Windows 8 Start Screen Alternative

[heisenberg]

Start8 changes less things in Windows 8 than Classic Shell does. Classic Shell changes LOTS of stuff in Windows 8 to make it much more like Windows 7, down to menu trees, icons, navigation, etc. Start8 basically adds the Start Button back into the Windows 8 desktop mode, but does not extensively change anything else. The added Start Button looks and acts like the Windows 7 Start Button, only it is "flat" like Windows 8 and has the Windows 8 logo on it. For those who want to retain all of the functionality of Windows 8 but add the Start Button back, Start8 is the best option. Also, installing Start8 makes it so that when you hit the Windows key on the keyboard, it brings up the Start8 menu instead of jumping to the Metro Start Screen. You can get to the Metro UI by using the Start icon on the Charms Bar. There is also a Start Screen icon at the top of the Start8 menu.

It does cost $4.99, but worth every penny.

Classicshell wasn't the only one there. There is startW8, start menu 8 vistart etc... .

 

[Overmind One]

Classicshell wasn't the only one there. There is startW8, start menu 8 vistart etc... .

Im a fan of any of them that do not change the base code of Windows 8 in a big way. . One thing they got right (and there are very few things on that list) is that Windows 8 is FAST. It is the fastest Windows ever created, and most of that speed appears to have come from cleaning up the legacy code in Windows which has been there since Windows 95. The registry is smaller, the .dlls are cleaner and more efficient. Adding the Start menu and button are fairly straightforward, and you can actually do your own with a tiny line of code.

But guess what?

Microsoft is bringing the Start Menu back on its own! Yes, its true:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/22/4251610/windows-8-1-start-button

Microsoft's change of heart follows another recent planned change for Windows 8.1: a boot to desktop option. We understand Microsoft will add an option to allow users to boot directly to the traditional desktop environment in future builds of the upcoming Windows 8 upgrade. Most internal builds of Windows 8.1 do not include the Start button or boot to desktop options, but Microsoft is said to be planning how to add these into the operating system.

Lets be frank here. Windows 8 has been a DISMAL FAILURE for Microsoft, not just in the enterprise but also in the consumer market. The adoption figures show its trajectory as being the worst of all Windows operating systems, including Vista. Windows Phone is not doing well, and is not selling the EXCELLENT Lumia 920 which beats Apple iPhone specs by leagues.

This next update to Windows 8 (they are calling it Windows Blue) is technically a mini Service Pack. It is a direct response to consumer rejection of this operating system. A quick check with an insider says that these enhancements like being able to boot directly to the desktop and the return of the Start menu is going to find its way onto Server 2012 as well.

 

[Overmind One]

There's more....evidently, the new Start Button Microsoft is going to add will merely take you to the Start Screen and the Metro UI. I hope this changes, since the main reason people want their Start Button back is to get the Start menu which comes with it. If it does not come back, then the people who make Start8 are going to make a fortune.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Im a fan of any of them that do not change the base code of Windows 8 in a big way. .

How would a shell overlay change the base code? It's just a shell, not a replacement kernel.
--- merged: Apr 25, 2013 at 4:11 PM ---

There's more....evidently, the new Start Button Microsoft is going to add will merely take you to the Start Screen and the Metro UI. I hope this changes, since the main reason people want their Start Button back is to get the Start menu which comes with it. If it does not come back, then the people who make Start8 are going to make a fortune.

Arrogance, my brother, is what drives Microsoft. They've gotten way too big for their britches and now they're pulling an SGU/Mallozzi on us with their OS by telling consumers they're too stupid to appreciate the new UI so they're gonna keep shoving it down their throats until they become numb to it.

 

[Overmind One]

How would a shell overlay change the base code? It's just a shell, not a replacement kernel.

True, I should not have used the term "base code"...but it changes navigation in such a way that some Windows 8 functionality is lost. This is basically a "skin".

 

[heisenberg]

Im a fan of any of them that do not change the base code of Windows 8 in a big way. . One thing they got right (and there are very few things on that list) is that Windows 8 is FAST. It is the fastest Windows ever created, and most of that speed appears to have come from cleaning up the legacy code in Windows which has been there since Windows 95. The registry is smaller, the .dlls are cleaner and more efficient. Adding the Start menu and button are fairly straightforward, and you can actually do your own with a tiny line of code.

But guess what?

Microsoft is bringing the Start Menu back on its own! Yes, its true:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/22/4251610/windows-8-1-start-button



Lets be frank here. Windows 8 has been a DISMAL FAILURE for Microsoft, not just in the enterprise but also in the consumer market. The adoption figures show its trajectory as being the worst of all Windows operating systems, including Vista. Windows Phone is not doing well, and is not selling the EXCELLENT Lumia 920 which beats Apple iPhone specs by leagues.

This next update to Windows 8 (they are calling it Windows Blue) is technically a mini Service Pack. It is a direct response to consumer rejection of this operating system. A quick check with an insider says that these enhancements like being able to boot directly to the desktop and the return of the Start menu is going to find its way onto Server 2012 as well.

Agreed here. Two reasons why windows 8 "failed".
A) Windows 8 although it's aesthetically pleasing, they shouldn't have removed the startmenu completely and alienated those who have grown up with the start menu.

B)They tried to a mobile OS for a desktop environment which is stupid.


No doubt that the bad PR also did hurt windows sales but Microsoft are the only ones to blame for this. Though, I am glad at least they are addressing this issue unlike EA who, is simply tries to deny that the DRM issue didn't exist or tried to call simcity an MMO.

 

[Overmind One]

Agreed here. Two reasons why windows 8 "failed".
A) Windows 8 although it's aesthetically pleasing, they shouldn't have removed the startmenu completely and alienated those who have grown up with the start menu.

B)They tried to a mobile OS for a desktop environment which is stupid.


No doubt that the bad PR also did hurt windows sales but Microsoft are the only ones to blame for this. Though, I am glad at least they are addressing this issue unlike EA who, is simply tries to deny that the DRM issue didn't exist or tried to call simcity an MMO.

So many simple tweaks would have made it fail much much less. I happen to have an Acer Aspire 23" touch screen all in one running Windows 8 64-bit. I bought it because I want to experience Windows 8 "as intended" according to Microsoft. Im getting used to it but I still see NO WAY to ease this into the enterprise. It is simply not a workstation-level package with the constant use of the "Modern UI" elements in Windows 8. I dont want the entire screen to be taken up by a bright background and a bunch of program icons. How is it better than the Start Menu?

On a tablet, it makes sense. But not on a desktop. Nobody using their computer as a desktop only would really need the Modern UI at all. The apps that run in it are different than the ones in Desktop mode. Examples are Skype, Netflix, Internet Explorer. One thing I do like is that the IE in the Modern UI side allows pinch and zoom of web pages and photos whilst in Desktop mode it does not. But what if I dont want IE?

There are some neat gestures and a few cool tricks, but this is just too much different from Windows that people are familiar with. Still, it has potential. It will completely fail if Microsoft tries to create a walled garden and force the Microsoft Store down our throats. Not just Windows will fail, Microsoft will fail.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Blah Blah Blah, technical shit...........

This next update to Windows 8 (they are calling it Windows Blue) is technically a mini Service Pack. It is a direct response to consumer rejection of this operating system. A quick check with an insider says that these enhancements like being able to boot directly to the desktop and the return of the Start menu is going to find its way onto Server 2012 as well.

Well there's a marketing nightmare

 

[Bluce Ree]

Well there's a marketing nightmare

Ya know, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Overmind One]

Ya know, I was thinking the same thing.

What I wanna know, is why developers like the Start8 crew and the others have solved the problems with this OS already, in terms of making it user friendly, but Microsoft is still twiddling its thumbs waiting on Windows Blue? Start8 boots you directly into the desktop without ever having to see the Metro UI. It gives you back the Start button and the start menu complete with all of the other familiar links to Control Panel and printers, and even gives you a Run link. All configurable with a right click menu. It includes a pinned button in thr start menu which can take you to the Star Screen if you need to go there. Perhaps Microsoft should simply buy Start8 and push THAT as the next update? It has changed my hate for Windows 8 into only very slight frustration.

 

[Bluce Ree]

What I wanna know, is why developers like the Start8 crew and the others have solved the problems with this OS already, in terms of making it user friendly, but Microsoft is still twiddling its thumbs waiting on Windows Blue? Start8 boots you directly into the desktop without ever having to see the Metro UI. It gives you back the Start button and the start menu complete with all of the other familiar links to Control Panel and printers, and even gives you a Run link. All configurable with a right click menu. It includes a pinned button in thr start menu which can take you to the Star Screen if you need to go there. Perhaps Microsoft should simply buy Start8 and push THAT as the next update? It has changed my hate for Windows 8 into only very slight frustration.

Arrogance, brother. Microsoft has been so successful in the past commanding paradigms, creating trends and basically willing the user into its way of doing things that they refuse to accept they screwed the pooch on this one. They will continue to insist on turning workstations and servers into tablets until they either succeed or become irrelevant. Maybe someone with a brain will step into the picture at Microsoft and give that old a fridge a kick. I wish Gates would come back. In spite of my reservations about the man himself and how he achieved his goals, he understood people and understood his market. He and Jobs ushered in and commanded the computer age.

 

[mzzz]

Well there's a marketing nightmare

I suspect they will eventually run out of colours in the future. Personally, I can't wait for the incarnation of Windows Aquamarine or some crap.

 

[Overmind One]

Well there's a marketing nightmare

Maybe they misspelled it? It should have been Windows Blew:

 

[Gatefan1976]

Or this:



Call me crazy but calling your program "windows blue" when BSOD is common parlance is just a fail waiting to happen

 

[Overmind One]

Or this:



Call me crazy but calling your program "windows blue" when BSOD is common parlance is just a fail waiting to happen

The really funny thing about the acronym BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), is that geeks coined the phrase to describe the fatal error screen we all know and hate, but Microsoft itself uses it in an official way now as part of their highest level tech manuals!

 

[Overmind One]

Arrogance, brother. Microsoft has been so successful in the past commanding paradigms, creating trends and basically willing the user into its way of doing things that they refuse to accept they screwed the pooch on this one. They will continue to insist on turning workstations and servers into tablets until they either succeed or become irrelevant. Maybe someone with a brain will step into the picture at Microsoft and give that old a fridge a kick. I wish Gates would come back. In spite of my reservations about the man himself and how he achieved his goals, he understood people and understood his market. He and Jobs ushered in and commanded the computer age.

The DO have the right idea in terms of having a high end touch-centric OS for tablets and slates (and soon to come slatetops which are large tables which are actually giant tablets laid flat on a tabletop or fitted into the table itself). But outside of perhaps CAD and the medical field, where will these be used? The need for a DESKTOP will not go away very soon. Enterprises have invested millions and millions of dollars on desktop systems, servers and keyboards and mice. The entire enterprise culture has successfully transitioned from the paper inbox and typewriter culture to the desktop email and network printer culture. Will it ever move to a touch-centric tablet wireless culture? Not soon wnough to make Windows 8 relevant in its current form.

They need to make the OS smart, and to allow the user to configure it like they want. This is what has been taken away from the end users...choice. Start8 proves that it can do what we really want it to do if given CHOICE. I thought only Apple was the enemy of choice.

 

[Bluce Ree]

The DO have the right idea in terms of having a high end touch-centric OS for tablets and slates (and soon to come slatetops which are large tables which are actually giant tablets laid flat on a tabletop or fitted into the table itself). But outside of perhaps CAD and the medical field, where will these be used? The need for a DESKTOP will not go away very soon. Enterprises have invested millions and millions of dollars on desktop systems, servers and keyboards and mice. The entire enterprise culture has successfully transitioned from the paper inbox and typewriter culture to the desktop email and network printer culture. Will it ever move to a touch-centric tablet wireless culture? Not soon wnough to make Windows 8 relevant in its current form.

They need to make the OS smart, and to allow the user to configure it like they want. This is what has been taken away from the end users...choice. Start8 proves that it can do what we really want it to do if given CHOICE. I thought only Apple was the enemy of choice.

Microsoft only added "choice" to its vocabulary because of its run-ins with anti-trust suits by the government.