Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
Not having a Start Menu was a major blunder. Sure, you can type the name of commands, but that's a bit 1980's. And you can put all your icons on the desktop if you want, but that makes things messy. If you prefer to type things in or to have icons on your desktop, no one is stopping you. I prefer the Start Menu, as do an awful lot of people.
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Ways to launch programs in (stock) Windows 8.x:
Start Screen, which is the replacement of the Start Menu. It accommodates both desktop and modern applications.
Pin to Taskbar, which is intended for desktop applications (though it can present the iconified form of modern applications).
Search, which accommodates desktop and modern applications as well as control panels and documents.
Windows Explorer (a.k.a. the Desktop), which is useful for desktop and modern applications as well as documents. It also allows for hierarchical organization, which is similar to the Start Menu.
Now I'm not going to claim that any of these are a substitute for the Start Menu, but Windows 8.x does support a lot of different ways to launch your software. Choose what you like, or install a Start Menu replacement if you are attached to that interface.
I also realize that each of these options has its drawbacks. Then again, so does the Start Menu. Just as the Start Menu has advantages, these other approaches have advantages too. For example: the Start Screen supports live tiles, search makes it easy to find infrequently used software, and pinning to the taskbar is a quick way to access frequently used desktop applications.
Incidentally, I would not equate search with typing in commands or suggest that it harks back to the 1980s. It has far more in common with the search command introduced in Windows 7 or Spotlight in OS X than it does with command entry.