The iconic Microsoft Start button is set to return to the software giant’s much maligned Windows 8 operating system, but the firm denies it has taken a step backwards.
Fans of Windows operating systems were upset by the lack of a Start button when it launched last year, but the 8.1 update will make it visible again on the taskbar.
A Microsoft blogpost said: “We’ve improved the way you navigate to Start with the mouse by changing the Start ‘tip’ to be the familiar Windows logo.
“The new tip appears anytime you move the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, and is always visible on the taskbar when on the desktop.”
The button will not however work as previously experienced, but instead launch a new Metro interface.
The 8.1 version will also allow users to boot and switch to a complete desktop mode, avoiding the Start Screen if they wish.
A critical article in the UK’s Financial Times described the re-introduction of the Start button, present on Windows since 1995, as one of the “most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market product since Coca-Cola’s New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago”.
Microsoft responded to the comment by describing it as “unfortunate”.
A preview download of Windows 8.1 is currently available with a final version expected to be freely available by the end of the year.
