In reference to www.theverge.com/2013/5/7/4309406/windows-8-start-button-julie-lars...:

Microsoft dropped the biggest hint at the return of a Start button to Windows 8 today. Speaking at the Wired Business Conference in New York, Windows chief Julie Larson-Green reiterated that Microsoft is looking to change certain elements of its upcoming Windows 8 update, codenamed Blue, in response to user feedback. "Some of it is about not just about time on task or how quickly they learn it� some of it is just in the comfort level that people have."

That comfort level has left some confused, and others calling for the return of the Start button to Windows 8. Third-party apps that specialize in providing a button UI have soared in popularity since Windows 8's release. In early January, Pokki revealed that that its Start button replacement app had been downloaded 1.5 million times since the Windows 8 release in October. Although there is a tiny Start button-like UI element in the lower left of Windows 8, Larson-Green admitted it wasn't ideal for everyone. "It's hidden, so some people like the comfort of having it show up on the screen all the time, so they just know their home place and where to go."

The only other major consumer OS retailer (Apple) would kill for sales figures like those of Windows 8.

It's always the same when general newspapers comment on technical matters. They may understand finance, but they have no idea about technology.

In a similar vein to Google removing their search tools last year, and then re-instating them after substantial demand, MS are having to address similar issues. If they address the issues it's no big deal. If they don't, it might be.

People keep lauding mobile apps, mobile search engine design, and mobile OS and browsers, but the proponents forget that what makes the world go around are the desktop users in businesses; the designers within businesses, and these factors cannot be ignored.

To you (from my perspective, reading your posts), everything MS does is "amazing". To me, I can either use it or it's of no use to me. Sometimes the advances in technological thinking are amazing. The desktop mouse was an amazing idea. Nothing had quite eclipsed that (quite yet) in scale. Touch screens are a great idea if you can find a better use for it than a mouse. Easier to move a mouse 2-3 inches than scroll your finger over a foot of screen (perhaps 3 feet or more away from your seat).

I haven't used Win 8 at all, but I hear plenty of discussion from those unhappy with it's desktop interface (let's not revisit the argument now). When the punters moan, the supplier should listen, and act accordingly.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reference to www.theverge.com/2013/5/7/4309406/windows-8-start-button-julie-lars...:

Although there is a tiny Start button-like UI element in the lower left of Windows 8, Larson-Green admitted it wasn't ideal for everyone. "It's hidden, so some people like the comfort of having it show up on the screen all the time, so they just know their home place and where to go."

I have seen many users not care for a more efficient method of using PCs, preferring their tried and tested methods. When I was younger I would despair, but accept that that was how they liked it. Now I encourage users to keep their preferred setup if possible. No drop in productivity for learning something which isn't necessarily of any benefit over their method (we're talking minutes wasted per year, versus hours of learning and practice).

In reply to a post by camieabz:

The desktop mouse was an amazing idea.

Invented in 1963 at the Stanford Research Institute, and first commercialised by Apple

In reply to a post by camieabz:

I haven't used Win 8 at all

er...

In reference to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_%28computing%29:

German company Telefunken published on their early ball mouse called "Rollkugel" (German for "rolling ball"), on October 2, 1968. Telefunken's mouse was then sold commercially as optional equipment for their TR-440 computer, which was first marketed in 1968.

Yes, I saw that.

It depends what you mean by "commercialised", and it was an optional extra on the TR-440, not an integral part of the system.

Ah, maybe you meant this

In reference to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIMP_%28computing%29:

In human�computer interaction, WIMP stands for "windows, icons, menus, pointer", denoting a style of interaction using these elements of the user interface. It was coined by Merzouga Wilberts in 1980.

WIMP interaction was developed at Xerox PARC (see Xerox Alto, developed in 1973) and popularized with Apple's introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, which added the concepts of the "menu bar" and extended window management.