User finds the same hamburger icon in Window 1.0.1

May 12, 2015 06:29 GMT  ·  By

The controversial Android hamburger menu and button are here in Windows 10 on both PCs and phones, and many believe that Microsoft might be losing its identity simply because it goes for a design feature that was invented by one of its rivals.

And yet, despite the fact that many believe that Microsoft is copying Android to try to make its operating system better, it turns out that this isn’t entirely true.

Pretty much because this isn’t the first time when Microsoft is using a hamburger icon. Thus, reddit user gschizas discovered that Windows 1.0.1, which was officially introduced in 1985, came with a very similar button also placed in the left top corner.

Clicking that old hamburger icon allowed users to access some pretty basic features, such as size, move, zoom, close, and about, so there’s no doubt that the hamburger menu evolved a lot as time passed by.

Why the hamburger has to be there

Leaving aside the who copied whom dispute, it’s important to note that Microsoft doesn’t necessarily want to use the hamburger menu, but it says that sometimes this is the better choice to make a specific app easier to use. Especially when there’s a rich feature set, that is.

“The hamburger is often used as a consistent navigation element that’s the ‘home’ for an app, always there, helping you go where you want to go. It’s less effective when the items listed in it don’t have a clear hierarchy, or when you need to access it frequently to accomplish your task. Sometimes the app bar, tabs, pivot, or a combination could be better controls for the job,” Albert Shum, Microsoft's Design Team leader for the Operating Systems Groups, explained at BUILD last month.

Microsoft appears to be still looking into ways to replace the hamburger menu in Windows 10, and a recently leaked image shows that it’s gone from the Photos app in Windows 10 Mobile, so more apps could follow soon.