I read that Microsoft, in their finite wisdom, had decided to remove a few of their core operating system features like the Start menu which had been part of their Windows OSes for decades. Instead of a Start button, Windows 8 uses a "hot corner" at the lower left. When that hotspot is touched or clicked, the interface switches from the traditional desktop UI to the tile-centric environment, or vice versa. At boot, Windows 8 presents a log on screen where the user must enter a Windows ID; at that point, the Start screen appears. This newly added startpage feels like a new interface that has nothing to do with the desktop. What tech experts are saying is MS is betting huge that touchscreens/monitors and touch-enabled devices will be the de facto standard in computing in the near future. That might be good news to owners of mobile devices but not to desktop PC owners who might still be using non-touchscreen monitors. Again Microsoft is neglecting the desktop in favor of a system that did not work on the desktop, which after all was Microsoft's core home market.
The controls for search are the same under Windows 8. You still press the Windows key and enter your search term afterwards. However, in Windows 8 no Start menu will open when you hit the Windows key. It switches to the startpage instead which gives you the option to use their newly added advanced filtering options not available in previous Windows versions.You do not have to work with the startpage if you do not want to. It is easy to bypass and it can for the most part be ignored completely without issues.
If this new development is not to your liking however don't despair. If you miss the Start menu, you can install a program like Start8 or Classic Shell (both free) and you have it again. It may look different but the functionality that you get is still there, and sometimes even better than before. These apps aren't attempting to get the original Start menu back, but provide a third-party replacement of their own. And if you want, you can even hack the Windows 8 startpage, for instance by making better use of the All Apps screen. If you install Start8 it takes you directly to the desktop when the operating system starts, and you can use it to search right from the desktop using the improved search functionality of the operating system. Start8 apes the new Metro shell.
Links:
Classic Shell
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
UPDATE:http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
Start8 still works in Windows 8 RTM. Start8 adds a Start button to the Windows desktop and optionally allows users to skip the Start screen at log on.
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