I keep reading critiques of Windows 8 whose central premise is that Microsoft needs to bring back the Start menu.
And I ask, in all seriousness, why?
Yes, there are legitimate concerns about the changes in the Windows 8 user interface. The learning curve is steep, some of its most basic new functions are difficult to discover, and parts of the UI are, frankly, unfinished and in transition. Windows 8.1 needs to fix those problems.
But simply plopping a Start menu on the screen isn't the solution. The problems with Windows 8 weren’t caused by the removal of the Start menu. All of the things you can do with the Start menu in Windows 7 can be accomplished using the new interface.
Don’t believe me? Here, look at the Windows 7 Start menu, where I’ve highlighted its core functions.
