Not Good

Microsoft is set to unveil the preview version of Windows 9 later this month, and everyone expects to be allowed to try out some new features, including the Start menu and a desktop flavor of Cortana.


According to new reports coming from Russian sources, Microsoft is actually locking the Start menu in existing Windows 9 builds in order to prevent them from trying this feature and presumably leak screenshots with it in action to the web.

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Again just more "Speculation.". . . .

Now where did I leave my Crystal ball. Oh yeah it is in my Mothers loft in Cambridgeshire England. It was to heavy to ship to Indiana.

It wouldn't surprise me it they did that in the early releases. It's one way to guarantee feedback on that feature.

If the article is correct, it indicates MS has no confidence in their new Start Menu design.

What is the point of the beta, if all of the new stuff is locked?

Does not bode well.

I'm fine with them locking things now, as long as I have choices when the final version goes live. On the plus side, somebody is likely already trying to cheat the lock or has already figured out how to toggle it off. The answer to "What is the point of the beta" all depends on who you ask, Microsoft or the consumer.

My "Oh-good-grief-O-meter" just redlined.....

If the article is correct, it indicates MS has no confidence in their new Start Menu design.

What is the point of the beta, if all of the new stuff is locked?

Does not bode well.

Later this month it will not be locked. It's locked right now so that partners with previews or those with leaked versions (at this moment) can not spread screenshots of the Start Menu.

Post titled "Not Good"?

A rather negative connotation. I take it you don't like MS nor their products much.

"If the article is correct, it indicates MS has no confidence in their new Start Menu design.

"If the article is correct" is a big IF, especially coming from this site.

If anything MS via Ballmer and Sinofsky were too confident with the release of 8. Not exactly a warm welcome to the drastic changes made. In hindsight they should have market-researched it better and at least released it with the option to boot to desktop such as in 8.1. They're both down the road and MS has moved on. On the plus side they were the backbone of creating 7.

Perhaps the feature isn't ready yet, either by incomplete writing or premarket analysis design. So as not to make a mistake again, perhaps they'll release it via an update when it is. After all, it is beta.

What is the point of the beta, if all of the new stuff is locked?

Does not bode well.

Perhaps I missed it, but no where in the article does it state "all of the new stuff is locked". A rather "sensational" statement to make just as presented in a lot of these types of articles.

The big > IF the article is true, then the Start Screen must be included again. That's a good thing.