In each issue of Distro, Editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
There are times when you need to stay strong, ignore the criticism and do what you know is right. Then, there are some times when the masses are right and listening is the smart thing. With Windows 8, Microsoft made many radical changes, not the least of which being the deletion of the fabled Start button. This week we got our first taste of that operating system’s first major update, Windows 8.1, and it includes a number of notable upgrades and improvements. Perhaps the most notable? The return of a Start button. Well, sort of.
It’s now called a “Start Tip” as it isn’t a proper button, but you can click on it and bring up the tiled Start Screen interface. So, the Start button is back, but not the Start menu. That’s fine by me, as I don’t think hidden, contextual elements make much sense in a keyboard-and-mouse environment. And the other tweaks are nice, including a far more comprehensive Settings section, a functional lock screen and, finally, the ability to adjust the size of applications that you’ve snapped to either side of your screen. Maybe in Windows 8.2 we’ll get fully resizable windows!
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc
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