That's a shame. In most respects, the new start screen in 8.1 is better than the old start menu now. In Windows 8 it was a big step backwards.
I agree, generally. I think they should have just improved the All Programs view further (to allow actual folders and nesting, more like iOS's Springboard). But, this isn't surprising in any way considering the way things have been going for them with Windows 8 and 8.1. They're running scared, and undoing everything they did with Windows 8.
The problem is, in my estimation, that they're going to throw the baby out with the bath water. Sigh.
If you're constantly using the "all programs" screen/menu on a daily basis, I feel like you're doing something wrong. Pin or search - either is much quicker.
Pinned items are far superior in Windows 8.1 to the old start menu's list of pinned items.
I agree with you generally (and avoid the All Programs view like the plague). But... Two things:
1. There's another time when I use it, and I think this impacts other (less power-usery) users far more frequently: When I don't remember exactly what I'm looking for (the application name, or whatever). Maybe I remember the icon, and not the name. Or maybe I can't really remember either, but I'll know it when I see it. For whatever reason, this happens to me constantly with... Uhh... See, it is happening now.... Gotta go Google it to figure it out... TeamViewer. I use TeamViewer when I need to remotely support friends and family. I don't run it all the time on my machine, and I only use it for those occasional purposes, and for whatever reason I can never remember what it is called. So, I can't search because I don't know what to type.
In Windows 7, I could just browse the All Programs menu, drill down to the Internet & Networking folder I made, and I'd see it right away, and know instantly when I saw it that it was what I wanted.
In Windows 8 (and 8.1) the All Programs view is such a piece of crap that I
have to pin it to Start, even though I use it very infrequently. I think that the Start Screen is best used for frequently used applications. I like to keep it to one "screenful" of applications total, but since I have to pin so many infrequently used things, I have a "crap pile" off the right-hand end.
I strongly suspect from my experience seeing other people use Windows 8, that this is a very common thing for many "regular" users. How many people do you know that don't even know what Word is called (my mom calls it "Microsoft"). Adobe Reader (almost all regular users I've ever encountered call it "Adobe")? And so on and so forth.
2. Does it make sense to have such an important UI be so difficult to use? Wouldn't the fact that you (and I) avoid it point to the fact that it is terrible, not that it is acceptable? When I read someone say "Don't use it that way" in relation to Windows 8, that is the best indicator of problems in the UI design. If it shouldn't be used that way, then the fricking thing shouldn't be there. That's clearly the way it was designed to be used (pin frequently used apps, otherwise use All Programs). But, it isn't great, and I think it is mainly because they flattened the hierarchy.
I get why. iOS is popular, in large part, because it has very little hierarchy. Filesystems with infinitely nested folders confuse users. But even iOS has folders. I think Microsoft should have implemented something similar (allow nesting, but only single-folder deep) in All Programs.
