I installed the tech preview of Windows 10 in a hyper-v VM last night. (and unfortunately that's probably as far as it will ever get).
To my shock (not surprise, as it is Microsoft after all) they removed the option to disregard the start menu and return to the Windows 8.1 start screen.
After all the endless discussions about the start menu / start screen issue in Windows 8, they still haven't understood that people want OPTIONS. But no instead of keeping the option to run the start screen (which was still in build 9901) they simply removed the option in build 9926.
So now this Windows 8.1 user is going to be forced to using a start menu that is worse than the old start menu found prior to Windows 8 and far far worse than the start screen in Windows 8. How does Microsoft believe this start menu is going to convince anyone from switching from 8 or 7 to 10. Haven't they learned their lesson and still refuse to offer people options ?
Can Microsoft explain to me how this startmenu makes any sense on a tablet device ? How this even makes sense on a desktop PC. And why was it necessary to remove the perfectly viable option to continue using Windows 8.1 start screen with all the refinements made to it over the course of two years ?
Now before anyone comes in here and explains to me how I can make the start menu "full screen", I already know the option exist, but it doesn't even remotely resemble the start screen.
1) Vertical scrolling instead of horizontal scrolling.
2) no inline search, have to use the taskbar, which incidentially is always visible, even on tablet mode and on an actual tablet. Auto hiding the taskbar disables search by the way
3) no apparent way to select multiple tiles, grouping feature made worse
4) resizing tiles is broken
5) left side of the startmenu contains useless stuff that cannot be removed
6) pin to start is seriously broken
7) all apps list is now replacing the useless left stuff when clicking on all apps, instead of the far superior all apps list in the 8.1 start screen
Now I do appreciate this is a tech review, but specifically removing the ability to use the 8.1 start screen clearly indicates Microsoft is planning on retiring the start screen, hence making the exact same mistake as they did with Windows 8.
Please for the love of god, re-introduce the ability to select to use the start screen, so you guys can botch the startmenu any way you like, I don't want it on my desktops, and I sure as hell don't want it on my tablet.