for me. I prefer the start menu over the start screen because if you install alot of programs and games the start screen can get cluttered up and hard to find stuff. Yeah I know that you can organize the start screen but the Classic Shell all ready does that for you.
Start menu could possibly work well but the biggest problem with the whole new UI is the utter stench of phone/tablet UI to it.
Start Screen. You know the way loads of people spread icons across their desktop? Well it's not because their stupid. (Well, some of them are. Well most of them are. But then most of anybody is if you're the right side of the bellcurve. ). It's because it's actually convenient for them. Start Screen is essentially that but done right. I'm a power user. I added up how many programs I typically use. It's around twenty. That's way more than most people. Even on my Windows tablet I can fit about that many programs on its Start Screen. On the desktop machine, it's more like fifty and they're grouped into neat columns, too. Hierarchical menus are good when you need to collapse things to save space. Unless you're using more than fifty programs regularly however, you can be better off with a flat buffet style of selection. Certainly that is better from the point of view of how much mouse movement you need. The only question is whether it is better from a point of view of finding what you need. For this latter question, it comes down to two things - memory and how quickly you can process information. You have logical groupings on the Start Screen. And even if the default isn't intuitive to you, you drag and drop things into where you want them. So you VERY quickly start to learn where something is. Long term, memory is going to be faster than reading and re-reading where something is every time. So Start Screen wins on that because once you know where something is, there's no small mouse movements as you go up and down collapsing / expanding menus. It's all broad strokes. The second aspect is ability to quickly process information - that's before memory has kicked in or if it has been rendered out of date by newly installed programs. In this case we can compare the menu - reading each item, deciding if it is what we want or likely to contain what we want as a child item / menu, and repeating until we get what we want. With the Start Screen, it's eyeballing a flat lot of icons. Most icons are pretty visually different so once you're familiar it's pretty easy to zone in on the type of icon you want. And again, you have the columns as well as colours, so I think they're roughly equal on this. What the menu offers is that it contains EVERYTHING. The Start Screen does not. But the principle you should adhere to is that you optimize for the common case, less so for the rare case. As I said, you can get fifty icons fairly comfortably on the Start Screen on a decent monitor and that is way more than most people use. So we have something that is optimized for accessing all your common programs and the less common, you scroll down to and that's when you see everything. So the Start Screen is optimized for 98% of your program launches. And the "Everything" is still available just with a scroll down. Of course they're not hierarchical, they're now alphabetical. That can be slightly worse depending on scenario. But as I said, in return for this you now have a much faster access to all your common programs and settings. That's my brief hymnal to the Start Screen. There are arguments for sticking with the Start Menu but I find nearly all of them come down to familiarity. And that has merit, but it's also something that doesn't make the menu objectively better as a thing, and it's also an attitude that leads to lack of improvements to things because change has a cost.
This is easily the best post I've seen on Guru3D regarding this topic. There are definitely some small tradeoffs you make with the Start Screen but the overall effect is a net positive. Not only for the common use case, as you said 98% of program launches, but for touch input as well. Everyone here always talks about keyboard and mouse but using a touchscreen with the start menu is nearly impossible. On the Start Screen it's 100% perfectly usable. In fact I'd go as far as to say it's the best touch experience out of any of the major OS's for the tablet form factor. Some will claim this was done at the cost of mouse usability but I disagree for the points you already stated. I think Windows 10 does a good job of blending the two but I still may default to start screen when all is said and done.
I love the start screen... on a W8 phone, tablet or touch screen. Works very well as intended for those devices. On desktop with a mouse, maybe I could like it or even love it if I gave it more of a chance. But I dont want to switch from what is already comfortable for me (smart menu) to something that initially is not. Nor do I like the idea that I have to get used to something (while deprived of the option of my original preference) just because it helps MS goal of unifying their PC and other devices operating systems. What I dont like about the start screen is the All Apps view, where it throws in all irrelevant files belonging to an app (ie, eula files, etc) in the mix. Just f----- horrendous. And then to watch them automatically rearranged each time you remove something. The start menu handles that crap better imo. I wonder to what degree the power of suggestion and marketing is involved. That a rich corporation that spends billions on their products must know better than all as to what is best or ideal for everyone. And to what degree it powers the views of those who are adamant that the start screen must be superior for desktop/mouse usage just because MS designed it and are therefore far more qualified to decide what your prefences should be than yourself. Sure its great for those whose preferences coincide with MS' vision, never mind that it fits in nicely with their objective of unifying their OSs because its economically more feasible for them (which is their ultimate goal), even if its at the cost of alienating a significant user base (majority?) of desktop/mouse users.
Honestly, you can use whatever you want. However, I tried the Windows 10 TP on my computer at home which is connected to a 50 inch LCD TV. 10 minutes later, I switched the start menu back to the start screen because it was far easier to find what I was looking for each time. I have the start screen setup with all of my games and most used programs on it. I have them all organized into groups just the way I like it. It is, click, scroll if I need to, click, done. Since I also know where I placed my program icons, I do not have to go hunting for them or worse, pull out the game box so I can find the company name of the game to open it. (Happens when I have not played the game in a long time.) At work, all that I use are on pinned to the taskbar and I use the start screen mostly for search. I find the start menu to limiting and also, Windows 7 does not list the latest used programs like Vista did. (Not sure what they changed but it does not work.)
Start Menu for sure but I will give the start screen shown in the Continuum concept vid a chance when it lands.
