Why Microsoft Killed the Windows Start Button

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Why Microsoft Killed the Windows Start Button

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday June 28, 2012 @05:40AM from the just-to-watch-it-die dept.

Barence writes "Microsoft claims it took the controversial decision to remove the Start button from the traditional Windows desktop because people had stopped using it. The lack of a Start button on the Windows 8 desktop has been one of the most divisive elements of the new user interface, and was widely assumed to have made way for the Metro Start screen. However, Chaitanya Sareen, principal program manager at Microsoft, said the telemetry gathered from Windows 7 convinced Microsoft to radically overhaul the Start menu because people were using the taskbar instead. 'When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar,' said Sareen. 'We are seeing people pin like crazy. And so we saw the Start menu usage dramatically dropping, and that gave us an option. We're saying "look, Start menu usage is dropping, what can we do about it? What can we do with the Start menu to revive it, to give it some new identity, give it some new power?"'"

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stopped using it? by X0563511 · 2012-06-28 05:42 · Score: 5, Informative

Who the hell is their focus group? I've not met a single person who doesn't use the start button.

--
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
1. Re:stopped using it? by SerpentMage · 2012-06-28 05:43 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Mod up the parent... I completely concur. Yes I pinned as well, but I did use the start menu to navigate the positions. But hey why do I matter and care. I shifted all of my machines to OSX, and Linux Ubuntu...
  
  --
  
  "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
  "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
2. Re:stopped using it? by cpu6502 · 2012-06-28 05:45 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I use the start button about once every 5 minutes. Since my desktop is completely-clean of any icons, the start button is the only method I have to open new programs. Microsoft is probably lying through their teeth about "people don't use it".
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
3. Re:stopped using it? by Gr33nJ3ll0 · 2012-06-28 05:45 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Relax, it's the old "The focus group made me do it defense", probably to be followed with "I was just doing my job", and then finally "I didn't know OKAY?!!?!!?!?! I DIDN'T KNOW!!!!"
4. Re:stopped using it? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 05:46 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The same idiots who like the ribbon.
5. Re:stopped using it? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 05:48 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
6. Re:stopped using it? by EdZ · 2012-06-28 05:48 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I never use it. Being the owner of a keyboard, I simply press the perfectly good button on that.
  
  Besides, the start button is still there, it's simply hidden under a hot corner. Move your mouse to the same place you would normally, and click as normally, and you still still perform the same action as in older versions of windows. Of course, the menu is replaced with the start screen, but that's another matter.
7. Re:stopped using it? by jerpyro · 2012-06-28 05:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I agree. I keep the top 5-7 pinned (Browser, Explorer, Winamp, Thunderbird, RDP, Visual Studio, SSMS) and then the rest of the stuff I don't need cluttering up my quicklaunch bar. The next top 10 are in the frequent list of my start menu. The rest I use so rarely that I'm ok hunting for.
  I'd be ok with not having a start menu if there was a heirarchical way to organize the things that you don't use often... kind of like OH WAIT THAT'S THE START BUTTON! :)
8. Re:stopped using it? by redbeardcanada · 2012-06-28 05:50 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I think for the most common tasks, people avoid the start bar by pinning their main applications (or use an applauncher in XP like Objectdock). The problem is when you need to do something other than the common. I think this will cause major confusion like the Office Ribbon where you know what you want to do, you know how you used to do it, but you can't find where it is anymore...
  
  The Start menu was at least somewhat intuitive to find buried settings in Control Panel or seldom used programs.
9. Re:stopped using it? by Missing.Matter · 2012-06-28 05:51 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Hello, let me introduce myself. I do not use the start button. I access the start menu for two reasons: to access the search function (95% of the time) and to access a little used program (5% of the time, maybe once a month). Otherwise, my complete workflow is pinned to my task bar. I even access explorer from there and from keyboard shortcuts.
  
  Windows 8 has completely changed that, and I'm thankful. There is a separate, more useful screen for searching and accessing little used apps. Now the start screen is much more useful, and I have a reason to actually access it.
  
  If you don't like it, you have many options including not upgrading to Windows 8, or applying what will most certainly be a large array of hacks, tweaks, and UI modifications to get windows working the way you want it to, just as there have always exists in Windows.
10. Re:stopped using it? by Chas · 2012-06-28 05:51 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
  Oh. The thing everyone and their brother is told to NEVER check!
  No wonder they got such asinine and utterly useless feedback. Because the only people giving them feedback were morons.
  
  --
  
  Chas - The one, the only.
  THANK GOD!!!
11. Re:stopped using it? by cpu6502 · 2012-06-28 05:55 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Insightful comment from the FA. They are surveying the novice users not power users, hence they produced a Win8 interface for novices, not us:
  Flawed, like most surveys
  "Weâ(TM)d seen the trend in Windows 7," referring to the telemetry gathered by the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program." ----- Well there we have it, all but the most basic users opt out of the intrusive MCEIP - so they are surveying people who don't even know what the Start Button is for - I kid you not. As a computer tech I see it all the time.
  
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  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
12. Re:stopped using it? by Missing.Matter · 2012-06-28 05:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Right, because Microsoft hires exactly 0 competent people who know what a representative sample is. I'm sure they have dozens of different methods to collect this data, one of which is the automated usage data built within Windows. I know in one blog post they addressed concerns that corporate users don't have this on, and therefore were not represented in the sample. Microsoft responded that they have other methods for collecting data from corporate users.
13. Re:stopped using it? by Jeng · 2012-06-28 05:57 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It is a misinterpretation of the data.
  People pin the programs they use the most and in that way there is less start menu items being used total, but for infrequently used programs one usually accesses them via the start menu.
  So basically Microsoft is saying that since you use certain programs 90+% of the time you don't need an easy way to access the ones you don't use on a regular basis. That is actually one of my main complaints in regards to using Linux so I think it is funny Microsoft is fucking this up in this way.
  Microsoft could have came to the same conclusion if they were tracking how one uses Windows 95, but instead of it regarding pinning programs in Windows 95 you mainly used desktop items.
  
  --
  Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
14. Re:stopped using it? by clarkn0va · 2012-06-28 06:07 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  True story: I support a couple hundred staff (small tech school), and by far the most common trouble call after deploying a new computer is "this computer doesn't have Outlook". The correct translation for this, in our case, is "Outlook isn't on my desktop, so it must not be installed".
  How somebody can use a computer every day and not know how to use the start menu is a bit baffling to me. My best guess is that these people simply use a small subset of a computer's functionality, all of which somehow magically made its way to the desktop, quick launch or taskbar, as the case may be. This is the same demographic, by the way, that knows Internet Explorer simply as "The Internet".
  
  --
  I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
15. Re:stopped using it? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 06:09 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I find myself using the Search function in the Start menu more. Just type the first few letters of the program I want to open and BAM motherfuckers! It starts.
16. Re:stopped using it? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 06:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I actually love the ribbon. It makes complex features more accessible and provides a superior visual organization of features.
17. Re:stopped using it? by Tough+Love · 2012-06-28 06:10 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Standard practice at is to collect this data methodically, efficiently and comprehensively then ignore it completely in favor of a powerpoint slide.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
18. Re:stopped using it? by jandrese · 2012-06-28 06:10 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You clearly weren't part of the focus group. I'm sure the focus group was also full of the kind of people who maximize every window, no matter what it is and have their desktop absolutely full of icons.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
19. Re:stopped using it? by space_jake · 2012-06-28 06:19 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I spend more time using the ribbon than the old menus! That's good... right?
20. Re:stopped using it? by alva_edison · 2012-06-28 06:22 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I actually love the ribbon. It makes complex features more accessible and provides a superior visual organization of features.
  Assuming you already know where things are. If you are trying to do something new, you have the added step of trying to figure out what icon represents the task. Also somethings can be only done from the dialog boxes (accessed by clicking the lower right corner of individual panels inside the ribbon). Finally there is the Quick Access Toolbar, which mostly has things that didn't go onto the ribbon. It's placement on the title bar is annoying because by default I'm not going to be looking there.
  
  --
  He effected a bored affect.
21. Re:stopped using it? by SJHillman · 2012-06-28 06:23 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  By far my favorite feature of Win7. Windows key -> type want I want to run (usually under 4 characters) -> Enter. Very efficient.
  I know of no regular users that understand pinning. Myself, I only pin my email and web browsers (by far my most frequently used programs) and nothing else.
22. Re:stopped using it? by arkane1234 · 2012-06-28 06:26 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Well, Maximizing every window isn't even a noob thing.. not a part of the whole stereotype.
  In fact, I know lots of people including myself that do it to use the screen real estate. Alt-tab (or apple-tab) or switching screens is pretty simple.
  Yes, I switch screens on my work Windows desktop. I was tired of being constrained to one screen, so I downloaded an open source app named VirtuaWin to have easily switchable virtual desktops.
  
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23. Re:stopped using it? by cpu6502 · 2012-06-28 06:30 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Pinning means creating a program "shortcut" but instead of putting the shortcut on your desktop, you drag it to your taskbar on the bottom. I'm not sure why the MS employee said it's "new" to Seven? I thought that function has existed since XP.
  
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24. Re:stopped using it? by Joce640k · 2012-06-28 06:31 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I don't think they've thought this cunning plan all the way through.
  To "pin" something you need to have access to it in the first place. Guess where most of the things you can "pin" are stored? Yup - the start menu.
  The only way pinning can work well is if they reinvent the start menu, but disguise it as something else.
  
  --
  No sig today...
25. Re:stopped using it? by rtfa-troll · 2012-06-28 06:33 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I spend more time using the ribbon than the old menus! That's good... right?
  Yes; you have to remember that, the thing which makes Facebook superior to Google is that people go to Google, find an answer, achieve something and then go away satisfied. With Facebook they spend much longer on each page searching for something of value. In future the Ribbon will allow adverts to be mixed in between the indestinguishable wierd icons ensuring that the users click on them by accident whilst desperately searching for a function which they can't work out the proper location or representation of.
  This; is the true future of Office365 (which will soon become the one true office as companies attempt to monetize their under-deployed personnel).
  
  --
  =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
26. Re:stopped using it? by WolfgangPG · 2012-06-28 06:35 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That is still works perfectly in Windows 8.
27. Re:stopped using it? by mwvdlee · 2012-06-28 06:35 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Same here. I use pinning for about three or four icons at most; the stuff I open and close often.
  Do they have a search&enter function in the metro interface?
  
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28. Re:stopped using it? by ryanmc1 · 2012-06-28 06:38 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Actually you described using the quick launch feature. Pinning is a bit different. To pin something to the taskbar you right click it and choose "pin to taskbar" This is not the same as using quick launch because it does not create a new icon on the taskbar when the program starts. This reduces the number of icons using up space since you will only have one (with quick launch you have two or more, one for quick launch, and then another for each running instance of the program)
29. Re:stopped using it? by X0563511 · 2012-06-28 06:39 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I use that, and pinning - so does a lot of the people I know. That said, everyone that I know of uses the All Programs menu to find things they don't often use or forgot the spelling for.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
30. Re:stopped using it? by whargoul · 2012-06-28 06:40 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's great if you know what you're looking for, but if you're searching for a specific app you rarely use and don't remember the name of it would be highly inefficient and frustrating.
31. Re:stopped using it? by danomac · 2012-06-28 06:41 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Absolutely correct.
  I support 120+ users. One thing I've noticed during our Windows 7 migration is that our staff do not use the start menu at all. The server places shortcuts for six or seven common use tools on users' desktops, and are shown how to pin apps to the taskbar.
  The result I've noticed is that users have pinned office and internet apps used frequently to the taskbar, and use the icons on the desktop like they always have. I'd say about 5 users have seen the usefulness of the search feature on the Start menu. The other 115 don't use it.
  The only time I've seen staff use the Start button here is to log off when they're done with the machine. If there was a button on the taskbar to do that, they'd never use the Start menu at all!
32. Re:stopped using it? by Tarlus · 2012-06-28 06:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes. It is still just as easy as pressing the Windows key, then typing to start your search.
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
33. Re:stopped using it? by Cl1mh4224rd · 2012-06-28 06:43 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You know the little box you can tick that says "Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft"? It's that data. Not a focus group, but telemetry data from actual windows installs.
  Oh. The thing everyone and their brother is told to NEVER check!
  No wonder they got such asinine and utterly useless feedback. Because the only people giving them feedback were morons.
  What's all this hate about? The angriest people seem to be the ones who consciously refused to provide any meaningful feedback. They then spit venom when decisions are made without the input they refused to give. And on a product they're not even being forced to use.
  Holy shit, people...
  
  --
  People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
34. Re:stopped using it? by Eponymous+Coward · 2012-06-28 06:43 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I pin a bunch of stuff. I love that I can then use win-1, win-2, etc... to launch the pinned apps. The Windows 7 UI is one of the most keyboard friendly UI's I've used.
35. Re:stopped using it? by marcosdumay · 2012-06-28 06:52 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Nope. Win 95 start menu used all the vertical space available, and become larger and larger as you needed deeper menus.
  Win 7 start menu puts everything into a small rectangle, where you can't see everything, must click on menus to see what is inside (compounded with the classical bad arrangement of menus in Windows, that's very bad), and nested menus have even less horizontal space because of identation and share the same vertical space with everything else.
  
  --
  Rethinking email
36. Re:stopped using it? by cpu6502 · 2012-06-28 06:58 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The taskbar previews are pretty handy. Certainly better than flipping through a ton of screens like AmigaOS. I can minimize VLC Media Player to the taskbar and yet still pause/resume playback through the preview window.
  
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  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
37. Re:stopped using it? by Captoo · 2012-06-28 07:03 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Correction: This works even better in Windows 8.
38. Re:stopped using it? by DragonTHC · 2012-06-28 07:04 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  of course you use your pinned apps most of the time, that's why they're pinned.
  
  --
  They're using their grammar skills there.
39. Re:stopped using it? by danomac · 2012-06-28 07:24 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  There's a difference between knowing how to use it and not wanting to use it.
  My coworkers generally don't like to use computers as it is, they only use it because their job requires it. Most just learn just enough to get the job done and don't care to put in effort to learn any more.
40. Re:stopped using it? by Stormtrooper42 · 2012-06-28 07:31 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So true. The other day I was looking for the screenshot application. (Windows 7)
  (As a side note, it isn't that useful, I usually press "Print Screen" and paste the image in a proper image editor.)
  Anyway, I started typing:
  screen, the relevant application didn't show up.
  screenshot, nothing
  cap, capture, nope
  They called it Snipping Tool...
41. Re:stopped using it? by mhajicek · 2012-06-28 07:32 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Maybe they'll develop a single field where you can type in whatever you want the computer to do. Wouldn't that be great? Let's see, you type in a line of commands, so you could call it a "command line". You wouldn't need all those icons! That would be the ultimate evolution of Windows.
42. Re:stopped using it? by DemonGenius · 2012-06-28 07:36 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Isn't that like the new feature of Ubuntu that everybody hates?
  Yes, but some of us prefer to have a choice of where this application bar is. Personally, I like having my application bars horizontal and not vertical. This is a major reason why I don't like Unity.
43. Re:stopped using it? by Belial6 · 2012-06-28 07:52 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  This isn't a failing of the parent. Most people in a business environment don't need a general purpose computer. The only reason the company should put them on one is that the general purpose computer can be turned from one custom computer to another without buying new hardware. Most corporate users only need a few programs. I don't use all of the inputs on my TV. I am glad they are there if I need them, but not using them when I don't need them is not a failing.
  
  If you have less than a dozen applications that you use, and you use them all of the time, pinning to the taskbar is better. The icons will already be there since the applications will generally be open. Pinning them just becomes an improvement in consistancy. The start menu's benefit is in finding applications that you don't use daily, and you might not know the name of.
44. Re:stopped using it? by jez9999 · 2012-06-28 08:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That sounds like something that would be used at a bris.
  
  --
  == Jez ==
  Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
45. Re:stopped using it? by digitig · 2012-06-28 08:08 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Pinning only makes sense for a few commonly-used apps, because it's completely unstructured. If I were to put all of the apps I ever use onto the taskbar I'd need a taskbar the length of a football pitch. I was at a conference yesterday, and one of the presenters used the taskbar to open the product he wanted to demonstrate and it took him an age to scroll along and find the one he wanted (it was on a Mac, not MS Windows, but it seems to be essentially the same design with a bit of extra animation). I would have been there in three clicks of a menu.
  
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46. Re:stopped using it? by sorak · 2012-06-28 08:16 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Insightful comment from the FA. They are surveying the novice users not power users, hence they produced a Win8 interface for novices, not us:
  Windows: Made for people who don't know what the hell they're doing, by people who don't know what the hell they're doing.
47. Re:stopped using it? by Solandri · 2012-06-28 08:39 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  This whole thing reminds me of fashion - what's in is out, what's old is new. Way back when Windows 95 introduced the Start button, I saw the same arguments in reverse. In Windows 3.1, we did the equivalent of pinning by putting the app's launch icon on the desktop or in a folder. There was a huge controversy when the Start button was introduced, about how it was better, easier for people to find stuff, etc. Now we're getting comments about how pinning is better, easier for people to find stuff, etc.
  
  I worry that, like fashion, it's just change for the sake of change. UI elements should be made visible (or made available as options) or hidden based on functionality. e.g.
  
  The only time I've seen staff use the Start button here is to log off when they're done with the machine. If there was a button on the taskbar to do that, they'd never use the Start menu at all!
  No, you want the log off command buried in a secondary menu, not available on the regular desktop. Otherwise you'll get mad users complaining about how they were working on something important, accidentally clicked log off, and the computer dutifully shut down all their apps (before they could save) and kicked them off the system.
  
  Some things you want hidden under multiple clicks, some things you want available as a single click. But if you have too many of the single-click things, the desktop can get cluttered and messy to navigate. It's all a balancing act.
48. Re:stopped using it? by dissy · 2012-06-28 08:45 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The only time I've seen staff use the Start button here is to log off when they're done with the machine. If there was a button on the taskbar to do that, they'd never use the Start menu at all!
  In case you actually wanted to provide that, it's pretty easy to do.
  Create a shortcut, and make the target:
  C:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe -L
  Then you can change it's icon to a custom one, or just browse to \windows\system32\shell32.dll and pick the normal icon out of there.
  The -L flag is log off. You also have -r to reboot and -s to shutdown.
  Similarly, you can make a "lock terminal" icon too.
  Create a shortcut and make the target:
  C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
  Ironically, the last one there is very useful on application servers if you have any programs that run as servers but are not a real service.
  I have one server scripted to auto login as administrator, and then a few shortcuts in the program menus "startup" folder, prefixed with numbers to provide an order.
  The very last icon in the startup folder is named "9999-Lock" which is the above shortcut.
  On boot up, the server auto logs in, runs the crap software, and locks the terminal. This all happens in a few seconds, so anyone local at the console would not have any chance to do much before it locked on them. You still need the password to unlock just the same as login, so its pretty secure if your servers are locked away in a server room.
49. Re:stopped using it? by Idbar · 2012-06-28 09:25 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Furthermore, right-clicking on pinned apps let you open recently open files, and actually pin those files as well.
  
  If you have a VS Project you work constantly, you can pin it in the VS Pinned icon. If you have a folder you have to open constantly, you can pin it to the explorer pinned button.
  
  Some other thing people don't know about those little icons, is that if you middle-click them, you create another instance of the application. Need 2 explorers to easily move files from one to other? Double middle-click on the explorer pinned icon, and boom.
Frequency of use is not so relevant by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 05:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

I hardly ever use my car's emergency brake; but it had damned well better be there, and I expect it to be in the usual spot, like on the floor next to the shifter or high up on the (older American cars). It doesn't belong on the ceiling.
Re:Dont use it much by Sponge+Bath · 2012-06-28 05:46 · Score: 4, Funny

...OCD when it comes to having no icons on my desktop.
Optimally Clean Desktop syndrome?
Taskbar is Great for Grandma. by tazan · 2012-06-28 05:48 · Score: 4, Interesting

If you actually use your machine there's not near enough room to start everything from the taskbar. It's annoying to have to jump through hoops to get quicklaunch back. I have 35 icons in quicklaunch right now.

I don't mind windows 8 too much. I don't run any metro apps and so the only real difference I notice with 8 is the start menu is full screen and I have to hit the windows key to get there. They do need some better management tools for it. I somehow ended up with 30 extra tiles and the only way I could figure out how to get rid of them was to do them 1 at a time.

There is a real problem though if you do accidentally open a metro app. There's no obvious way to close it. I had to google it to find out how. That is completely unintuitive.
Why do users pin? by CaptainLugnuts · 2012-06-28 05:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

Users pin apps to the taskbar because the UI for launching apps sucks. Long ago (Win2K) I would make my own folders at the root level in the start menu and group apps in a way that made sense. Win 7 broke my ability to do that without pinning. If Microsoft stopped breaking things that worked well for users they might have more time to 'innovate' actual improvements.
pinning [applications] on the taskbar by cpu6502 · 2012-06-28 05:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

Kinda like the Mac's dock I suppose. Only problem is I have 200+ programs. I can't pin them all to the taskbar; the start menu is still needed. (Also do PEOPLE pin their apps, or was it the annoying install programs doing it automatically? It seems every one of them does it, not me.)
QUOTE: "Sareen also claims that people are taking advantage of keyboard shortcuts to open applications, instead of resorting to the Start menu." ----- That would be fine if my keyboard was not laying on the floor, because I wasn't using it. We still need a mouse-based method to open our programs.

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We've screwed ourselves by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-28 05:52 · Score: 5, Insightful

Everyone with a hint of savvy probably turned off the reporting to the 'Consumer Experience' team at Microsoft. The ones who didn't are the morons who have 3000 icons on their desktops. We've done this to ourselves.
Translation by Sloppy · 2012-06-28 05:54 · Score: 3, Insightful

"People were happy with the Apple menu through Mac OS 9 but now that they're using Mac OS X, they prefer to use the dock, and the Apple menu no longer works as an application launcher. So now we're going to have our users use the dock too. Oops, I mean the start menu and the taskbar! Forget what I said about that fruit company's name and the nautical term."

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As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
1. Re:Translation by gnasher719 · 2012-06-28 06:25 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The worst part: Apple users don't like to admit that it's a real pain in the ass to launch an app on Mac OSX that is not docked, but the dock has limited space so you can't put everything there. Spotlight works if you can remember the name, but otherwise you're scouring the applications directory (which is usually a terrible mess) looking for that icon.
  You just put the applications folder into the dock. Click on it, and all the apps are there. Well, that's the old fashioned method. The new one is to click on Launchpad. The folder method has the advantage that you can make a folder, put aliases to all the second-most-useful apps in there, and put that folder into the Dock.
  
  But what you really do is to use Spotlight.
Turns signals 'never' used.... by BenJeremy · 2012-06-28 06:02 · Score: 3, Funny

...by my focus group, those drivers I observe leaving parking lots or changing lanes.
Let's get rid of them for ALL drivers!
Microsoft R&D has gone full retard. Seldom-used feature does not equate to NEVER used feature, nor does it equate to NOT NEEDED feature.
Why pinning sucks by gumpish · 2012-06-28 06:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

With quicklaunch items the icons stay in the same position until you make a change. This allows you to quickly find the icon since you know exactly where it will be.
When something is pinned to the taskbar, if it isn't the first icon and you have a variable number of intervening programs running, each of which has a variable number of windows open, then the icon could be anywhere and you have to look for it.
Then again, this analysis is premised on having the taskbar configured to show a button for each window that's open... because I'm not an asshole that has 50 windows open at a time AND I like being able to access a particular window without having a magical mystery list pop up...
Ugh... I'm just glad I know enough about computers to use an operating system where I have real meaningful choices when it comes to my desktop environment.
Grandma using Windows 8 for the first time
User pin apps launched by start button! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2012-06-28 06:28 · Score: 5, Funny

People launched apps from start button once, and once it is launched they pin it to the task bar. The telemetry data captured launches from start button 1, launches from pinned task bar item N. So start button lost the battle N to 1. So it should be removed.
I think it is a great idea and we should use it in other situations too. Like the dinner table. The pasta spoon was used 4 times to serve pasta from the bowl to your plate. But the dinner fork was dipped into the plate 104 times. Pasta lost it 26 to 1. Let us eliminate pasta spoon from the table to improve efficiency.
The function int main(int argc, char **argv) was called just once. But the function int getc() was called 2.5 billion times. So to improve efficiency let us remove the main() program.

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sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Hey, Microsoft! Listen up! by Peter+Simpson · 2012-06-28 06:32 · Score: 3, Insightful

Yes, I pin most of my commonly used apps to the quick launch bar. BUT -- those are not the only apps I use. Only the ones I use most frequently go on the quick launch bar. The rest, and there are many of them, need to be accessed somehow, and the START button is a very convenient way to get to them.

You know what would be great? If you designed your UI so that we had a CHOICE about whether to adopt your latest "great idea", or just keep using the system we've grown used to. You know...the way we're most productive?
Welcome to OS X ca. 2001 by stewbacca · 2012-06-28 06:43 · Score: 3, Insightful

"When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar.
Windows 7 is the first MS OS I like for this exact reason. Too bad it took 10 years to copy OS X.
Telemetry show turn signal stalk is used less by Green+Salad · 2012-06-28 06:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

Dear Valued Customer,
On-Star telemetry shows you rarely use your turn signals when changing lanes and we're striving to "do something about it." We've also noticed you use your audio system menu controls frequently. Because of the audio controls' popularity in our usage statistics from participating customers, future models will eliminate the turn signal stalk in favor of a user-configurable option, allowing you to scroll a tiny screen and search through audio options while making lane changes. Note that you can now change the audio feedback from the traditional clicking relay sound of a turn signal to one of several pre-loaded "ringtones" just like your cell phone. Furthermore, for an additional fee, Microsoft now offers a "plus" package with many more audio themes for your turn-signal.
Thank you for participating in our telemetry feedback programs as we strive to constantly improve our products!
Try using Windows 8 in a Virtual Machine. by Eldragon · 2012-06-28 06:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

Try using Windows 8 in a Virtual Machine. Moving the mouse into the lower left corner is impossible when doing so moves the mouse out of the vm window. Added bonus: My keyboard lacks a Windows Button.
Lets just say it's more than a minor annoyance.
Could work better... by Junta · 2012-06-28 07:42 · Score: 4, Informative

In Windows 8, if I search for 'update', it prominently says "no results". Intuitively I think "oh it must not be there" not "oh I should look over at the right column and see there is a category that has more than '0' to find the results.
IIRC, Win7 will display all the results rather than forcing you to switch categories.

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XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.