Parallels 9 allows users to add-on a start menu to Windows 8

Lenovo isn't the only company kicking Microsoft in the shins with start menu add-ons. The world famous virtual machine software, Parallels Desktop, allows users to add a start menu back to Windows 8 with the single click of a button in its latest iteration.

Users who install Windows 8 onto a virtual machine can also install add-ons which emulate an "old Windows" style start menu by navigating to settings. The Windows 8 start menu, known as Start8, works in both Coherence and "Like A PC" modes.

As companies try to bypass Microsoft Windows 8's start screen with a more familiar interface they might just be tearing down Microsoft's bridge to the future. If experiences between various machines are different from company to company, we might begin to see an unorganized crumbling of different navigation - as seen with Google Android's various launcher skins (HTC Sense, Samsung TouchWiz, etc.).

Do you think companies are going too far by implementing start menus into Microsoft's latest operating system?

Source: Arstechnica

Michael Archambault