14 DAY TRIAL // There's no doubt that Windows 8 was a heavily criticized operating system ever since it first got to see daylight, with many users, analysts, and software developers blasting Microsoft for the changes it made to the operating system.
The co-founder of SweetLabs, the company behind Pokki, one of the most popular Start menu apps currently on the market, said in an interview with Business Insider that Microsoft is getting on the right track with Windows 8 and the operating system could soon become a much more appealing product for everyone.
Co-founder and CMO, Chester Ng, explained that Redmond was doing the right thing by fixing the desktop in Windows 8, pointing to the return of the Start menu as living proof for this statement.
“When Windows 8 came out, we were one of the loudest opinions about the first version of Windows 8 and questions about Metro. We did a video with Chris Pirillo about how normal people react to Windows 8. We haven't been shy about our opinions,” he said.
“We're a startup that bet on the PC when everybody wasn't. We want Windows 8 and Windows to succeed. There are 1 billion people sit in front of their PCs all day long and they want apps.”
Microsoft announced at the BUILD developer conference in April that a future Windows update would bring back the Start menu, in an attempt to restore the full functionality of the desktop.
People expected the Start menu to be re-introduced in Windows 8.1 Update 2, a new pack of improvements scheduled to be released in August or September. It turns out, however, that Redmond is actually planning to delay the return of the Start menu until early 2015 when two new Windows projects are expected to see daylight, namely Windows 8.1 Update 3 and Windows 9.
Chester Ng says all these plans are clearly a step forward for Microsoft and its modern operating system, even though some users would clearly want to have the Start menu back a lot sooner.
“Certainly there have been challenges with Windows 8. But it feels like things are turning around in the right direction. We came out of Microsoft Build feeling a lot better than last several years,” Ng added.
“Now the proof is going to be in the pudding and see how some of these things work, whether its universal Windows apps, or the [return of the] Start Menu. Microsoft is talking about reinvesting in the desktop. We're hopeful and crossing our fingers.”
Windows 8 currently has a market share of approximately 7 percent, but together with Windows 8.1, Microsoft modern operating system is powering around 17 percent of the desktop computers worldwide.