There has been a lot of very heated opinions and discussions on the new Windows 8 Start screen and lack of a Start button similar to the Windows 95-7 era. Microsoft has decided to give their two cents and explain their reasoning behind the new design. I enjoy the new Start screen, and I am sure it will be great on my new Windows 8 tablet when I get it, but for general day to day desktop PC use, I’m going to want my standard desktop and start button.

We’d like to share a series of blog posts on the how and why of reimagining Start. This first post talks about the history and evolution of the Start menu, and several of the problems and trends we’ve learned from you. We think it’s always important to understand where we’ve come from before we talk about where we’re headed. We’ll then have another post that dives into how we crafted the new Start screen, and then we’ll see where the discussion leads us from there.