Microsoft: Start button is hardly used in Windows 7

Microsoft states that the controversial decision to remove the start button in Windows 8 was made because users rarely use it in Windows 7. Instead, users would increasingly pin applications to the taskbar.

Microsoft’s decision to omit the start button in desktop mode in the final release of Windows 8 caused a lot of controversy. However, Chaitanya Sareen, principal program manager at Microsoft, tells PC Pro that telemetry data from Windows 7 users suggests that the start menu has become obsolete. The users would pin applications to the taskbar in droves, eliminating the need for the start menu for many tasks. According to Sareen, the trend in Windows 7 is also that more use is made of shortcuts via the keyboard.

Partly based on this information, the Windows 8 development team has decided to omit the start button in desktop mode. Microsoft is trying to emphasize the Metro interface home screen to launch applications or use the Charms Bar. The software giant is said to have even removed the legacy code of the start button from the code of Windows 8 and the Aero Glass interface has also disappeared.