Microsoft has confirmed the Start Menu is making a comeback, but reports suggest it won’t be returning to Windows this year.
There was no Start Menu in the desktop side of Windows 8, but after complaints from users, Microsoft has slowly been reintroducing it, starting with a Start Button last year.
An early version of the new Start Menu was shown off by Microsoft at its Build conference in April, with vice president Terry Myerson saying it would arrive with the next version of Windows.
However, it wasn’t clear whether he meant the Windows 8.1 Update 2 arriving later this summer or the so-called Threshold update due next year, with leaks suggesting it was the former.
Now, it’s looking like the latter: Windows watcher Mary Jo Foley has said her sources have revealed that the Start Menu won’t arrive until next year as part of Threshold. That major update is due to arrive in spring 2015, and may or may not be released as Windows 9. In the meantime, anyone wanting to get a Start Menu sooner can install third-party versions such as StarDock’s Start8.
Foley also suggested that plans to allow Metro apps to run on the desktop will likely also not arrive until next year.
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