14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has already promised to bring back the Start menu in a future Windows update, but if you can’t really wait until the software giant does that, there’s always the option of third-party applications that usually come with a design that’s at least as appealing as the original one, while also offering more features and configuration options.
This is the case of StartIsBack, a third-party Start menu app that also comes with a Windows 8.1 version and promises to restore the classic Windows functionality on modern flavors of the operating system.
StartIsBack 1.6.1 for Windows 8.1 now comes with an advanced startup shutdown option that can be accessed by pressing the “Shift” key when invoking the shutdown menu.
At the same time, it also fixes an issue that caused the top edge of the screen to be incorrectly enabled on desktop, so in case you’ve been experiencing bugs in the app, this is the right moment to update.
Microsoft is also working to reintroduce the Start menu at some point in the near future, so all these third-party apps could lose their consumer appeal if the software giant’s new option has everything it needs to make the modern Windows a really familiar working environment.
Terry Myerson, head of the operating systems unit, said at the BUILD 2014 developer conference that Microsoft is working to make the operating system more mouse-friendly, so these new improvements aren’t quite a way to go in reverse, but also to show that the company really cares about all user categories.
“I previewed some work we are doing for the next iteration of Windows, which builds on the journey we began with Windows 8 just over a year ago as well as the releases we’ve done since then. In particular, I showed some early thinking on how the user experience in Windows will evolve in a way that will help developers’ apps make their way to users across devices and form factors,” Myerson explained in some comments published on the Windows blog just after the BUILD conference.
The new Start menu is expected to debut in a future Windows update that could be called Windows 8.2 and which might arrive as soon as this fall. Not much is known at this point, but it’s pretty clear that the Start menu is projected to see daylight before the debut of Windows 9 which according to existing information is due in early 2014.