History Of The Windows 8 Start Screen

Windows 8 introduced a new, touch-optimised UI built around the Start screen, which replaced the traditional Start menu. But, did you know that the concept of a Start screen in Windows dates all the way back to the late 1990s? Watch to find out more...

#WindowsOnWindows #Microsoft #Windows #Windows8 #StartScreen #Metro #WindowsME #WindowsMillenniumEdition #WindowsNeptune #StartPage #ActivityCenters #ActivityCentres

[SirFaceFone]

Had no idea they were testing interactive live tiles, pretty cool. It would've made them a lot more useful, like a regular widget.

It's sad to see Metro go, it looked timeless and modern even to this day. The animations/gestures and performance of Windows 8 were to die for, especially when 10 could barely run on my HDD back in 2015.

[PrKo]

Unironically was the only person who really didn’t mind the 8 start screen, and this is coming from someone who loved vista and xp. I actually still use the full screen start menu for win 10

[emirvmendoza]

The Start Page made it in XP. Hint: Press Start. I talked about this in my "Activity Centers Windows Me Neptune XP Whistler look back - Emir's Balik Tanaw / In Hindsight" video.

[ciach_]

Day 2 of asking MajorSky17 to do a video on Windows Live

[matthewpaulargall]

When I first tried Windows 8 (via a virtual machine as part of my effort to try out every version of Windows), I found the start screen very difficult to use, for example I spent several minutes trying to figure out how to shut down. In contrast, when I later tried Windows 8.1 I found it a lot easier to use.

[lilmonix]

It's really not too bad if Microsoft gives two options start screen and start menu in Windows 8. Windows 8 is not a bad operating system. Even in terms of stability sometimes better than Windows 11.


December 10, 2022 11:38PM

[Aranimda]

The Windows 8 design choices made me love Windows 7 even more and made me stick with Windows 7 until the release of Windows 11 in 2021.

[richardstorey]

I love the windows 8 Metro ui it was awesome and in windows 10 why did they keep the live titles in windows 11 I don’t like the start menu in windows 11 it’s looks boring wish Microsoft would bing back the live titles in windows 11

[pb-doslegacy]

Fun fact: You can enable the start screen in the original release of Windows 10

[ItsRickysChannelSHORTS]

I'm gonna miss the metro UI when I have to move over to Windows 11

[maxwasson]

Maybe this whole start screen user interface could be reimagined in a Windows 8-inspired Linux distro

[EestiDorito]

I wish Microsoft kept the start screen

[CuriousSparks]

Windows 8 should have been it's own separate Operating System, and given different branding: (Microsoft Metro or Metro OS for example). Then it would be a True "v1" product... Windows 8 is not the first version of Windows, and not what customers are used to or have grown to expect. It was a failed experiment in the end - only made to compete with a non-existent Tablet revolution.

[firat]

Microsoft ditched Windows 8 way too early. They should have released an update for switchting between Start Menu and Start Screen, like they did with Windows RT 8.1 Update 3. Also, they didn't update the Apps or release any new ones to 8.1, after 10 came out. The stock apps are simply useless by now, since they were last updated in 2014. I know Microsoft switched to UWP with Windows 10, but that platform should have been backported to 8.1 as well, since it was still in Mainstream Support till 2018!

[Ton]

It's always sucked in every version. Though, they got pretty close to a good Start UI in Windows 10. But it had too many mistakes.
Eventually, i had to code my own.

[mrrobloxian-ue]

I’m just a kid and I only understand pictures