by Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft Originally posted for ZDnet.com:
What if Microsoft relented and granted users who are lukewarm about Windows 8 two of their biggest requests: Allow those who want to boot straight to the desktop, and bring back the Start button with Windows Blue, a.k.a. Windows 8.1?
Though supposedly not part of the original plan for Blue, these two UI options are looking more likely.
Reports from a couple of different forumsfrom this past weekend raised the possibility that Microsoft might be moving toward allowing users to skip booting into the Metro-Style Start menu andinstead start their PCs in desktop mode. (Winbeta.org noted the thread about this on April 14.)
One of my sources confirmed this is now looking like the plan and added that Microsoft is also considering bringing back the Start button as an option with Windows Blue.
My take:
Ah, Mircosoft, may you never learn from previous mistakes in your illustrious history. You have a history of developing hardware and software then ignoring customer’s complaints. With each new iteration, some beloved feature is removed or radically changed, then you are left holding your hat wearing sackcloth, wondering why your customer base left you.
The latest disasters to befall the self-inflicting conglomerate is their Surface tablets and Windows 8. The buzz about the two ‘flavors’ of their Surface tablets was respectable. Months and months of teasers, videos, forums abounded. Rumors of ‘competitively priced’ tablets, named Surface, were thrown about at $200-300 for the base model and $400-600 for the pro model. There was a feeding frenzy that was touted as equal to the all-glorious, all-supplicated, iPad. Then, the real price points and technical specifications were given.
Totally ignominious outpouring.
The real price was met with laughter and scorn. $600 for the base model RT and $1000+ for the Pro model. Then people saw the software. No start button? Live tiles? Microsoft themselves admitted that customers had a learning curve of about two weeks before they could even use their new tablets proficiently.
What were they thinking? As stated last week, they were thinking of merging their mobile and pc software to mimic Android and Apple software with mobile and pc/tablet.
With most of the world using Microsoft hardware and software the new changes were abysmal. Now, they are finally listening to customers and bringing back the start button.
Now that’s familiar.
Brick ONeil 