If you miss the Start menu, then you should hold off on buying a new Windows computer until next year at this point. ZDNet’s sources say that Microsoft has shelved its plans to bring back the Start menu to Windows with the next update to Windows 8.1 and will instead likely bring it back with the launch of Windows 9 in April 2015.
ZDNet says that it’s “not clear whether the postponement is because the feature won’t be fully baked in time, or if there’s another reason for the change in plans,” but it’s definitely sad news for anyone who was hoping Microsoft would bring back the Start menu sooner. The Start menu has been one of the most missed features in Windows 8 and its absence is one of the key reasons why many companies and individual users have been reluctant to upgrade to Microsoft’s touch-friendly operating system.
New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella vowed this past spring to bring the Start menu back to Windows, although he never gave a definitive timeframe for when the menu would make its much-anticipated comeback. ZDNet’s sources claim that “the new Microsoft-developed Start Menu isn’t going to be the same as the Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 Start Menus,” and is “expected to offer some familiarity, but also integrate Windows 8’s Metro-Style Start screen concept.”
