Mary Jo Foley reports at ZDNet that according to sources who've had good track records on Windows information, Microsoft won't be delivering a new Start Menu for Windows 8 with its coming Windows 8.1 Update 2, after all. "Up until recently, Microsoft was hoping to make a new "Mini" Start Menu part of a second update to Windows 8.1," says Foley. "Windows 8.1 Update 2 was and still is, last I heard slated to arrive in August of this year." Microsoft's operating systems group has decided to hold off on delivering a Microsoft-developed Start Menu until Threshold, the next "major" release of Windows. Threshold, which may or may not ultimately be called Windows 9, is expected to be released in April 2015.
The original Windows 8 interface lacked the Start Menu, a familiar component of previous versions of the operating system, replacing it with the live tile-driven Start screen. Many users didn't like the change, and some PC manufacturers and developers offered ways to bring back versions of the old Start Menu. Microsoft appeared to relent at Build when it unveiled the revised Start Menu, enhanced with Windows Modern UI improvements.
(Score: 2) by emg on Wednesday June 04 2014, @04:10PM
I wouldn't be surprised if that's an Evil Plan hatched somewhere in Redmond, but who's going to buy a Windows PC if it can't run Windows apps? There's no reason for anyone to buy a PC which can only run Metro apps, when they could buy an Android tablet, a Chromebook, an iPad, or a Mac instead.
(Score: 2, Funny) by MajorTom on Wednesday June 04 2014, @08:14PM
He didn't say it was a good plan...