Microsoft could introduce a very important change in Windows 8, if the change is maintained from the beta to final version. According to a couple of leaks out there in the public beta of Windows 8 (“Consumer Preview”) the Start button will shine by their absence.
In previous beta versions of Windows 8, the button had changed its design to be more consistent interface to the famous Metro. However, in this new edition the button will be permanently deleted, its functionality is also not present as a “hot corner”. The functions that previously ran with the Start button is now activated simply by passing the mouse pointer on the bottom left, or “sweeping” the sector in touch mode.
Screenshots of an consumer preview build of Windows 8 leaked this weekend, and the photos showed a smart bar without one of Windows’ defining features. In the Windows 8 public beta builds that Microsoft has let the public play with, the Start button has just been rethemed to match the its Metro-style interface, looking quite out of place in Microsoft’s Aero desktop environment.
Likewise, the taskbar, Windows 7 seems to be a successful design for Microsoft, so it probably will keep unchanged. In any case, being a beta version, the disappearance of the start button would not be final so there is still chance that the classic button is back as if nothing had happened.
