MICROSOFT WILL NOT BRING BACK the Start Menu in Windows until 2015, according to sources.
Despite a further update to Windows 8.1 being due this summer, it now appears that the Start Menu will not be a part of that.
According to Mary Jo Foley at ZDnet, Microsoft has decided to hold off on the return of the Start Menu until the so called "Threshold" build, which will either become Windows 8.2 or Windows 9, depending on marketing decisions.
When a preview of the revised Start Menu made an appearance at this year's Microsoft Build conference in San Francisco, it overshadowed the more immediate announcement of Windows 8.1 Update 1, which introduced features designed to appeal to keyboard and mouse users who had been alienated by the touch-centric design of Windows 8.
The new Windows 8.1 Start screen mixes the missing and widely lamented feature from Windows 7 with the tiled environment of the Windows 8 Metro interface and Windows Phone, showing that the company isn't ready to abandon its new direction altogether.
With Windows 8.x still languishing in market share compared to its predecessor Windows 7, which continues to grow, surpassing 50 percent market share during May, the Redmond company's reticence to bring back the Start Menu is somewhat surprising.
We're a little stumped as to why Microsoft has chosen this strategy. Surely the Redmond company wants to win back as much lost goodwill as it can, and further delays will do nothing to change that.
With the many third party add-ons that bring the Start Menu of old back, we have to assume that the decision must be based on misguided marketing. After all, if everyone else has managed to bring back the Start Menu, how hard can it be?
Microsoft has yet to comment on the report
