[gtrz]

Well in any case I think the classic menu is laid out better for all I need it for, more streamlined.

[arablizzard2413]

Too bad the Windows 2000 start menu isn't an option... I liked having the classic menu with a my computer shortcut

[puntoMX]

arablizzard2413, on Apr 24 2008, 10:52 AM, said:

Too bad the Windows 2000 start menu isn't an option... I liked having the classic menu with a my computer shortcut

Why don’t you make a shortcut and place it there?

[war59312]

Classic! Dont need any of the extra "junk". Minimalist!

[Jeremy]

The classic one for me, always. Usability.

[Maleko]

Defo the XP one, everthings there in one place.

[avoidz]

Definitely XP's Start Menu. Familiarity, plus usability, plus looks.

Why they brought back that horrible scrolling menu for Vista I'll never know.

[Stoic Joker]

TravisO, on Mar 21 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

Preferring the XP bar is a cop out, yes, Vista is new and different (people hate that) but that new search bar is the best thing added to Windows in a long time. Let's be honest here people, 99% of Windows users are everyday Joes, and I'll bet you when they clicked Search in the XP or 2000 bar, they didn't realize it was about filenames and the list of questions on the left side are kind of pointless. All these users wanted to know is "where is that calculator".

No I don't think the Vista bar is perfect, actually I hate the new scrolling system of folders, but the Search Bar is the best thing since the Start bar.

Everybody knows how web search engines work, and that's how an OS search should work. I want to be able to type in "video" and get all videos on my system, not all the files/folders with the name video.

As this search matures, it will have help and such, it makes perfect sense for somebody to just type "error 1234" and expect internal help & MS knowledge base articles appear on that matter.

The fact MS is going with a SQL based file system that won't be displayed in a folder hierarchy shows even MS realizes the concept of folders in folders is as outdated UI to browse a massive storage device. Yes, the actual stored may be composed of folders, but why does John Doe care, all he knows is he has a bunch of documents, MP3s, videos, etc, and with today's CPU power, amount of ram and massive HDs makes the whole folder thing show it's age.

Well Said!

[GrofLuigi]

Stoic Joker, on May 5 2008, 06:05 PM, said:

TravisO, on Mar 21 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

Preferring the XP bar is a cop out, yes, Vista is new and different (people hate that) but that new search bar is the best thing added to Windows in a long time. Let's be honest here people, 99% of Windows users are everyday Joes, and I'll bet you when they clicked Search in the XP or 2000 bar, they didn't realize it was about filenames and the list of questions on the left side are kind of pointless. All these users wanted to know is "where is that calculator".

No I don't think the Vista bar is perfect, actually I hate the new scrolling system of folders, but the Search Bar is the best thing since the Start bar.

Everybody knows how web search engines work, and that's how an OS search should work. I want to be able to type in "video" and get all videos on my system, not all the files/folders with the name video.

As this search matures, it will have help and such, it makes perfect sense for somebody to just type "error 1234" and expect internal help & MS knowledge base articles appear on that matter.

The fact MS is going with a SQL based file system that won't be displayed in a folder hierarchy shows even MS realizes the concept of folders in folders is as outdated UI to browse a massive storage device. Yes, the actual stored may be composed of folders, but why does John Doe care, all he knows is he has a bunch of documents, MP3s, videos, etc, and with today's CPU power, amount of ram and massive HDs makes the whole folder thing show it's age.

Well Said!

Oh so they are now returning to using the keyboard and that's a good thing? After remotes and media centers/HTPCs took some ground?

GL

Stoic Joker, on May 5 2008, 06:05 PM, said:

TravisO, on Mar 21 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

The fact MS is going with a SQL based file system that won't be displayed in a folder hierarchy shows even MS realizes the concept of folders in folders is as outdated UI to browse a massive storage device. Yes, the actual stored may be composed of folders, but why does John Doe care, all he knows is he has a bunch of documents, MP3s, videos, etc, and with today's CPU power, amount of ram and massive HDs makes the whole folder thing show it's age.

Well Said!

Ah, I didn't see this at first. So the CPU power/RAM/HDDs should be used for searching/indexing documents, MP3s, videos instead of playing/editing them?

GL

[Mordac85]

fwiw, I prefer Classic. Not that I'm adverse to change or something new, but when it comes to the desktop/menu I don't need a lot of eye candy. I just need it to work. If I was not in IT it would probably be different, but then again I'm one of those 4 bit color guys. There is no such color as teal, it's green people.

As for the folder UI being a thing of the past, again it depends on the needs of the user. There is no good or bad when it comes to UI design, just what works for a specific application. I would hate to not be able to organize my stuff and just crossed my fingers hoping the search feature actually found what I needed. imho, the Vista menu, and to some extent XP menu, caters to a group of users that want a good balance of color and style that provide the functionality to meet their needs. I'm not like that, so Classic suits me jsut fine even though it will probably be killed off in the next iteration.

[MagicAndre1981]

I prefer the new Vista Startmenu.

The new search is fantastic and the way the other programs are listed is 100 times better than the classic startmenu or the XP one

[Volatus]

Been using Vista for about 3 weeks now and I haven't touched the start search once until I saw this topic. You know what it did when I typed "cal" into it? Nothing. It said no results. That's really, really useful - it won't even look right in front of it. Not that I would ever find any use for it...
(edit: I was looking for calculator - right there on my recent programs list - by the way)

I DON'T want to search for my stuff! Plain and simple. I know where it is, I know what folder it's in, I want menus to fly out and meet my demands. I can get to VFD by Start->Documents->Tools->VFD->vfdwin.exe. Keyfinder the same. Any tool I need, the same. Anything that's stuck in my user profile folder in Vista? Harder to get to than XP, but still the same. Search is just more bloatware eating up thousands of megs of hard drive space to do nothing.

In fact, I actually noticed that the search in Vista has gotten noticeably worse. There used to be a marginally useful "find in files" section of Search, where you could search for text or data within a file or files. That's gone. I now have to use UltraEdit to search in files. It comes in handy for restoring a one-off nLitened-out driver back to another XP install, and searching for a device ID in a crapload of INFs. Yeah, that's gone. Thanks, Vista.

Totally prefer the XP start menu. Clicking "Shut down" doesn't require an actual click to bring up a menu to actually tell it "how" to shut down... jeez. Vista is just too dumbed-down.

This post has been edited by Volatus: 04 July 2008 - 01:46 AM

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Volatus, on Jul 4 2008, 10:45 AM, said:

Totally prefer the XP start menu. Clicking "Shut down" doesn't require an actual click to bring up a menu to actually tell it "how" to shut down... jeez. Vista is just too dumbed-down.

You had that menu in XP too, just that it appeared at the center of the screen. In Vista you have that little red button on the start menu which you can configure so you can shut down with a single click.

However i still don't like the rest of the start menu. Only thing i like is that they FINALLY fixed the scrambling programs menu, so you don't have to click "sort by name" every time you install a new piece of software.

[Sysdll]

Classic until Royale was released. If Luna was an art 101 assignment it would get an F.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Sysdll, on Jul 13 2008, 06:47 AM, said:

Classic until Royale was released. If Luna was an art 101 assignment it would get an F.

Funny thing, i don't like Royale.

[joe43wv]

I chose the classic, nothin wrong with the oldies.

[Altruist]

Patched UXTheme on Server 2003. Because it's fun.

This post has been edited by Altruist: 23 July 2008 - 04:59 PM

[DJPro]

The XP menu , I'dont' like the classic menu.

DJPro

[msdemich]

Although I like the search feature built-in to the Vista start menu, I prefer the XP start menu because it expands menus out. I can always organize them from there. Vista's way of bottling up all the items from the programs menu really bugs me. I use a 1280x1024 screen so I hate being trapped in a tiny menu. To serve the purpose of the Vista search feature on the start menu, I use Launchy.

[ReDucTor]

jim2029, on Apr 5 2008, 03:42 AM, said:

I do prefer Windows 95 over what we have now, cause it just worked. No crashing, no desktop missing for a few seconds.... But like everything else, no one is happy till they tweak it till it breaks.

Windows 95 still had to load explorer before you had a desktop, so it did take a few seconds to show, crashing /con/con was nasty when that became known only took them like 5 years to patch it.

I'm guessing if your a 95 fan you still use seperate windows for opening folders, god that use to s*** me before i figured out how to change it.

I believe in always trying the new (or close enough), because one day backwards compatability will be missed, and then you'll be stuffed.

Anyone started learning Office 2007/2008? Now thats a jump into telli-tubby land if i ever saw something.