I've been watching this and other forums for a bit, specifically the posts on the start menu. It's odd how some posters sound like the voice of Microsoft, fervently trying to convince users that they don't want to use the classic start menu. I understand the old start menu was tied to legacy code; it was time for it to go. Replicating the functionality of the old start menu would be trivial under the new code. Microsoft took a similar tack with Office 2007. Many of the same complaints were made, and ignored. But Microsoft's attitude was not ignored at our company. This is the year 2009, and we have approx 2,200 workstations that still run Office 2003. The reason? Our users did not care for the 2007 interface. We saw no reason to fight that. Approximately two years ago today, we had closer to 3,000 workstations using Office. We found that a number of our users were open to adopting OpenOffice instead. These were users who did not require us to cross-train them on a new product. While I can't quite state that we'll be making a similar transition for our XP users (we've had little reason to adopt Vista; less than 100 of our machines run that OS) we are of course open to less expensive alternatives in the new economy. While I have enjoyed trialing Windows 7 personally, I too would prefer the functionality of the 'classic' start menu. I was actually looking forward to rolling out the OS on a number of machines, but (I'm rather laughing to myself) this arrogant stance on the part of Microsoft, and some of the posters in this forum again make me hesitate to adopt this product. I am the primary person who makes this decision in the case of our organization; a small number of users will overrule me on this, the majority will be stuck with my decision. Our little company won't make or break Microsoft. But I have to believe there are others thinking as I do. I've actually been a pretty ardent Microsoft supporter. I'm getting over it. The forums I've read since January have posters using the identical language on different sites. This cannot be coincidence. Microsoft is shaping opinion through shilling - an ugly practice. Dear Microsoft: Users like the posters of this forum are telling how they would prefer the interface crafted. Each time these topics arise, you use the phrase 'usability testing.' Each time you utter or type this phrase, I would like you to visualize the dollars that you will be turning down. I've explained in number of copies of software we have chosen not to purchase over a period of five years. Think of it what you will. I'll now take a cue from Microsoft and share my message in another forum.
