The Start menu would provide access to calendar and Cortana

Jun 29, 2015 13:11 GMT  ·  By

The Start menu is getting through a major makeover process for Windows 10, so the design that we all know from Windows 7 is greatly improved this time with modern elements borrowed from Windows 8.

This is how the Start menu ended up a mix of the classic menu and the Windows 8 Start screen, so now you get live tiles, new options, and a fresh UI that better fits the new Windows 10 approach.

But third-party designers imagine a different Start menu that would become the one destination for everything on your PC, so in addition to providing you with quick access to install apps, it could also show relevant information from your apps.

Calendar integration

This concept created by SN37 imagines a Start menu that comes with Cortana and calendar built-in, so with just one click in the Start menu, you can see your next appointments or launch the personal assistant.

Microsoft is already trying a similar approach to integrate Cortana in the Start menu, but in this concept everything is deeper implemented, so the left-side toolbar provides you easy access to everything.

In Windows 10, Microsoft revamped the desktop clock and calendar too, but this concept goes one step further and integrates them in the Start menu. So with just a click, you could see your next appointments and add new ones straight from the menu. This could be possible by making the Calendar app part of the Start menu, but the concept of interactive live tiles, which is yet to be implemented in Windows 10, could help too.

Interactive live tiles could allow users to perform some tasks without launching the apps themselves, so for calendar for instance, you could add appointments and manage the existing ones straight from the tile. This would allow for such integration in the Start menu too.

Obviously, this is just the imagination of a skilled concept designer, so it doesn’t mean that Microsoft will ever implement such options in Windows 10.