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Windows 8.1 RTM Trickling Out, With Start Menu and Boot-to-Desktop

Posted by timothy on from the year-of-the-windows-desktop dept.

poofmeisterp writes "It's about time. Windows 8.1 will be released to end users in October, and RTM is being released now: 'Windows 8.1, codenamed "Blue," is introducing a number of changes designed to make the new operating system more palatable to current Windows users. Windows 8.1 is adding a Start Button, a boot-straight-to-desktop option; the ability to unpin all Metro apps; built-in tutorials; an improved Windows Store and a host of other consumer- and business-focused features. Microsoft launched its one and only Windows 8.1 consumer preview test build in late June.'"

17 of 496 comments (clear)

  1. Too little too late by Teresita · · Score: 5, Informative

    The start button takes you from the Desktop right back to the Metro screen, which is what pisses everyone off in the first place.

    1. Re:Too little too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      True, you can - if you choose one and go install it. You cannot have an old school start menu direct from Microsoft though. There are certainly 3rd party implementations that are pretty good.

    2. Re:Too little too late by J.+J.+Ramsey · · Score: 4, Informative

      You can fix it yourself if you administer the machine. However, at work, people often can't do that because they are--rightfully--not given the access rights to do so.

    3. Re:Too little too late by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Thanks to Penny Arcade I thought the same thing - however its not true. I did download the community release and you can indeed have an old school start menu again.

      Only for certain rather bizarre values of "old school start menu". The icon takes you back to the start screen, which is precisely, absolutely, not the point of having a start button. You cannot change this without third party software, which, given that choice, makes Win8 a corporate non-player. Win7 will have to last us until Microsoft gets a clue.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    4. Re:Too little too late by EdZ · · Score: 3, Informative

      The 'minimum effort' way to access programs, control panel snap-ins, etc hasn't changed since Vista: press the start key on your keyboard, type the first, occasionally second (and possibly third, for lesser-used programs) characters of the name, then hit enter. If you using the hunt-around-some-menus technique you might experience a slight speed-up or slow-down when going from start menu to start screen, depending on how organised you are (or how resistant to change you are), but for anyone using windows in a sane manner the difference is nonexistant.

    5. Re:Too little too late by EXTomar · · Score: 3, Informative

      It can be done with Linux where it involves initial settings in install image, "company repo", and the software packages alter whatever is needed. When something changes you update the "company-settings" packages and it gets updated.

      The issue in my mind is that in my experience the value of this isn't that high in Linux environments. What are the enterprise settings that need to be set on 100 workstations post install? Outside of a few server changes, most changes can be handled and managed by service settings rather than workstation changes. If some software package goes from 1.x to 2.0 that requires a complete wipe/reset of settings that can be done at the package level and put on the "company repo".

      I'm sure Windows Admin love using AD to roll out changes but I have so far failed to figure out what that would be that falls outside of "roll up package" scenario.

    6. Re:Too little too late by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Informative

      Win 7 was pretty mediocre

      Well, yes, when you compare it to Linux and probably Apple as well (I don't have an Apple, but I have W7 and kubuntu and XP). Compared to Microsoft's other OSes it's the best they've done.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    7. Re:Too little too late by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Start Menu is not back. All they've done is added a Start button which takes you back to the crappy Metro screen where you can't find any of the apps you want to run.

      Putting the Start Menu back would have been trivial, it's what users wanted, but Microsoft crapped in their face by making the Start button go to the Metro screen that users hate.

    8. Re:Too little too late by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You do know about RIGHT-CLICKING in the lower-left corner (or on the new start button in 8.1), right? Windows-X brings up the same power-users menu.

      How the fsck is my grandmother supposed to figure that out?

      I had the misfortune to use a Windows 8 machine a few days ago and it's a completely uninuititive piece of crap. I didn't realise just how badly the lack of a start menu hurt the OS until I had to try to run a program from the desktop. If I didn't know I could press the Windows key I'd have been completely stumped, and, even then, I had to give up on scrolling through a crazy number of worthless Metro apps to try to find the desktop app I was looking for.

      How did this POS actually get shipped?

    9. Re:Too little too late by simonbp · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's *meant* to hold whatever I damn well want it to hold. Nothing more, nothing less. Anyone who says otherwise is a fascist pig.

      Come the revolution, "User Interface Designers" will first against the wall, I tell you...

  2. Propaganda by tuppe666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    That is not a start menu. That is a start screen. Who do they think is falling for this nonsense. The reality is, it was never about the start button. It was about taking a usable productive and powerful desktop environment using precision pointing and fast text input, and swapping it out for the weakest of the tablet OS's. In the hope in creating what they call an ecosystem, and moving the computer into an locked down electronic device running Micro$oft Store (The $ stands for money grabbing Monopolist), Rather than compete on price that 70% gross margins still too thin.

    The real question is is it iOS, Android, Chrome or GNU/Linux

  3. Re:Its dead Jim! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    When you're done GNU/Linux is here for you to upgrade to.

  4. Re:Still missing an option.. by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry, but Windows 8 looks more like Windows 1 than 3.1. Windows 1 was useless, since there were no applications. Sound familiar?

  5. Start button != Start menu! by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Let's not confuse the two -- an icon in the lower left corner that takes one to the "start screen" was not what was asked for. What was asked for was an actual start menu, not a button that takes you to a page full of icons. It's extremely annoying that Microsoft would deliberately choose to misunderstand this. (They couldn't be stupid enough to think that's what we really wanted.)

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  6. Re:TPM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ahh... Windows 8.1. The one requiring a "Trusted Computing" TPM in the PC to get a Window certification.

    Thanks Microsoft - I really want a hardware dongle in the machine to enforce DRM and ensure that I never really own the machine as I don't have the keys to it. Cheers.

    P.S. How's that arrangement with the NSA coming BTW?

    Windows 8.1 does not in any way require a TPM chip. You can verify this yourself by downloading the leaked RTM build (or think about all the PCs out there it wouldn't work on).

    Microsoft has announced that 18 months from now, new systems that want to advertise being certified should have TPM2.0. It isn't really related to Windows 8.1 at all (and at the time there is likely Windows 8.2 that is the current version).

    We can criticize Microsoft for announcing such a certification requirement coming up in the future, but as a tech site we should be precise about what it is and isn't.

    Also, I too support criticizing Microsoft for their relationship with NSA, but it is interesting how many shy away from recognizing Google, Apple and others having the exact same relationship.

  7. Re:Microsoft Account by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'll call out FUD whenever I see it.

    You can happily use Windows 8 without being tied to a windows account. But how is having a windows account different from your iTunes or Google or Yahoo or Facebook or Slashdot, or countless other social services, or how about that fact that any phone and tablet these days are tied to a walled garden and your credit card? A Windows account just sets up 5gb of free skydrive services and an outlook email, both which you never have to use.

    I don't love Windows 8 for a lot of reasons, but I mean if you are going to say ignorant things then expect to be called out for it.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
  8. Re:It would help by Cederic · · Score: 3, Informative

    I just tried that. I was offered a choice: 'Paint', the MS provided basic image editor, or 'Paint.NET', the full featured system I installed.

    Oddly enough, I knew the name of that one. I also know the names of Lightroom and GIMP, so I can type those too.

    If you don't know what you're looking for, use the clumsy visual search capabilities, but don't go knocking the quick simple way for people that are familiar with the system to interact with it.