14 DAY TRIAL // The Start button remains one of the most controversial topics whenever people talk about the new Windows 8, so it’s no surprise that manufacturers around the world are looking into ways to bring back the feature on their devices.
The latest company that turns to this strategy is Lenovo, as the Chinese have decided to sign a deal with SweetLabs in order to pre-install the Pokki Start Menu on all its Windows 8 devices sold worldwide.
“Our collaboration with SweetLabs strikes the perfect balance between providing our customers great apps, and growing Lenovo’s business around app distribution,” said Peter Gaucher, executive director, Software and Content Services, Lenovo.
“The Pokki software suite complements the Windows experience, and we’re excited to work with SweetLabs to open up new distribution opportunities for app developers across our devices worldwide.”
While the addition of a Start button to a new Windows 8 computer is indeed a great idea, it’s also another sign that devices running Microsoft’s new operating system aren’t selling very well right now, so manufacturers still need to turn to a bunch of tricks to spur up interest.
The Start button, on the other hand, has returned in Windows 8.1, but it continues to draw criticism as it only gets users to the Start screen and doesn’t launch the traditional Start Menu.
Pokki and several other products, on the other hand, come to fix this. Many third-party Start Menu apps have already been updated with Windows 8.1 support, so they either replace the built-in button or work alongside it on the refreshed desktop.
“We’re proud that Lenovo has chosen to enhance the out-of-box Windows 8 experience with Pokki, complementing Lenovo’s innovative devices with a better way for users to access and discover apps,” Darrius Thompson, co-founder and CEO at SweetLabs, added without saying a thing about the confusion created by the lack of a Start button in Windows 8.