Resistance is futile: the return of the start menu and the return to the desktop

Microsoft revealed yesterday at its first Build 2014 conference a new start menu for Windows 8.1 that will arrive in future updates along with the ability to run Modern UI applications directly on the desktop. Both features were demonstrated by Terry Myerson, the top boss at Windows today, in between presentations on other topics. Almost as if it were a minor detail, hardly important. But the truth is that it is important, and a lot.

During all these months there have been thousands of reasons why the return of the start menu no longer makes sense and the need for change, but the truth is that it is of little use to insist on them.In the last edition of Build, with the return of the start button in Windows 8.1, I already tried to defend that its presence is not justified by objective and rational arguments, but it was essential at the subjective and irrational level of the user experience. Just two months ago, reviewing the leaks of Windows 8.1 Update 1, I suggested that this hybrid interface capable of being controlled by touch and by mouse and keyboard may not be possible. What was shown yesterday reaffirms my thesis.

The return to the desktop

The original vision of Redmond with Windows 8 was to conceive of the traditional desktop as just another system application. It would no longer be the default work environment but one more of the applications that we can pin to the start screen, the true protagonist of the new Windows. The problem is that this idea has not caught on, far from it, in the market.

The desktop is not an application nor is it understood as such, abruptly discarding it and relegating it to being just another application was not a good idea

The desktop is not just another application nor is it understood as such. Years of use and learning have made it the central core of any computer operating system from which any task is launched. And Microsoft is the main culprit that this conception is inscribed in the DNA of the users. Throwing it out abruptly and relegating it to just another system application was not a good idea. It can be modified and evolved on it, yes, but not completely replace it and wait for the user to get used to it. Not at least for the moment.

Over time, one ends up understanding that it is not a question of conceiving the most rational system and defending it with solid arguments, but of connecting with the user and providing the best experience for them. Too bad Microsoft doesn't care that this means returning to the traditional desktop and evolving on top of it That new start menu and the ability to run Modern UI applications on the desktop are the path.

An interface for each type of device

What was shown yesterday about Windows 8.1 Update 1 also confirms the need to have a differentiated interface for each type of device. The changes that the update will introduce in the system as of April 8 are a success in the sense of adapting the novelties of Windows 8 to the different ways in which it can be controlled.

Precisely, Microsoft does not hide the fact that the changes in Windows 8.1 Update 1 are aimed at improving mouse and keyboard control of the system. Thus, it goes back a bit in its aspirations for a hybrid interface and opts for one that is adaptable to the type of device on which it works. Windows 8.1 will now detect the type of control that we are using and will adapt the interface to it, in a solution that is not so refined but is much more comfortable for the end user.

No matter how hard we try, moving around the system with our fingers is not the same as moving with the mouse cursor.Although in Redmond they believed that they could accustom the user to new habits, the truth is that the world does not seem to be ready to make the leap yet. At least for now, this may be the end of the dream of a hybrid interface controllable by touch and mouse and keyboard.

When will the changes come?

We know that Windows 8.1 Update 1 will arrive on April 8 to all devices through Windows Update With it will come the news known that will improve the control of the system with mouse and keyboard and will deepen the fusion between the Modern UI environment and the desktop.

But we don't know when we'll see the Start menu again and Modern UI apps running on the desktop Terry Myerson just said that would arrive in future updates through Windows Update. It may be in a routine update in the coming months or it may be in a future Update 2 closer to the end of the year.We may even have to wait until next year. For now we will have to wait.