Microsoft has unveiled the Windows 10 news for the Start menu: here's how it will change and what they will be
Everything confirmed: the rumors that have been circulating for months about a possible new Windows 10 Start menu without the famous "Live Tiles" were correct. Microsoft, in fact, has shared images of the official version of the new menu and, consequently, of the new Windows 10 UI.
Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft engineer in charge of the Windows Insider Program Team, in fact showed the concept of the new menu during a podcast. And this concept revolves around the "Fluent Design", the new style of Microsoft of which we have already had a taste in recent weeks with the presentation of the new icons of the apps Alarm Clock, Calculator, Mail and Calendar. The same LeBlanc, however, said that the Live Tiles will remain for a while even if the menu shown to the public does not contain them: the new design of the Start menu, in fact, will be visible only if we have disabled the Live Tiles. So users will be able to choose the design they prefer for this central part of the Windows 10 interface.
Windows 10: what the new design will look like
In the new Start menu design there's a more uniform background color, in stark contrast to the multicolored chaos we currently have in Windows 10. The result is a much simpler and more restful menu to look at, within which it's easier to find what we're looking for. The design change also aims to offer better support for light and dark modes throughout the entire operating system, giving users a cleaner design. Today, however, the charcoal gray of the dark mode is broken by the blue of the Tiles, creating an ugly optical effect to look at and nullifying much of the benefits of the dark theme. Without the panes, then, the icons stand out more and are more readable, and this is even more true with the new icons in Fluent Design.
Windows 10: when will the new design arrive
What Brandon LeBlanc and his team showed is a concept, not the final version of the new design of Windows 10 and its Start menu. The final version could therefore be different from what we see today, also because in the coming weeks Microsoft will certainly be with ears wide open and tense to listen to user reactions to these changes. We're unlikely to see anything resembling this new Start menu before Windows 10 21H1, i.e. the first major semi-annual update next year.