Windows 7 'System Launcher', life without the Start Menu

I agree with gorath. Looks horrible, and just adds more complexity when his idea is to do just the opposite.

Agreed. This is a waste. There are certain icons to have on the Taskbar, but there are just too many available to have everything, and the user experiences should be divided up into different areas of the shell. If programs are grouped together via either Quick Launch, or pinned icons, then file management links shouldn't be grouped on the same UI element. My fear is that this is going to bring a whole new level of desktop stupification to the equation by deviating from task-based experiences that Windows Me introduced, and Windows XP expanded on. It sends the signal that the desktop is one big marketing canvas for software vendors to brand the experience with logos for their application. This contradicts Microsoft's previous commitment to moving to text-based UI concepts with the Windows Live software, wherein the application UI should be text, but the customer's media should be graphical. How do you unify 3 distinct application UI's though? You have 3 main UI styles by Microsoft: icon-based, text-based, and the hybrid Ribbon/Scenic/Fluent concept. Just for sh*ts and giggles, I'd like to see someone make a Windows mod (regkey mod or app) that disables all icons in the Start Menu and Taskbar and see where that takes us. "What a complete load of codswollop." Ya, who uses Nero anymore anyway? :P (And what is that ancient Microsoft icon with the reddish paintbrush swirl? I've seen it before but can't remember what it is)

Actually, I quite like having the Recycle Bin down there, but I agree that things can get cluttered quickly. Half the beauty of a Windows system, though, is having the opportunity to "make things look and feel how you would like them to", which for some folks means having a cluttered taskbar/launch area. Whatever. Strangely enough, while trying to debunk yet another "Mac has been using the dock since 1964"-type comment, I found an interesting Wikipedia article on the OSX dock itself. Some interesting "detractors" listed, who really take issue with the "cluttered" feel of the dock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_%28Mac_OS_X%29 That said, I'm *really* getting tired of the "like the dock?" comments when I show people the new Win7 taskbar. Is the "superbar" really so different than what Windows has been using for a long time now? If anything, everyone should have knocked-the-dock for *finally* showing what programs are open on your Mac without having the access the stupid Finder.... But I digress.

Not to derail the conversation, but I would *love* to see the "jumplist" behavior expand/improve, and I'm hopeful that it will. For instance, I have Remote Desktop pinned to my Start Menu. Why can't I see a list of "recently connected to" systems there? How about a similar list off of my SQL Server Management Studio icon? FileZilla would be great with that too! Then.... I install my old-school CorelDRAW 9 software (yeah... I'm ghetto), and the jumplist behavior works perfectly! Anyhow, I would love to see this stuff improve.

True, just about the only thing I have nero for these days is for quickly burning gapless audio CDs.

"is the word codswallop, codswollop, or cod's-wallop?" Have a look-see: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=codswallop

"....who burns CD's anymore anyway??!" What if your car doesn't have an aux jack or a cassette player? I don't like the FM transmitter thing. Until recently, Audi used to charge for an iPod connector. I don't know if it still does.

Apple patented the dock. You may not agree that Windows 7 has copied the dock, but I think when it comes to a patent infringement lawsuit, it will go in Apples favour. However, I think they won't act on it. Once Windows 7 has got a few million users, then they will go after MS for royalties. I think that, is rather clever.

"What if your car doesn't have an aux jack" EVERY car has an "aux jack" - just pull the cables from behind the dash and hook up your Radio Shack catalog order stereo components. Otherwise, quit living in the 80's and buy a real car! PS: What's a "cassette player"? Is that that ancient thing that has "Dolby NR" (whatever that is), and a choice of Metal or CrO2 magnetic media spun on two portable reels inside a plastic enclosure? :P

"Anything to get all that crap off the desktop." That was the idea behind the Start Menu. General GUI guidelines specified to keep the desktop clear. The Start Menu MRU tailors itself to the user so the need for icons on the desktop was meant to diminish. The Start Menu is like many other app-launcher menu systems in other OS shells, but unlike most others, the XP Start Menu is dynamic, and task-based. "Leave it to "Waethorn" to quote the "urban dictionary" rather than a real one" Obviously, I use the resource that's fitting. It's slang, so I use a slang dictionary. It offers at least more insight than your resource.

"It offers at least more insight than your resource." Funny, coming from the guy who doesn't like "Wikipedia" because "anyone can edit it." You're only consistent in your inconsistency (and, of course, lack of class) "Waethorn".

My car stereo doesn't have any external inputs, but it does have extra outputs As for who listens to CDs? All the artists that come to the studio listen to music on CDs. They certainly don't wait till their music is on i-tunes.

"On the other hand, Windows has shown currently running apps on the taskbar since Windows 95. If it occurred earlier than that in Windows, I don't remember it." Windows 1 had this feature. http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win101 http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/running

To quote Mr. Horse from the old Ren and Stimpy cartoons... "No sir, I didn't like it...." I like the Windows 7 taskbar as it is presented in the beta. Are people getting so lazy that they can't even look for an application these days? IMO, the superbar is nothing like the dock. If anything, I believe that the superbar is more useful than OS-X dock. Besides, there was a dock like feature back in Windows 1.0. Windows 1.0 was launched to the public on November 20, 1985. Steve Jobs was forced resigned from Apple Computer on September 16, 1985. The same day he filed papers to incorporate NeXT, Inc. The first previews of Nextstep OS didn't come till until 1986. Version 0.8 didn't appear till October 12, 1988. Don't believe me? I found a screenshot. http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/e7/WindowsLiveWriter/HappyAnniversaryWin... http://toastytech.com/guis/win101.html As rudimentary as it was, it help manage minimized programs. A way to relaunch them from their minimized state. The development of Windows started in 1982. Windows 1.0 was previewed in 1983. There was no dock in the Classic Mac OS until Mac OS 7. Officially, the dock appears in Mac OS 9. I've used every Mac OS from the Apple II series, the Lisa, Classic Mac OS 1 - 9, and OS - X 10.0 (Cheetah) current OS-X 10.5 (Leopard). I don't ever remember anything remotely similar to the dock until Mac OS 7. I am not saying that I could be wrong, but thats the way a lot of historical websites and my own experience covers it.

shark, what do ya want? bloggers were crying and sobbing about such an annoying thing as security (read: UAC) so MS decided to plug their holes forever with this UAC "fix", let's hope they stop crying now

@ Dipsh t Admin http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/running Thanks for that link! I had no idea that such a comparison existed, but it is *truly* interesting to see how that has evolved over the years amongst the various OSes. If anything, the Mac OS *finally* came into modern times when they introduced their dock. They were fixing a problem that many other OSes didn't have -- the ability to easily see what applications were currently open. So... now Microsoft introduces a taskbar that combines two things they've had for a long time -- "quick launch" and the "task bar" -- but they're copying Apple's "dock"?" I'm sorry. I don't see it. @ robertsjoe It's not "innovative", you clown...just a nice option to have. "Options", get it? That's what we're talking about.

You guys keep posting about the doc[k] and I will sue you too.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but I was asked about putting the Recycle Bin into the Windows 7 taskbar by a friend months ago, and decided to test it on earlier Windows versions. I know for a fact you can dock the Recycle Bin into the Quick Launch in XP (not sure about earlier versions) and use it just like the Recycle Bin was on the desktop. @boyreinvented, robertsjoe: Apple was not the first to use a dock. If any of you remember Amiga OS (I think according to some of robertsjoe's crap Thurrott would be able to tell us all about it, well, if anything robertsjoe says or links to is remotely connected to reality) it had one way before Apple did. Reading a comment by subzerohitman721 reminded me that Windows 1.0 had one way back in 1983, but I'm not gonna research a moot point like whether Amiga or Microsoft did it first. tl;dr: Apple wasn't the first to make a dock, and XP can dock the Recycle Bin to the taskbar.

I did not say anything about copying the Dock per se. I was simply referring to the amazing news that the trash can can now be placed on the Windows 7 "dock". Innovative, indeed!

@robertsjoe - "My mention of innovation was making fun of the other post from Paul today..." I used to "make fun" of my little brother when I was your age...but I outgrew it when I got into high school...here's hoping that you will, too. --tayme

@therobertsjoeformerlyknownasrck: What happened? Did you wake up early because you p!ssed the bed this morning?

@dip: Final Cut actually had its genesis from the Mac version of Adobe Premiere actually. The Mac devs and many of the Macromedia devs broke off and designed it for Apple when Adobe was no longer interested in furthering Premiere development for the Mac.