When Microsoft decided to remove the Start button from Windows 8's Consumer Preview version earlier this year, the company generated a boatload of discussions and mixed reactions over a known user interface element that was first introduced in Windows over 15 years ago.
However, now the company, in an interview with PC Pro, has revealed that telemetry data was a big part of the decision to get rid of the Start button and traditional Start menu in Windows 8.
Microsoft's Chaitanya Sareen, while discussing about application pinning in Windows 7, stated that the company has witnessed a "trend" towards using the new taskbar as a way to simply launch applications rather than navigating to links within the Start menu.
Moreover, data gathered from the company's Customer Experience Improvement Program led Microsoft to conclude that Start menu usage was dropping. "We’re going to unlock a whole new set of scenarios," said Sareen, describing the new Metro Start Screen in Windows 8. But despite the new interface, Sareen also admitted that "you can’t beat the taskbar," and that users can always choose to stay in the desktop mode.
It is important to note here that although the traditional Start menu and Start button has been removed from Windows 8, the majority of functionality still remains in the new operating system.
As of now, a new hot corner has substituted the Start button in the lower left of the screen, while hot corners on the right-hand side reveal a new charms menu that includes a Windows button to navigate to the Start Screen.
Microsoft is currently putting the finishing touches to its Windows 8 operating system and will be ready for release in October.
