The plot thickens. Word has been strong this past month or so that Microsoft is planning to bring back the Start button in Windows Blue after taking user feedback into account.
But the leaked builds (and screenshots) that have made their way to the web in the past couple of weeks show no sign of such a feature making a return. This led to speculation that the inclusion of a Start button would be left until the very end — maybe at or even after the unveiling of the public beta.
Now a new report claims that such a feature will only be available in the stable version of the OS.
Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet citing her reliable insider sources writes that developers and users that take the preview build of Windows 8.1 for a test drive next month will not be able to give the Start button a try. The Start button, however, is only part of the story.
Microsoft also has numerous interface tweaks in the works.
The most noticeable of these would be an updated Charms bar, this time focusing on ease of use on the desktop. This is in line with Redmond’s trend of increasing usability for desktop users in Windows Blue.
In fact, the upcoming upgrade to the world’s most popular operating system will be a complete overhaul that follows the intense backlash over the company’s new Metro design philosophy.
The ultimate aim would be building upon current features instead of replacing them, and offering more powerful customization options for users so they can modify and attune the operating system to their computing habits and usage requirements.
