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Comment by cf0ed2aa-bdf5 | Hacker News Reader

I seriously have no idea what Microsoft thought when they decided to abandon the start button.

They trained their users for nearly two decades to use the start menu and abandon it for a weird hybrid between desktop OS and tablet OS which ends up being neither. It's actually rather sad.

I am definitely going to skip this version of Windows and hope that Microsoft will come to its senses and realize that you can either have a Tablet/Mobile interface or a desktop interface but not both.

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Luckily, Microsoft has a pattern of releasing an OS that tries out new ideas but is kind of janky, followed shortly after by a more polished one that brings it all together: Windows Vista & Windows 7, Windows 2000 & Windows XP, Windows 95 & Windows 98, Windows ME & Windows 98. . .

Windows Me was released in 2000, after Windows 98, but I agree with your premise in general.

Windows Me was released in 2000, after Windows 98

That's why it's funny.

Accidentally downvoted you when I meant to upvote you. Damn touchscreens...

This is true however they were able to do this in an era where there was no real competition to the PC. It's a very risky move to make now. I think a lot of people looking at buying a new PC in the next year are on the fence about buying an iPad instead. Windows 8 has the potential to push massive numbers of people towards the iPad. Maybe Microsoft's gamble is it will push some of those people into Windows 8 tablets instead. I really don't see how many consumers are going to willingly buy Windows 8 PCs. The backlash is going to dwarf Windows ME or Vista unless they make some major changes over the next couple of months in my opinion.

Windows 2000 was a great OS, kind of feel like you're trying to make the data fit your premise... in fact I'd say it was the last good Microsoft OS (of course, that could just be nostalgia talking).

>"I seriously have no idea what Microsoft thought when they decided to abandon the start button."

I suspect that they were thinking about the mountain of user data they have and drawing reasonable conclusions from it.

My family members use the power button to shut down Windows, not the start button. They tend to use icons to launch apps, not the start menu. Though atypical in some ways, I suspect these are not among them.

It's entirely possible to look at a mountain of data and take away incorrect or misleading conclusions from it. The existence of data is not in and of itself a guarantee that the human beings who look at it will interpret it correctly.

I agree.

However, it is easier to draw incorrect conclusions from anecdote.

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