I'm convinced that the win10 Start Menu was the single worst thing microsoft inflicted upon us in that OS. I imagine that particular discussion went like this:
Exec1:"We have a semi decent os with a refreshingly updated UI that should stay relevant for a decade. How can we make it better?"
Exec2: "why not replace the perfectly good start menu we have with an ugly, oddly proportioned rectangle with animated ads for our products."
Exec3: "Sounds
great! Just make sure
it has a quarter of the information density of the old one and takes up twice the screen space."
I haven't used Win11 enough to discover how they have managed to further degrade the experience, but at least it looks nicer.
It also starts instantly every time (that requires removing Edge and web results from there). I use it as an app launcher only. The only missing touch is a fuzzy search but I can live without it.
I've spent too much time on it. There are tools that do it for you if you trust them (like Windhawk).
>>I haven't used Win11 enough to discover how they have managed to further degrade the experience, but at least it looks nicer.
It's an anti-pattern over anti-pattern over anti-pattern. There is a trap waiting for you at every corner. At this point it's hard to imagine them not losing the whole consumer PC market to Apple and maybe some gaming friendly Linux distros. It will take a decade or so but once the snowball starts it will not turn back.
I don't think it's only about power users only. They forced S0 sleep but didn't are about making sure it doesn't crash the system because of some misbehaving driver or failed Windows update. Normal users don't like seeing everything gone and the computer restarting when they open the lid. That doesn't happen on Macs. It won't happen on Valve sponsored Linux distro either.
Was the original menu so bad? Your one has zero discoverability, which is the main feature of the old menu, and something which was degraded, but not completely killed off on the newer versions.
I don't need discoverability. I know what I have on my computer. I need it to be reliable, fast and not distract me with junk.
Maybe most people need discoverability, the problem is that with the new design all they will discover is ads for Microsoft's products :)
>>Was the original menu so bad?
The original has ads, flashy banners and opens with lag half the time. Yes, it's that bad.
They never made sense for desktop interfaces with a keyboard and mouse. Information density is usually preferred, because we have big screens and precise, fast input.
Exec1:"We have a semi decent os with a refreshingly updated UI that should stay relevant for a decade. How can we make it better?"
Exec2: "why not replace the perfectly good start menu we have with an ugly, oddly proportioned rectangle with animated ads for our products."
Exec3: "Sounds great! Just make sure it has a quarter of the information density of the old one and takes up twice the screen space."
I haven't used Win11 enough to discover how they have managed to further degrade the experience, but at least it looks nicer.