Windows 10: Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design

Discus and support Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design in Windows 10 News to solve the problem; The Windows 11 Start Menu is once again drawing flak from users, this time from a former Microsoft employee. Jensen Harris, who worked at the company... Discussion in 'Windows 10 News' started by GHacks, Aug 31, 2022.

  1. GHacks
    GHacks New Member

    Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design


    The Windows 11 Start Menu is once again drawing flak from users, this time from a former Microsoft employee. Jensen Harris, who worked at the company for 16 years, slammed the Redmond company for ruining the Windows 11 Start Menu's design.

    Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design Former-Microsoft-employee-slams-Windows-11s-Start-Menu-design.jpg

    He posted a series of tweets to share his opinions about his experience with Windows 11. He termed the Start Menu as the flagship user experience, and says that he was shocked by its design in the latest OS.

    Image courtesy: Jensen Harris

    Former Microsoft employee criticizes Windows 11's Start Menu design


    Microsoft recommends Edge as the default browser wherever possible, even going as far as to changing the default browser a bit complicated. This is something that has been widely criticized among users, the tech community, and even other browser makers. These ads extend to the Start Menu of the operating system. Harris compared the Edge recommendation in the right panel of the Start Menu's Search interface to the Internet Explorer toolbars from the 2000s.

    He said that the Bing Wallpaper app ad at the top of the search result looks like banner ads from the Geocities-era. The ex-Microsoft employee seemed to have been equally appalled by the inconsistent design principles in the UI, particularly mentioning the corners of the ads and buttons, one of which was rounded, another one has a square edge, while a third has a squircle design. That's kind of ironic considering that the rounded corner design was touted by Microsoft as one of Windows 11's design standards.

    Harris also questioned the company's intentions about placing ads in the Start Menu, asking whether the amount of money that the wallpaper app makes is worth "cheapening" the user experience. The former Microsoft engineer also criticized the migration of the Start button to the center of the taskbar.

    Harris was the Director of Program Management for the Windows User Experience. So one can imagine he has a lot of insight about the GUI. He recalled the time when Microsoft once prioritized the design of the Start Menu, explaining how his team had created a special ligature for the font used in Windows (Segoe UI). They had to work on aligning the S and t in Start together. But that is no longer the case. Harris highlighted the importance of the UI, while mentioning that many designers whom he worked with are still at Microsoft. The talent is there, but it doesn't seem to be utilized correctly.

    I think he is spot on with his arguments, the Start Menu is after all one of the most used features in the OS. But it is barely recognizable if you're coming from an older version of Windows, which in turn ruins the user experience. There are of course other issues in Windows 11, such as the lack of an option to move the Taskbar to the top or the sides of the screen, Taskbar right-click menu, etc.

    Users have complained about the Start Menu in Windows 11 ever since the first preview version of the OS was released, but when a person who was formerly in charge of software design at Microsoft gives their opinion about the UI, it hits on a different level. It clearly shows that the company is not focusing on the user experience.

    Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

    read more...
     
    GHacks, Aug 31, 2022
    #1
  2. Easy Rhino, Aug 31, 2022
    #2
  3. Windows 10 Start menu is empty

    Hi. Steps 1 and 2 didn't do much but step 3 has restored what looks like the list of original Microsoft apps but no sign of any of the many apps I have installed. And there are no tiles in the start menu. Any suggestions please?
     
    LesGrant42, Aug 31, 2022
    #3
  4. Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design

    Start menu is not working on Windows 10

    Hi,

    Iunderstand the frustration if things are not working fine as expected.

    Please help us with below details,


            • When you say "If I sign in under my user name I am in some earlier version", which version you are referring to?

            • Did you made any recent changes to your computer prior to the issue?

            • When you say “I cannot access the start menu and am limited to IP as a browser” Is it refers to Microsoft Edge?

    As an initial steps, I suggest you to check for the Windows version. To do so, follow the below steps:

    1) Login to your computer through user name on which it show earlier version of Windows.

    2) Press Windows key + r.

    3) Type winver, hit enter.

    For the issue related to start menu, I suggest you to refer to the below Microsoft help article and check,

    Fix problems with the Start menu

    Reply with results and necessary information to help you further.

    Thank you.
     
    Krishna Priya V, Aug 31, 2022
    #4
Thema:

Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design

Loading...
  1. Former Microsoft employee slams Windows 11's Start Menu design - Similar Threads - Former Microsoft employee

  2. Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?

    in Windows 10 Customization
    Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?: Please Help.Many of out computers only have 120GB SSD and that should be plenty because the users don't create a lot of data. But what I'm noticing is after about 2 years of turnover the user accounts number over 100 and use about 60 to 70 GB of the drive.It mainly looks like...
  3. Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?

    in Windows 10 Gaming
    Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?: Please Help.Many of out computers only have 120GB SSD and that should be plenty because the users don't create a lot of data. But what I'm noticing is after about 2 years of turnover the user accounts number over 100 and use about 60 to 70 GB of the drive.It mainly looks like...
  4. Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?

    in Windows 10 Software and Apps
    Former Employee Accounts filling up HDD?: Please Help.Many of out computers only have 120GB SSD and that should be plenty because the users don't create a lot of data. But what I'm noticing is after about 2 years of turnover the user accounts number over 100 and use about 60 to 70 GB of the drive.It mainly looks like...
  5. Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee

    in Windows Hello & Lockscreen
    Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee: A former employee resigned without removing or leaving a list of account passwords as we had requested. Today, the office computer did an automatic update. When it restarted, it required a PIN to log in, with the former employee’s personal mobile phone set to get the...
  6. Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee

    in Windows 10 Gaming
    Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee: A former employee resigned without removing or leaving a list of account passwords as we had requested. Today, the office computer did an automatic update. When it restarted, it required a PIN to log in, with the former employee’s personal mobile phone set to get the...
  7. Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee

    in Windows 10 Software and Apps
    Remove an unknown PIN set by a former employee: A former employee resigned without removing or leaving a list of account passwords as we had requested. Today, the office computer did an automatic update. When it restarted, it required a PIN to log in, with the former employee’s personal mobile phone set to get the...
  8. A closer look at Windows 10’s new Start Menu design

    in Windows 10 News
    A closer look at Windows 10’s new Start Menu design: Windows 10 Build 20161 has been released to the testers in the Dev channel of the Windows Insider program. The preview build includes a new look for the Start Menu, alongside some other tweaks to notifications behaviour and taskbar in certain configurations. Microsoft says...
  9. Former Microsoft Employee explains why bugs in Windows updates increased

    in Windows 10 News
    Former Microsoft Employee explains why bugs in Windows updates increased: Has the number of bugs in Windows updates increased in the past couple of years? If so, what is the reason for the increase in bugs? That's the question that former Microsoft Senior SDET Jerry Berg, better known as Barnacules, answered in a recent video. Berg worked for 15...
  10. Start Menu Designs

    in Windows 10 Customization
    Start Menu Designs: I have just updated my PC after I shut it down turned it back on and my start menu has been changed and now not sure how to change it back to what it was. I looked up and they say right click the start menu and click setting there is none of that there. *Mad [img] 61198