Microsoft's Windows 8.1: Bring back the Start button and boot to desktop

The hot news of the morning is surrounding a rumor that Windows 8.1 (Blue) will allow you to boot straight to the desktop which also opens up more possibilities that the start button could come back making it more like Windows 7.

I'm not alone in thinking that Windows 7 is by far one of the best operating systems Microsoft has released and had hoped that Windows 8 would have continued down that path.  But, as it would turn out M$ was forward thinking enough to consider the mobile space with Windows 8 but in the process alienated a good majority of their user base.

Booting directly to the desktop is something I had hoped would have been in the initial release and so far there is no guarantee that it will make it to Windows Blue until it is released.  So, we'll just have to wait and see.

One of my sources confirmed this is now looking like the plan and added that Microsoft is also considering bringing back the Start button as an option with Windows Blue.

It's not 100 percent sure that either/both of these options will be baked into the final Blue release, which is expected to be released to manufacturing on or around August 2013. I guess we'll have a better indication once the next milestone build, a.k.a. the Blue Preview, leaks - or when the public version of that preview goes live around June.

"Until it ships, anything can change," said my source, who requested anonymity.

WinBeta.org also had a story claiming that Microsoft is working on two operating systems in parallel.  The first being Blue and the second would be a "backup" if Blue goes "Vista".  Or, in this case Windows 9.

As a programmer I know that it is always good to have a backup plan in the works in case things go south, and having two in flight gives you an active codebase to make drastic changes to if the market shifts.  It's an agile coding method and so far seems to work well, especially when it takes a considerable amount of time to build.

Related Web URL: http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-windows-8-plan-blu...