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Leaked Build of Windows 9 Shows Start Menu Return

Posted by samzenpus on from the back-soon dept.

Billly Gates writes A leaked alpha of Windows 9 has been brewing on the internet. Today a screenshot shows what MS showed us at BUILD which includes a start menu with additional tiny tiles for things like people, calendar, pc settings, and news etc. "The new hybridized Start menu appears to be part of build 9788, which was compiled on July 4. While no one seems to have leaked the ISOs for build 9788 yet, the general consensus seems to be that the build does indeed exist somewhere at Microsoft — and that it might also feature Windows NT kernel version 6.4 (i.e. the complete version number is 6.4.9788). The screenshots show a Windows 8.1 Pro watermark, but this isn’t unusual for a very early alpha of a new build of Windows. If this really is the next version of the Windows NT kernel, then we’re most likely looking at an early build of Windows 9 (Threshold) rather than Windows 8.2."

38 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft is wasting people's time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    2015 will be year of the Linux Desktop!

    1. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Among dinosaurs who still use desktop computers, instead of laptops or tablets, I guess.

      You're either retarded, or you don't do anything useful with your computer.

      Anyone who wants to do anything graphics-intensive would laugh at someone trying to push a laptop on them.

      I hate idiots who think laptops are for gaming. They go buy the crappy $200 Walmart bargain, then wonder why it won't play BF4.

    2. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      People who actually need to use computers for tangible purposes.

      The tablets people you mention shouldn't even be using electronic devices in the first place.

    3. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by unixisc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I bought a new laptop last week, and wiped out Windows 8.1, replacing it w/ PC-BSD 10. It was some work, had some rough edges, but was worth it!

    4. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most non-trivial software is still written for desktops, and that probably won't change any time soon because tablets lack the screen real-estate; and plugging a mouse (for fine pointing) and keyboard into them is not always convenient.

      When it comes to work and productivity, desktops still rule (writing, reports, spreadsheets, CRUD, graphics, sound editing, high-end gaming, etc.) Maybe that will change one day as the market for tablets grows so large that "productivity" application makers target tablets first. Then people will start purchasing bigger tablets for productivity usage rather than a Windows PC.

      That tipping point is roughly 4 to 12 years off, I would gander a guess.

      If MS plays their cards right, then maybe they can get decent Windows tablets on the market so that the dream of one device for all usage is closer to a reality such that those who want productivity applications AND a nice tablet can have both. However, their Window of opportunity (pun intended) is closing fast: Google is hot on their heals.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    5. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My desktop is connected to two large flatscreens ( 60" and a 42" LCDs ) , I have two browsers open , multiple tabs , downloading with 3 instances of BNR2 , watching TV through a tuner card on one screen , lying back on the couch with a USB extender on the mouse and a wireless keyboard , allowing me to cycle between different programs and tabs with ease , all running effortlessly thanks to Win 8.1 and an I7 CPU , 5 TeraBytes of hard drive storage allowing me to store and replay multiple video and audio files.....and some retarded kid thinks I should replace this setup with a tiny screened finger smudged tablet.

      Wow.Some people really are sheep.We dinosaurs aren't going extinct any time soon.

    6. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by gigaherz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Both my desktop computer AND my laptop have one thing in common: neither of them is a tablet. And Windows 8 as is is ONLY oriented towards tablets.

      A lightweight OS oriented in low power usage and touch-based controls, which just happens to still maintain some sort of classic experience because they couldn't be arsed to remove it the way they removed other perfectly functional features, is not the OS I want to use.

      Windows 9 may or may not be good enough to get into my computers. We'll see.

    7. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Elusive_Cure · · Score: 2

      Depends on the laptop.

      Clevo P570WM : high-end desktop Core I7, 880M GTX SLI, 3 slots for HDDs/SSDs. More expensive than a desktop, but hey, good luck taking a flight with your desktop...

      Lol.... Have you even considered that second grade electronics such as the ones used by clevo and rebranded all over the world (here in Greece by Plaisio - Turbox budget laptops) won't last more than a year and a half TOPS running full throttle on games. I run a small IT business and daily i deal with people beeing fooled by computer super markets into buying Clevo and shit. Never beeing happier (businesswise) when i have one of those on my bench, it's easy money reflowing GPUs. Not that higher grade laptops are better, cheap HPs (G series) are a waste of money due to overheating, Acer has long forgotten how to make a proper laptop and the list goes on.

      --
      Roses are red, violets are blue, most poems rhyme, but this one doesn't... ;^)
    8. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by exomondo · · Score: 4, Informative

      And Windows 8 as is is ONLY oriented towards tablets.

      You realise it has a desktop right? That all your applications still run and operate the same as they did on Windows 7 right? Yes *one* of the methods used to launch applications has changed to be touch-friendly but that's it.

      It's funny the way people can evangelize the linux desktop or OS X yet those same people are completely befuddled and useless when you take their start menu away. Yes it was a change, yes that change was good if you wanted to use Windows on a tablet and no it wasn't particularly useful if you wanted to use Windows on a desktop but if you boot-to-desktop then it's not much different to OS X. You have the Taskbar (Dock), Desktop (Desktop), Win+S for search (Cmd+Space for spotlight) and you have the Start Screen (Launchpad), it really isn't that hard.

    9. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by graphius · · Score: 4, Funny

      " And Windows 8 as is is ONLY oriented towards tablets" false.

      false

    10. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by exomondo · · Score: 2

      The point is that gaming laptops are pretty useless, being over-priced, underpowered and - at nearly 6kg - not exactly portable. Sure some people will put up with the bulk, high cost, short battery life and noise for semi-portable gaming but it's not a great solution.

    11. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by exomondo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Either you know full-well that there exist a nontrivial number of people who can't wrap their head around what to do when their iPad tells them an OS update is available, if you're so socially inept that you live in a fantasy world where everyone else is just like you.

      No, you simply have an over-inflated opinion of yourself and those you deem "technically capable" because the numbers don't lie, those who aren't capable of updating are the extreme minority.

      You don't need to perpetuate the idiotic falsehood that only socially awkward people know what to do when their device says an update is available, if you need to feel superior in that manner to justify your social awkwardness that's your problem but that perception is not reality, there was 25-35% adoption of iOS7 in one day for god sake.

    12. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by Luckyo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Kindly point us to your magical gaming laptop that handles graphics and games "better than most gaming desktops". Quite a few of us are looking for such a machine, and sadly it does not exist yet.

    13. Re:Microsoft is wasting people's time by DarthVain · · Score: 2

      It does exist. It just costs about twice as much at 3000$+

      And then really doesn't function very well as a laptop, as it is too big, and uses enough juice on gpu/cpu to give it less than great battery power.

  2. Start menu driver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, the start menu is part of the "kernel" now. Such design, much engineer, wow very built.

  3. Fuck Tiles! by organgtool · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And yet this menu ends up being a hermaphrodite of the useful menu from Windows 7 and the tiles of the Windows 8 home screen. Seriously, these tiles are about the worst interface I have ever used. The entire interface is inconsistent: tiles are different sizes, different background colors, some have text while others don't, some tile icons are silhouettes while others are full-color, some tiles contain pictures instead of icons, and some tiles are animated. The whole thing reminds me a more professional version of some random schmuck's GeoCities page circa 1998. Microsoft: just stop it with the tiles and provide something consistent and usable!

    1. Re:Fuck Tiles! by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      The whole thing reminds me a more professional version of some random schmuck's GeoCities page circa 1998.

      Not GeoCities, AOL. Circa what, 1991?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Fuck Tiles! by epyT-R · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ah yes, the 'hater' fallacy. If you don't agree with the current trend, you must hate all change.

      All that's needed is a simple editable menu for application links. It's not that hard.

      How is searching for tiles easier than searching a list in the menu? If you hated doing it in the start menu, you should hate doing it with the tiles, with all that extra eye panning and scrolling. As far as text search goes, users shouldn't need it because your menu is neat and orderly and easy to read. Sticking a search box onto widgets just says loudly and clearly that the design has failed.

      If all you want is one click access, add some shortcuts to the shortcut bar...oh right, they broke that too.

    3. Re:Fuck Tiles! by dissy · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's probably worth noting that in the Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 "leaks", technical previews, and consumer previews - ALL had the ability to enable a start menu by changing a registry key from 0 to 1, and ALL had that option removed in the final builds.

      I have no reason to believe 9 will be different until after the grand master image is released to OEMs.

    4. Re:Fuck Tiles! by nine-times · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How is it not the same number of clicks? In the best case, in both systems, it's two clicks. You click once on the start button, and then once again on the item you'd like to launch. In either case, that's assuming that you want to launch something that's going to come up right away, and you aren't going to go hunting through other items.

      Of course, in both systems you could cut out clicks entirely by pressing the Windows key on the keyboard and typing what you want.

      It seems to me that the big difference is that Microsoft hid the button, meaning you had to hover in the correct place before you could click. Then the menu that came up brought up, by default, showed a bunch of tablet apps, and not the desktop apps that you probably want, in a way that completely broke the context you were working in. Every time you wanted to launch something, you were thrown into a different little virtual world with no common spacial orientation, and where all the buttons behaved differently.

      It may not seem strange to you once you've gotten used to it, but the normal and appropriate reaction when a person first encounters this sort of thing is to feel unpleasantly disoriented. A good UI designer would know that it was bad, and that users would be unhappy with the change. A good UI designer would also know that hidden hover buttons and hover menus are not generally desirable.

      Or were you just trolling?

    5. Re:Fuck Tiles! by umdesch4 · · Score: 2

      Too funny. After all these years, I somehow never knew that CTRL-ESC = Windows Key. I'm on an "ancient IBM" keyboard right now (a Model M from 1984), and I just tried it. Massive forehead smack ensued when I discovered it worked. So, honestly, no sarcasm intended, thanks for that tip!

      What I miss the most is the classic start menu where you can completely create your own sub-groups in a hierarchy. When I'm trying to remember which utility I wanted to use, but the name was something goofy that I haven't used in a year, it's nice to be able to go Start->Audio Tools->Transcoders-> {browse list, and "oh yeah, it was this..."}->BeHappy

    6. Re:Fuck Tiles! by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      The problem isn't that they are trying, or not trying. It's that they are trying the same shit again, even after finding out it doesn't work (community bitch-slapping that W8/W8.1 has, atrocious phone sales, etc) and saying "Oops! Next time we'll get it. Oh, and you'll have to pay all over again."

      I have zero interest in Metro, or the whole tiles motif. They function well enough for touch interfaces, even if I don't like their aesthetic take on it... but meanwhile back in the real world, people don't get a lot of work on touch devices (excepting niche cases, which is exactly why it's a bad idea for general-purpose use)

      --
      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...
    7. Re:Fuck Tiles! by techno-vampire · · Score: 2

      It's not a fallacy. Since the days of Windows 3.1, these assholes have existed in large numbers.

      I don't think that word means what you think it does.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    8. Re:Fuck Tiles! by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Second, Metro is actually pretty decent when you figure out how the keyboard shortcuts (win-key +s for searching, alt-tab to switch windows, alt-f4 to shut a window, etc.). But it's pretty awful if you go at it with a mouse -- and MS did not, at all, make this clear.

      First, it's not called "Metro" - that was an internal code-name. Microsoft calls it "Modern UI". That's the name of the Start screen / Tiles paradigm. Second, those keyboard shortcuts were available since Windows XP, it's nothing new. But all the win-key shortcuts are useless if you don't have a Windows Keytm. And the "hot corners" are pretty awful. Sometimes they just won't pop-up or take forever, and it's much worse if you're in an RDP session. The Start *button* DOES help with that.

      What most people that have tried it haven't noticed yet is all the stuff that gone or broken. Windows backup? Gone. Get used to File History - and adding a bunch of folders to your "Libraries", because that's the only place File History checks. There is no way to set preferred wireless networks. No more "Home", "Work", or "Public" networks, just "Private" and "Public". That's cool - but Windows decides by itself which one it is. And if it guesses wrong? The only way to fix is dig through the registry and figure out the right numeric to use for the right network connection. VERY annoying if Windows guesses your company's VPN is a "Public" network.

      Don't even get me started on "Windows account" logons, OneDrive, and Media Center.

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
  4. Microsoft craps its pants by tuppe666 · · Score: 2, Informative

    2015 will be year of the Linux Desktop!

    Guess you have not been paying attention, chromebooks are here and occupying all the top slots and rating on Amazon, making a killing in schools, and have a slew of new models out now, and not have Android compatibility...you know the OS that put iOS and windows in the ground...they even look like a mackbook air *winks*.

    GNU/Linux continues to do very nicely as well.

    1. Re:Microsoft craps its pants by rsborg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      2015 will be year of the Linux Desktop!

      Guess you have not been paying attention, chromebooks are here and occupying all the top slots and rating on Amazon, making a killing in schools, and have a slew of new models out now, and not have Android compatibility...you know the OS that put iOS and windows in the ground...they even look like a mackbook air *winks*.

      GNU/Linux continues to do very nicely as well.

      So where are your solid numbers (Amazon ratings and sales ranks don't specify models sold) ? And please let me know if I can use my Chromebook offline on my airplaine. Sorry, no way a Chromebook is replacing my Macbook anytime - I see you can't even view the movies you buy on the Google Play store offline [1] (ie, in an airplane - no that GoGo streaming is not allowed for movies) - what use is that?

      [1] https://productforums.google.c...

      --
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  5. I hate morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you look at some of the comments on that page, you get gems like the guy asking if the start button was the only reason someone didn't get Win8.

    Sure, you can hack the OS to get a free start button, but that's not the point. You do NOT reward bad behavior, or the companies will never learn.

    Chick-Fil-A won't sell you a sandwich without pickles? You're ok just pulling the pickles off? That's stupid. You complain to the manager to get the sandwich made correctly. If you never speak up, then they won't know what they're doing wrong.

    The goal of any company SHOULD be to please their customers while making a tidy profit. The problem is that today's companies seem to be all about making an obscene profit while...wait...we have customers? Oh right. Our "customers" are the people who pay us to provide the data we mine from the people who pay us to use our products that don't do what they want them to.

  6. What's the big deal about win8? by trybywrench · · Score: 3, Informative

    I had to get a Windows 8 laptop, Surface 2, and Windows phone for work to test an application we're working on. I use OSX and Android day-to-day so from all the stories I expected to have an awful time trying to navigate through windows to even get to the application to start my testing/dev work but I don't see what the big deal is. The interface was intuitive enough for me ...maybe i didn't try to do enough, I just looked at the screen for the app, then click/touch it. :shrug:

    --
    I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
    1. Re:What's the big deal about win8? by David_Hart · · Score: 2

      I had to get a Windows 8 laptop, Surface 2, and Windows phone for work to test an application we're working on. I use OSX and Android day-to-day so from all the stories I expected to have an awful time trying to navigate through windows to even get to the application to start my testing/dev work but I don't see what the big deal is. The interface was intuitive enough for me ...maybe i didn't try to do enough, I just looked at the screen for the app, then click/touch it. :shrug:

      The big deal is when you have a laptop or a desktop without touch or you just hate having a screen full of fingerprints. When using a mouse, the windows 8 GUI is inefficient and poor to navigate. Of course, those unhappy with the Windows 8 or 8.1 interface can easily find add-ons that fix the Start menu and re-enable boot to desktop. Personally, I installed Start8 and have been happy ever since.

    2. Re:What's the big deal about win8? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Windows 8 just does dumb shit. The first box I setup had a touchscreen. The instructions say to move the mouse to the upper right corner. So I move the mouse and nothing happens. Check all the cables and everything but it all appears working. Finally figure out they want me to move the CURSOR to the upper right using my FINGER. The mouse is not even used!

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    3. Re:What's the big deal about win8? by jez9999 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, the worst thing fior me about Windows 8 when I had to use it wasn't even the lack of the start menu; it was the fact that every time you move the mouse cursor near the corner, Windows 8 pops up some stupid sidebar. I want to move the mouse cursor from one monitor to another and Windows 8 kept getting in the way of that every time as if I were using a tablet device that needed these gesture popups.

      --
      == Jez ==
      Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
  7. oh, please, it's never "leaked" by ChipMonk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's always, without exception, a strategic move by the PR department, to encourage public chatter about some product. And when it isn't, it's denounced by the company in question as "stolen."

    IOW, yet another "Slashvertisement."

  8. So by Murdoch5 · · Score: 2

    Next release of GNU/Linux still out preforms Windows in all the areas that matter.

  9. Is it a hybrid menu out of pure ego and hostility? by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Metro-ization of Windows has failed badly. You don't even need to look at Netcraft to prove it.

    So why insist on a hybrid Start menu? Is this just simply the result of some assholes who simply refuse to admit their idea sucked greasy balls and by God they're going to fucking jam it down some throats anyway?

    I haven't used a pure Win 8 device (phone or tablet) in its native mode so I'm withholding personal judgement on it that mode. It gets reasonable reviews (or at least the phone does) from people who have used it like that, but nobody I know is super enthusiastic about it from a desktop perspective at all. Nobody.

    You would have think with Ballmer's exit SOMEBODY at Microsoft might have been willing to say "we shouldn't metro-ize the desktop. They really don't like it."

  10. hybridized start menu = half-assed fix by kimvette · · Score: 2

    On a system that isn't a tablet, I DO NOT WANT A TOUCH INTERFACE, or even a hint of it unless I get a touch sensitive monitor and explicitly turn it on (a prompt asking me if I want to would be fine, too). For desktops and laptops, Windows 7's start menu is absolute perfection.

    Don't try to improve perfection. I don't want to see any trace of the formerly-known-as-metro style interfaces anywhere on a desktop OS. Don't try to sell me a Windows tablet and think that shoving a touch interface in my face on the desktop is going to get me to buy. Android is where it's at for tablets. Trying to force that crappy UI on me will make me not even consider Windows tablets even IF you make it far superior to Android.

    All you've done is alienate customers with Windows 8, and you're still trying to shove that loathed (loathed isn't even the word for it) abortion of a UI in people's faces. I'm going to be buying a bunch of Windows 7 licenses while it's still available because Windows 9's isn't shaping to be much better than Windows 8. If I have to run 9, I'll be installing classic shell on it, like I do on Windows Server when I have to work on Windows servers (who the FUCK thought it was a good idea to put a tablet UI on a server OS anyhow?!)

    Oh, and while you're at it bring back glass. Knock it off with that Windows '80s flat look.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  11. It may get more interest if it is done right by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2

    The issue with Metro is that the "Only full screen mode," is a deal breaker on desktops. I do not have a 30" screen to run one program at a time, thanks (barring a few exceptions). However they become perfectly usable when they are in a window. Modern Mix for Stardock does that, and apparently Windows 9 will do it natively. Ok well at that point, Metro is just another API you can use alongside Win32 and .NET and maybe there's some interest. If a Metro program works just like any other then perhaps more people will be interested in writing them.

    Of course that remains to be seen, but a new API that is cross desktop/tablet/phone isn't a horrible idea, forced fullscreen on a desktop is.

  12. Forget the fugly tiles for a second... by norite · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I still want to know why a clean install of winders 8 eats 17Gb of hard drive space...

    I mean, what the hell is in it that takes up that amount of space? It's obscene. And yet I can fit a fully working linux distro on a CD.

    --
    -- Fuck Beta
  13. Somewhat on topic, 64bit only or still no balls? by AbRASiON · · Score: 2

    Subject says it really. Win7 shouldn't have shipped with a 32bit version, Windows 8 definitely should not have shipped with a 32bit version and for goodness sakes, Windows 9 most god damned definitely should not be shipping with a 32bit version.

    Can we finally get a single unified build here? It's time to let it go.